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

TABI DARI, lit. subordination or obedience, was a system of non proprietory but permanent and hereditary land tenure during Sikh rule in the Punjab. The holders of tabi`dan tenure were equivalent to those who since Mughal times had been known as muzari ariimaurusi or occupancy tenants. It was prevalent in

WAZIR SINGH, RAJA (1828-1874), succeeded in 1849 his father Raja Pahar Singh to the gaddi of Faridkot. A devout Sikh, Wazir Singh had received the rites of initiation at Gurdwara Sri Hazur Sahib, Nanded. sacred to Guru Gobind Singh. He founded new villages and introduced several reforms in the

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

GOLAK or GURU KI GOLAK (the Guru`s own till). Golak (Sanskrit golak; Persian gholak) means, in Punjabi, a till, cash box or any other container used for keeping money especially one used for receiving contributions for charitable purposes. It is a time honoured Indian custom to carry an offering

JAGIRDARI, a feudal system of political and revenue administration based on jagir, lit. fief or grant of land received from the sovereign or a vassal owing fealty and obedience to him. Sikhs who, after the fall of Sirhind in early 1764, started occupying territory, did not automatically take to the

MASANDS were, in early Sikhism, local community leaders who looked after the ^an^a^in their diocese and linked them to their spiritual mentor, the Guru. They led Sikhs, preached the word of the Guru and transmitted to him their offerings, escorting occasionally batches of them to his presence. The first such

MISLDARI OR MISALDARI, a system of political relationship as well as of land tenure which came into being with the rise of Sikh power in the eighteenth century Punjab. The Sikh warriors who, since the execution of Banda Singh Bahadur in 1716, had lived precariously as small guerilla bands, had

MUL SINGH GARMULA, BHAI (1846-1945), religious preacher and reformist, was the son of Jodh Singh, a well to do Virk Jatt of the village of Garmula Virkan in Gujranwala (later in Sheikhupura) district of the Punjab, now in Pakistan. He learnt Punjabi and Sikh religious texts and history at

PARDAH SYSTEM, the custom in certain societies of secluding women from men, is of ancient origin. Pardah is a Persian word meaning veil, curtain or screen. Pardah system involves the covering of the bodies or at least faces by grownup women from the gaze of males other than the closest

PATTIDARI, lit. cosharing or shareholding, was, like mislddri, a system of land tenure during the Sikh period. The basic principle was traceable to the time honoured institution of joint family and inheritance of property in equal shares by descendants (male only) whenever a division took place, the rule of primogeniture