ALAHNIAN, Guru Nanak\'s composition in measure Vadahans in the Guru Granth Sahib. Alahni, generally used in its plural form alahnian, is a dirge wailingly sung in chorus by women mourning the death of a relation. Etymologically, the word means an utterance in praise (of the departed person). The sorrowful

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

ALAHUNI,(mournful song by women) When a person dies. women cry and often sing songs in chorus in praise Of the deceased. There is a lot of pessimism in, such songs. Generally professional women used to lead in the singing of mourning songs. Guru Nanak used this form of poetry

ALLURING DAMSELS OF HEAVEN (APSARAS)If the clothes be of heat and cold and the food be of the wind, the alluring women of heaven be there everywhere. OR The alluring woffien of heaven may all go away. Still I may Praise Thee, O Lord! and the eagerness of my

CHRITROPAKHYAN, a long composition comprising women`s tales in verse, forms over one-third of the Dasam Granth. The work is generally ascribed to Guru Gobind Singh. A school of opinion, however, exists which asserts that Chritropakhyan and some other compositions included in the Dasam Granth are not by the Guru

DEV SAMAJ, a religious and social reform society, was founded on 16 February 1887 in Lahore by Pandit Shiv Narayan Agnihotri (1850-1929). The story of the Dev Samaj is in essence the story of its founder. Pandit Agnihotri was born in the village of Akbarpur, in Uttar Pradesh, on 20

DUDDUN RAM, a saintly person of Pandori, in present day Amritsar district of the Punjab. He gave shelter in his dera at Pandori to some Sikh women and children when the Sikhs were being hounded out in 1817 Bk / AD 1760 by the joint forces of the subahs

GAHIR GAMBHIRIE MAT KE SVAMI BISHAN DAS YATI JI KA JIVAN CHARITRA, by Bhagvan Das, is a biographical portrayal (jivan charitra) of Svami Bishan Das, founder of the Gahir Gambhirie sect. The author who was a disciple of Bishan Das compiled this account during 1886-1902 at Phillaur, near Ludhiana.

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

RAHIRA and Kup, two villages, 4 km apart from each other and jointly known in Sikh history as KupR.ihIra, in Sangrur district of the Punjab, were the scene of a fierce battle between the Sikhs and the combined forces of Ahmad Shah Durrani and his vassals in Sirhind and

TAKHT SINGH, BHAI (1870-1937), a pioneer of women\'s education, was born at Firozpur around 1870. His father, Deva Singh Nihang, is said to have fought in both of the Anglo Sikh wars (1845-46 and 1848-49). Takht Singh passed the High Proficiency (Vidvan) examination in 1887 from the Oriental College