SHANKAR NATH, DlWAN (1805-1876), born at Delhi in 1805, was brought to Lahore in 1820 by his father Pandit Hari Ram, an employee of the Lahore kingdom. Shankar Nath was placed in the treasury office of Prince Kharak Singh and was afterwards transferred to the central record office where

SUNDARI, by Bhai Vir Singh, first published in 1898, is commonly acknowledged to be the first novel written in the Punjabi language. The story, set in the eighteenth century, depicts the trials and heroism of an imaginary character, Sundar Kaur (Sundari for short) who, born in a Punjabi Khatri Hindu

SUTHRASHAHIS, a mendicant order which owes its origin to Suthra Shah (1625-82), a disciple of Guru Hargobind. Not much is known about the life of Suthra Shah. The legend goes diat he was born in a Nanda Khatri family of Bahrampur, now in Gurdasur district, with a black mark

VARAN BHAI GURDAS is the title given to the collection of forty vars or "ballads" written in`Punjabi by Bhai Gurdas (d. 1636) much honoured in Sikh piety and learning. These forty vars comprise 913 pauris or stanzas, with a total of 6,444 lines. There is no internal or external evidence

VISHNU Remember Vishnu again and again; By remembering Vishnu you will never suffer defeat.(Gauri Bawan Akhri Kabir, p. 342) At whose door should I take refuge, Vishnu, Shiva, an adept, a Muni or Indra. One may give you kingdom, the other may take you to heaven, rare one among

AVATAR (Incarnation) The Avatars do not know the limits of God; the Supreme Ishvara, the Transcendental Lord is Infinite. (Ramkali M. 5, p. 894) There are millions of incamating Vishnus. (Bhairo M. 5, p. 1156) Under God\'s Will ten Avatars were created. (Maru M. l, p. 1037) The exploits

BIKRAMI SAMMAT: A Calendar named after a Hindu king Vikramaditya. In Punjabi Vikrami is pronounced as Bikrami. Its abbreviation is Bk. The Hindus calculate their dates as per the Hindu astrology. Some ignorant Sikhs too adhere to this calendar. For a Sikh all the calendars have the same significance.

GAYA The visits to Ganga, Gaya and Godavari are only worldly works. (Basant Namdev, p. 1196) He goes to Gaya and offers rice-balls. (Gond Namdev, p. 873) It is one of the seven sacred puris (places of religious merit) of Hindus. It is a famous pilgrim station not only

Ham Hindu Nahin, by Bhai Kahn Singh, lit. "We, i.e. Sikhs, are not Hindus," is a clear-cut declaration of Sikh identity registered by a Sikh scholar and intellectual towards the close of the nineteenth century. The statement constitutes the basic dictum of the book which appeared under this challenging title

MIHTAR SIKHS, like Mazhabi Sikhs, their Punjabi counterpart, belong to the so called scheduled castes. Mihtar, a Persian term, meaning elder, chief, or governor, is the name given to the members of the community of scavengers which stands at the lowest rung of Indian society. Scattered in different villages

Nankayan (Life of Nanak) by Mohan Singh \'Mahir\' is commissioned work written at the behest of Punjabi University to mark the 500th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak. Professor \'Mahir\' earned this distinction after he wrote Nankayan (Nankayan). He has yet another distinction of ushering in what has come to be

RAMDASIA SIKHS is how Sikh converts from the community working professionally in leather are usually referred to as a class. The term Ramdasias is an adaptation from Ravidasias, as some Chamar castes came to be called. They owed their affiliation to the famous saint, Ravidas, ; pioneer of`Vaisnava revival.