BABAR VANI (Babar\'s command or sway) is how the four hymns by Guru Nanak alluding to the invasions by Babar (1483-1530), the first Mughal emperor of India, are collectively known in Sikh literature. The name is derived from the use of the term in one of these hymns: "Babarvani phiri gai kuiru na rod khai Babar\'s command or sway has spread; even the princes go without food" (GG, 417). Three of these hymns are in Asa measure at pages 360 and 41718 of the standard recension of Guru Granth Sahib and the fourth is in Tilang measure on pages 72223. Zahir-ud-Din Muhammad Babar, driven out of his ancestral principality of Farghana in Central Asia, occupied Kabul in 1504.
DALHOUSIE, JAMES ANDREW BROUN RAMSAY, First Marquis of (1812-1860), Governor General of India (1848-56), son of George (1770-1838), the ninth Earl in the peerage of Scotland, was born at Dalhouse Castle on 22 April 1812. He was educated at Harrow and at Christ Church, Oxford. He succeeded his father to the peerage in 1838 and became member of the House of Lords. In 1845, he became president of the Board of Trade. In 1846, he declined a post in the British cabinet under Sir Robert Peel.
Explore the intriguing world of Ganas, their divine attributes, and their connection with Lord Ganesha, the remover of obstacles and god of wisdom.
Discover Hanuman's heroic encounter with Kalanemi in an epic saga of resilience and divine intervention.
Explore the temporary nature of mythological Puris and their divine abodes. Discover the immortal essence of the Lord in various scriptures.
Dive into Guru Nanak's Sidh Gosti, a profound dialogue contrasting inner purity with Siddha philosophy, revealing the essence of spiritual liberation.
ANAND KARAJ, lit. joyful ceremonial occasion or proceedings is the name given the Sikh marriage ceremony. For Sikhs married state is the norm and the ideal; through it, according to their belief, come the best opportunities for serving God\'s purpose and the well being of humanity, and it affords the best means of fulfilment of individuality and attainment of bliss. Sikhism repudiates monkery, vows of celibacy, renunciation or the sannyas in state. Unlike in the West, most marriages among Sikhs, as also in India as a whole, are arranged.
DEATH, the primordial mystery and one of the cardinal conditions of existence. Scientifically, death is defined as "the permanent cessation of the vital function in the bodies of animals and plants" or, simply, as the end of life caused by senescence or by stoppage of the means of sustenance to body cells. In Sikhism the universal fact of mortality is juxtaposed to immortality (amarapad) as the ultimate objective (paramartha) of life. As a biological reality death is the inevitable destiny of everyone. Even the divines and prophets have no immunity from it. Mortality reigns over the realms of the gods as well.
