MISLS. Misi is a term which originated in the eighteenth century history of the Sikhs to describe a unit or brigade of Sikh warriors and the territory acquired by it in the course of its campaign of conquest following the weakening of the Mughal authority in the country. Scholars trying to trace the etymology of the term have usually based their interpretation on the Arabic/Persian word misi. According to Stcingass, Persian English Dictionary, the word means "similitude, alike or equal", and "a file" or collection of papers bearing on a particular topic.
NISHAN SAHIB is the name for the tall Sikh flag which marks all gurudwaras and other religious premises of the Sikhs. Nishdn is a Persian word with multiple meanings, one of these being a flag or standard. Sahib, an Arabic word with the applied meaning of lord or master, is here used as an honorific. Thus Nishan Sahib in the Sikh tradition means the holy flag or exalted ensign. A synonymous term is Jhanda Sahib (jhandd also meaning a flag or banner). The Sikh pennant, made out of saffron coloured, occasionally out of blue coloured, mainly in the case of Nihangs, cloth is triangular in shape, normally each of the two equal sides being double of the shorter one.
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 being practically unknown in India as far as the common people were concerned. Patti in Punjabi means a share as well as partnership and pattiddr is a shareholder, cosharer or partner. The system emerged in the initial stages of Sikh rule in the Punjab.
PHULKIAN MISL. See MISLS History-This misl was founded by Baba Ala Singh in 1748 (later the first Raja...
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 those disturbed times. The establishment of Dal Khalsa in 1748 coincided with the first of a series of invasions by Ahmad Shah Durrani which further weakened the already crumbling administration of the Mughals.
TARUNA DAL, army of the youth, was one of the two main divisions of Dal Khalsa, the confederated army of the Sikhs during the eighteenth century, the other one being the Buddha Dal (army of the elders). These Dais came into existence in 1734 when, during a truce with Zakariya Khan, the Mughal governor of the Punjab, different roving bands of the Sikhs were concentrated in Amritsar. Taruna Dal was subdivided into five Jathas or fighting groups of approximately 1300 to 2,000 men each, mosdy mounted. The first was commanded by Bhai Dip Singh, commonly known, after he met with a martyr`s death, as Baba Dip Singh Shahid. It was called Shahidanvala Jatha.
Explore the legacy of Ahluvalia Misl, a prominent 18th-century Sikh confederacy in Punjab, led by the legendary Jassa Singh Ahluvalia.
BHANGI MISLThe Bhangi Misl was founded in the early 18th century by Sardar Chhajja Singh. The misl received...
DALLEVALiA MISL. See MISLS DALLU, BHAI, a Rihan Khatri of Burhanpur, mentioned by Bhai Gurdas, Varan, XI. 30, among prominent Sikhs of the time of Guru Hargobind. See BHAGVAN DAS, BHAi
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