NITNEM (nit: daily; nem; practice, rule or regimen) is the name given to the set prayers which every Sikh is commanded to say daily, alone or in company. These prayers or texts are five in number for early morning Guru Nanak`sJa/w and Guru Gobind Singh`s Jdpu and Savaiyye, for the

PADARATH, BHAI, a devoted Sikh of the time of Guru Ram Das. Once accompanied by Bhai Taru and Bhai Bharu, he went to visit Guru Ram Das. He and his companions felt deeply moved to hear kirtan being recited in the Guru`s presence. "0 refuge of the poor," they

PANJ MUKTE, lit. five (panj) liberated ones (mukte), is how a batch of five Sikhs, who according to Bhai Daya Singh`s Rahitndmd, were the first after the Panj Piare to receive the rites of Khalsa initiation at the hands of Guru Gobind Singh on the historic Baisakhi day of AD

PARCHI BHAI SEVA RAM is a biographical sketch, in Punjabi verse, of Bhai Seva Ram who led the Sevapanthi sect after the death of its founder Bhai Kanhaiya, a disciple of Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708). Written by Bhai Sahaj Ram, himself a renowned Sevapanthi saint, the book was edited by

PARTAPU, BHAI, a professional soldier, came to Guru Arjan, offered obeisance and spoke with folded hands, "Weilding of arms is my trade. Pray, advise me how best my soul can be saved." Guru Arjan, as recorded by Bhai Mani Singh, Sikhdn di Bhagat Maid, said, "When death comes no one

PHATTE NANGAL, village near Dhanval (31"57`N, 75°19`E) in Gurdaspur district of the Punjab, claims a historical shrine Gurdwara Burj Sahib, marking the spot where Guru Arjan, returning from a visit to Baba Sri Chand at Barath, stayed near what used to he a pond. The devotees, who flocked to

PIR MUHAMMAD KHAN, one of the Barakzai brothers who came into control of Peshawar which became a tributary to Maharaja Ranjit Singh in 1823. Dost Muhammad Khan who had established himself in power at Kabul bitterly felt the loss of Peshawar. Pir Muhammad along with his brother, Sultan Muhammad,

PRATAP SINGH, MAHARAJA (1919-1995). Tall and handsome, His Highness Maharaja Sir Pratap Singh, Malvendra Bahadur, was the ruler of the princely state of Nabha. The state ceased to be in 1948 when a new and larger political unit called Patiala and East Punjab States Union, short PEPSU, came into

PUNJAB, A HUNDRED YEARS AGO, THE, translated and edited by H.L.O. Garrett, and first published in 1935 by the Punjab Government Record Office, Lahore, is a compendium of two travelogues. The first part comprises the portion of Victor Jacquemont`s Journal which deals with his travels through the Punjab and Kashmir.

QUTB UDDIN (d. 1832), younger brother of Nizam udDin, the Afghan chief of Kasur, succeeded to the gaddi of Kasur on the latter`s death in 1802. He began fortifying Kasur in an endeavour to overthrow the authority of Ranjit Singh whose tributary he was. Ranjit Singh led an expedition

RAKHI SYSTEM, the arrangement whereby the Dal Khalsa during the middecades of the eighteenth century established their sway over territories not under their direct occupation. Rakhi, lit. `protection` or `vigilance,` referred to the cess levied by the Dal Khalsa upon villages which sought their protection against aggression or molestation in