SRI GURU UPKAR PRACHARNI SABHA, i.e. an association for the propagation of the Guru`s deeds of compassion and charity was formed by a group of Sikh youth at Amritsar during the opening years of the twentieth century, with Bhai (also known as Pandit, being a learned scholar of religion) Ganda

TUR, village 9 km southwest of Khadur Sahib (31"26`N, 75`6`E) in Amritsar district of the Punjab, claims a historical shrine, Gurdwara Patshahi Dusari, dedicated to Guru Ahgad (1506-52) who, according to local tradition, first came here from Khadur Sahib at the insistence of local peasants misguided by an ascetic. From

UNTOUCHABILITY, a feature of the caste system prevalent in Hindu society since time immemorial, reduces certain classes and castes to a very low level in the social scale. The caste system, the origins of which can be traced to the Purusa Sukta, hymn 90, of the tenth book of

AKHAND PATH: Aakhand Path is nonstop recitation of Guru Granth Sahib. It is completed in approximately 48 hours. Several readers perform this recitation in a relay system. The reading goes, in a relay manner, continuously, day and night. At given intervals (usually two hours per turn) the next reciter

BHAI, of Indo Aryan origin (Sanskrit bhratr, Pali bhaya), means brother in its literal sense and is employed as an honorific as well as in the dominant familial sense and as a title of affection between equals. It has been used in the Guru Granth Sahib in the latter sense

FERINGHEE is an adaptation of the Indo Persian term frangi or firingi used to denote a person of European origin. It is dervied from Frank, "a member of a group of ancient Germanic peoples dwelling in the regions of the Rhine, one division of whom, the Salians, conquered Gaul [modern

GAGGOBUA, village 27 km southwest of Amritsar (31°38\'N, 74°52\'E) along the Amritsar Khemkaran road, is sacred to Guru Hargobind (1595-1644), who came here once following the chase. Gurdwara Manji Sahib Chhevin Patshahi, constructed at the site of the old shrine, marks the spot where Guru Hargobind had halted. The

GUTKA, a small sized missal or breviary containing chosen hymns or barns from Sikh Scriptures. The etymology of the term gutka may be traced back to Sanskrit gud (to guard, preserve) or gunth (to enclose, envelop, surround, cover) through Pali gutii (keeping, guarding). A late eighteenth century scholar of UdasI

JALALABAD (34°26`N, 70°28`E), a prominent town in Eastern Afghanistan, has a historical Sikh shrine, Gurdwara Choha Sahib Patshahl Pehli, honouring the memory of Guru Nanak, who visited here during his travels in these parts in the first quarter of the. sixteenth century.

JANAM SAKHI, i.e. life story, is the term used to designate traditional narratives of the life of Guru Nanak. Although the compound is occasionally applied to narratives concerning later Gurus or other religious teachers too, it is normally confined to those which relate in anecdotal prose the life and

JATHA, from Sanskrit yutha meaning a herd, flock, multitude, troop, band or host, signifies in the Sikh tradition a band of volunteers coming forth to carry out a specific task, be it armed combat or a peaceful and nonviolent agitation. It is not clear when the term jathd first gained

MAHANT, originally the superior of a math or any other similar religious establishment. In the Punjab of early Sikhism, its characteristic usage referred to the leaders of Nath deras. The term acquired a distinctive Sikh application during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, period during which many Sikh gurdwaras passed into