DHANNA, BHAGAT (b. 1415?), one of the medieval saints whose bani has been incorporated in the Guru Granth Sahib, describes himself in a hymn, in Raga Asa, as an ignorant Jatt and explains how he was attracted to the worship of God by the examples of Namdev (a calicoprinter),

TRILOCHAN, one of the three Maharashtrian saint poets whose compositions are included in the Guru Granth Sahib, the other two being Namdev and Parmanand. Trilochan is said to have been born in AD 1267 of a Vaisya family. There is no unanimity among scholars regarding the place of his

SRI SATIGURU Jl DE MUHAIN DJAN SAKHIAN, i.e. witnesses or instructions from the lips of the venerable Guru himself, is the title of a manuscript, preserved in Gurdwara Manji Sahib at Kiratpur in the Sivaliks by the granthi, Babu Singh, who claims descent from Bibi Rup Kaur, adopted daughter of

SOHILA or KIRTAN SOHILA is, in sequence, the fourth barn or composition entered in the Guru Granth Sahib. Sohila is the caption given in the scripture, though it is popularly known as Kntan Sohila, and is also sometimes so captioned in the gutkas or breviaries. The Sohila comprises five

SHABAD (SABAD) HAJARE, also called Hajare de Sabad, is a collection of seven hymns taken from the Guru Granth Sahib and grouped together for the purpose of daily recitation. The title Shabad Hajare occurs nowhere in the Guru Granth Sahib, though it has found its way into breviaries (gutkas)

RAVIDAS, poet and mystic, was born to Raghu and Ghurbinia, who lived near the city of Varanasi. Not much biographical information about him is available, but, from what can be made out of his own compositions, he belonged to a lowcaste (Chamdr) family. He followed the family profession of

NAMDEV (1270-1350), saint of Maharashtra who composed poetry of fervent devotion in Marathi as well as in Hindi. His Hindi verse and his extended visit to the Punjab carried his fame far beyond the borders of Maharashtra. Sixty-one of his hymns in fact came to be included in Sikh Scripture,

MAYYA, BHAI, a Khullar Khatri, is mentioned among the prominent Sikhs of the time of Guru Ram Das. According to Bhai Mani Singh, Sikhdn di Bhagat Maid, Bhai Mayya along with Bhai Japa and Bhai Nayya, both of the Khullar clan, and Bhai Tulsa, a Vohra Khatri, once waited

MAIA, BHAI, a Lamb Khatri of Suhand, identified as Sirhind by Bhai Kahn Singh, Gurushabad Ratnakar Mahan Kosh, was a devotee of Guru Hargobind. He regularly participated in the sangat and sang the holy hymns. According to Bhai Mani Singh, Sikhan di Bhagat Mala, he once asked the Guru,

KIRTAN (from Skt. kirii, i.e. to praise, celebrate or glorify), a commonly accepted mode of rendering devotion to God by singing His praises, is a necessary part of Sikh worship. Music plays a significant role in most religious traditions. In Sikhism it is valued as the highest form of expression

KABIR PANTHIS, followers of Kabir (1398-1448), a saint and reformer some of whose compositions have been included in Sikh Scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib. Kabir did not found any sect during his own lifetime; it was after his death that a math, called Kabir Chaura, was established by Surat

Guru Nanak (1469-1539) represents the highest point of Punjabi literature, it has reached so far. Not because he is the first preceptor of the; religion of the Sikhs who are to this day staunch champions of Punjabi literature, the excellence in its own right, though it is available to us