sikh

ABCHAL NAGAR, more correctly spelt Abichalnagar (abichal, lit. firmly fixed, unshakably rooted), i.e. City Everlasting, is the name Sikh tradition lias given Nanded, a district town in Maharashtra. The place is sacred to Guru Gobind Singh, who passed away here on 7 October 1708. The shrine honouring his memory is treated as a takht, seat constituting decisive religious authority for the Sikhs, and is named Takht Sachkhand Sri Hazur Sahib, Abchalnagar. The name was probably suggested by a Scriptural line abichal nagaru~gobind guru ka namu japat sukhu paia ram (rooted steadfast stands the City of the Master Lord where solace is attained by repeating the Name (GGS,pg 783), usually interpreted as referring to the City of Amritsar founded by Guru Ram Das, Nanak IV.

AKALI, a term now appropriated by members of the dominant Sikh political party, the Shiromani Akali Dal, founded in 1920, and groups splitting from it from time to time, was earlier used for Nihangs (q.v.), an order of armed religious zealots among the baptized Sikhs. The word Nihang is from the Persian nihang meaning crocodile, alligator, shark or water dragon, and signifies qualities of ferocity and fearlessness. The term Akali is originally from Akal, the Timeless One.

ALLAHABAD (25°28\'N, 81°50\'E). Prayag before the reign of Emperor Akbar, was visited by Guru Nanak in the course of Ills first preaching journey to the east in the first quarter of the sixteenth century. In 1666, Guru Tegh Bahadur visited the town and stayed in the house of a devotee in Mohalla Aihiyapur. Gurdwara Tap Asthan (Pakki Sarigat) Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji Patshahi 9 marks the place where Guru Tegh Bahadur had put up. It became a centre for the congregation of Sikh devotees and was called Pakki Sangat (Permanent Congregation).

AMRITDHARI (amrit, lit. nectar, commonly Sikh sanctified initiatory water + dhan= practitioner) is one who has received baptismal vows of the Khalsa initiated by Guru Gobind Singh (30 March 1699) and abides by them and by the panj kakari rahit, distinctive insignia introduced by the Guru on that day comprising five symbols each beginning with the Gurmukhi letter " oT" (pronounced "kakka") or its Roman equivalent "k". These are kes (long unshorn hair and beard), kangha (a comb to keep the hair tidy), Jenpan (a sword), kara ( a steel bracelet worn about the wrist), and kachh (short breeches worn by soldiers). See PAHUL

APOCRYPHAL COMPOSITIONS, known in Sikh vocabulary as kachchi bani (unripe, rejected texts) or vadhu bani (superfluous texts) are those writings, mostly in verse but prose not excluded,which have been attributed to the Gurus, but which were not incorporated in the Guru Granth Sahib at the time of its compilation in 1603-04. Since the Sikh Scripture was compiled by one of the Gurus and the text as approved by him has come down to us intact, compositions not included therein must be reckoned as extratextual and spurious. Moreover, the contents of the Guru Granth Sahib have been so arranged and numbered as to leave absolutely no scope for any extraction or interpolation.

AVTAR SINGH VAHIRIA, polemicist and scholar of Sikh texts, was born on 12 June 1848 at Thoha Khalsa, a village in Rawalpindi district, now in Pakistan. As a small boy, he learnt to recite the Sikh psalms from his mother and maternal uncle, Prem Singh. After he had learnt Gurmukhi in his own village, he went to school in Rawalpindi. At the age of eight years, he took pahul at the hands of Baba Khem Singh Bedi.

BAGHEL SINGH (d. 1802), who succeeded in 1765 Karora Singh as leader of the Karor singhia misi or chief ship, is celebrated in Sikh history as the vanquisher of Mughal Delhi. A Dhalival Jatt, Baghel Singh arose from the village of Jhabal, in Amritsar district, to become a formidable force in the cis Sutlej region. According to Syad Muhammad Latif, he had under him 12,000 fighting men. As well as being a soldier, he was an adept in political negotiation and was able to win over many an adversary to his side. The Mughals, the Ruhilas, the Marathas and the English sought his friendship.

BAOLI or bavali is a masonry well with steps leading down to water level. This is perhaps the oldest type of well introduced when man had discovered the existence of subsoil water and also the means to reach it, but had not yet invented mechanical devices to draw water out of it. Before masonry art was developed, baolis must have been only shallow pits with a sloping path down to the water, vertical walls and dented steps confined only to rocky regions.

BHAGAUTI or Bhavani (Skt. Bhagavati. consort of Visnu, or the goddess Durga) has had in Sikh usage a chequered semantic history.In early Sikhism, especially in the compositions comprising the Guru Granth Sahib, the word means a bhakta or devotee of God. "So bhagautijo bhagvantai janai; he alone is a true devotee who knoweth the Lord" (GG, 88). In Bhai Gurdas, bhagautfhas been used as an equivalent of sword. "Nau bhagauti lohu gharaia iron (a lowly metal) when properly wrought becomes a (powerful) sword" (Varan, XXV. 6).

BHIKHARl, BHAI. Bhabra by caste, was a devoted Sikh of the time of Guru Arjan. He lived in the town of Gujrat. Bhai Gurdas, Varan, XI. 30, lists him among prominent Sikhs of the time. He plied an honest trade, helped needy Sikhs and other holy men and recited the sacred word. Once, as says Bhai Mani Singh, Sikhan di Bhagat Mala, a Sikh waited on Guru Hargobind, Guru Arjan *s successor, and begged to be shown a model Sikh. The latter directed him to Bhai Bhikhari.