SAMAO, also pronounced Samhao, a village 2 km north of Bhikhi (30° 3`N, 75° 33`E) in Bathinda district of the Punjab, has a historical shrine called Gurdwara Patshahi Nauvin. It is said that, as Guru Tegh Bahadur was once travelling from Khiva towards Samao and Bhikhi, he was informed

SHER SINGH, leader of a group of Sikh warriors who was rewarded by Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708) for his initiative and alacrity in one of the battles of Anandpur. He fell upon a contingent of the Mughal force fatigued after a quick day`s action. This sudden attack took the

SIKHS, THE, by General Sir John J.H. Gordon, was first published in 1904 by William Black wood and Sons, London, and reprinted in 1970 by the Languages Department, Punjab, Patiala. The author`s own reference as to when and why he thought of writing this book provides an important clue

Sahrai, Hamam Das has written many historical novels. His Lohgarh narrates the story of Banda Bahadur who was living as an ascetic under the name of Madho Dass till he became a disciple of Guru Gobind Singh and returned to Punjab with a group of Guru Gobind Singh\'s disciples

THACKWELL, SIR EDWARD JOSEPH (1781-1859), commander of cavalry division of the army of the Sutlej under Lord Hugh Gough in the first Anglo Sikh war was born on 1 February 1781, the son of John Thackwell. A veteran of Peninsula and Waterloo, he assumed command of the army of the

VARANASI (25°20`N, 82°58`E), the holiest place of Hindu pilgrimage, has since ancient times, been one of the most important centres of Sanskrit learning. Guru Gobind Singh sent five of his Sikhs to Varanasi to study Sanskrit, and following them several centres for the study of Sanskrit and theology were

AKALI MOVEMENT, variously known as Gurdwara Reform Movement or Gurdwara Agitation is how Sikh\'s long drawn campaign in the early twenties of the twentieth century for the liberation of their gurdwaras or holy shrines is described. The campaign which elicited enthusiastic support, especially, from the rural masses, took the

ASRARISAMADI, a Persian chronicle by an anonymous writer who is now identified as Munshi Jot Prakash attached to the court of Nawab Abd us Samad Khan, the governor of Lahore from 1713 to 1726. Written around 1728, the work. which the author claims to be an eyewitness account of

BANI, Sanskrit van! (meaning sound, voice, music; speech, language, diction; praise, laudation), refers in the specifically Sikh context to the sacred compositions of the Gurus and of the holy saints and sufis as incorporated in the Scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib. Compositions of Guru Gobind Singh comprising the Dasam

BHUMA SINGH (d. 1746), a Dhillon Jatt of the village of Hung near Badhni, in present day Faridkot district of the Punjab, gathered power in men and money during Nadir Shah`s invasion of India in 1739. At the time of the death of Nawab Zakariya Khan, the Mughal governor

CHALI MUKTE, lit. forty (chalf) liberated ones (mukte), is how a band of 40 brave Sikhs who laid down their lives fighting near the dhab or lake of Khidrana, also called Isharsar, on 29 December 1705 against a Mughal force in chase of Guru Gobind Singh are remembered in Sikh

DAN (Skt. dana from the root da `to give`) means the act of giving or that which is given either as charity or alms or as offering, fee or reward for spiritual instruction received or for religious rite or ritual performed. The latter, however, is more appropriately called daksina.