TAKHT, Persian word meaning a throne or royal seat, has, besides its common literal use, other connotations in the Sikh tradition. In Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh Scripture, phrases such as sachcha takht (true throne) and pura takht (perfect throne) have been used to signify God`s seat of divine justice. Guru Nanak in Var Malar KI alludes to the created universe as His sacha takht (GG, 907), but also qualifies that "His is the sacha or everlasting takht while all else comes and goes" (GG, 1279). God in Sikh metaphysics is described as Formless but to make Him intelligible to the lay man He is sometimes personified and referred to as sacha sah, sultan, patsah meaning the true king or sovereign.
TARU SINGH, BHAI (1720-45), the martyr, was a Sandhu Jatt of Puhia village, now in Amritsar district of the Punjab. He was a pious Sikh who tilled his land diligently and lived frugally. Whatever he saved went to his Sikh brethren forced into exile by government persecution. Spied upon by Harbhagat Niranjania of Jandiala, a government informer, Taru Singh was hauled up before Zakariya Khan, the governor at Lahore (1726-45). As the Prachm Panth Prakash narrates the story, Zakariya Khan once asked his men, "From where do the Sikhs obtain their nourishment ? I have debarred them from all occupations.
TRIPARTITE TREATY (June 1838). As the rumours of Russian infiltration into Persia and Afghanistan spread in the late thirties of the nineteenth century, the Governor General, Lord Auckland, despatched Captain Alexander Burnes to Kabul to make an alliance with Amir Dost Muhammad. The Afghan ruler made Peshawar the price of his cooperation which the British could not afford without going to war with the Sikhs. Auckland had to choose between Dost Muhammad and Ranjit Singh. He chose Ranjit Singh and decided to seek his help in ousting Dost Muhammad and putting Shah Shuja` on the throne of Afghanistan.
VAK, from Sanskrit vaka (sounding, speaking ; a text, recitation or formula) or vakya (speech, saying, statement, declaration, a sentence or period), has a special connotation in the Sikh system. In Sikh terminology, Vak means the command or lesson read from the Guru Granth Sahib. Vak laina or hukam laina (obtaining or receiving the Guru`s word or command) is for the Sikhs tantamount to having a darshan or audience of the Guru Granth Sahib, ever present Guru for them. It is an act of seeking the counsel or instruction of the Guru who `speaks` through the vak or hymn recited aloud. Customarily, vak or hukam is recited in sangat by an officiant after the installation or opening of the Guru Granth Sahib in the morning and every time after ardas or supplicatory prayer is said at die end of the service.
WOLFF, JOSEPH (1795-1862), Christian missionary and traveller, who visited the Punjab in 1832, was born of Jewish parents...
AGNEW, PATRICK ALEXANDER VANS (1822-1848), a civil servant under the East India Company. He was the son of Lt Col Patrick Vans Agnew, an East India Company director. Agnew joined the Bengal civil service in March 1841. In 1842, he became assistant to the commissioner of Delhi division. In December 1845, he was appointed assistant to Major George Broad foot, the superintendent of the cis Sutlej states. He was present at the battle of Sabhraon in 1846.
AMAR DAS, GURU (1479-1574), the third of the ten Gurus of the Sikh faith, was born into a Bhalla Khatri family on Baisakh sudi 14, 1536 Bk, corresponding to 5 May 1479, at Basarke, a village in present day Amritsar district of the Punjab. His father\'s name was Tej Bhan and mother\'s Bakht Kaur; the latter has also been called by chroniclers variously as Lachchhami, Bhup Kaur and Rup Kaur. He was married on 11 Magh 1559 Bk to Mansa Devi, daughter of Devi Chand, a Bahil Khatri, of the village of Sankhatra, in Sialkot district, and had four children two sons, Mohri and Mohan, and two daughters. Dani and Bhani. Amar Das had a deeply religious bent of mind.
ANANDPUR SAHIB RESOLUTION, a frequently invoked document of modern Sikhism pronouncing its religious rule as well as its political goal. After having enjoyed power under chief ministers, Gurnam Singh and Parkash Singh Badal in the Punjab, newly demarcated in 1966, Sikhs as represented by their premier political party, the Shiromani Akali Dal, were able to capture only one seat at the elections to Indian Parliament (1971) from among the 13 which were Punjab`s portion. In the Punjab Assembly elections which took place in March 1972 their tally was a mere 24 seats out of a total of 117, and the Punjab Government passed into the hands of the Congress Party, with Giani Zail Singh (later, President of India) as chief minister.