MANAK TABRA, a village about 3 km north of Raipur Rani in Naraingarh subdivision of Ambala district, is sacred to Guru Gobind Singh, who visited it as he was travelling from Paonta to Anandpur in 1688. It was here that the Rani of Raipur came to see him. Gurdwara

NIHANG KHAN, Muslim chief of Kotia Nihang Khan, near Ropar, in the Punjab, was a devotee of Guru Gobind Singh. According to Sarup Singh Kaushish, Guru kidn Sakhtan, he with his wife and sons attended Baisakhi festivity at Anandpur in 1694 and rendered homage to the Guru. At his

PANCHAMI, lit. the fifth day of either phase {vadior sudi) of the moon. Panchami of the sudi, i.e. the brighter, phase is considered an auspicious day in the Hindu tradition, with some ritualistic observances attached to it. In the three Sikh hymns entitled Thitin/ Thiti devoted to the lunar days

SAN GRAND, sankranti in Sanskrit, is the first day of each month of the Indian solar calendar, based on the shifting of the sun from one house (rasi) to another. From quite early in human history, the sun, and its satellites, the planets, came to be regarded as objects endowed

SIKH CALENDAR or system of reckoning chronology or dates of events in Sikh history is generally based on the Vikrami Samvat (Bikrami Sammat, in Punjabi), a system mostly in vogue in northern India, although other systems the Hijri during the Muslim period and Christian since the advent of the

THITI with the variation THITTIN, is a title shared by three different compositions, one each by Guru Nanak, Guru Arjan and Kabir, in the Guru Granth Sahib. According to traditional Indian calendar, thitt (Skt. tithi) denotes a day or a date of the lunar cycle of the month. In

BARAH MAHA or BARAH MASA, in Hindi, is a form of folk poetry in which the emotions and yearnings of the human heart are expressed in terms of the changing moods of Nature over the twelve months of the year. In this form of poetry, the mood of Nature

BIBIPUR KHURD, locally called Bipur, is a small village in Patiala district, 8 km southeast of Ghuram (30° 7`N, 76° 28`E). It has a historical shrine, Gurdwara Patshahi Nauvin, sacred to Guru Tegh Bahadur, who visited the site during one of his travels through Malva and Bangar regions. The Gurdwara,

Bara Maha Majh (Song of Twelve Months in Majh Raga) is a composition of Guru Arjan Dev,the fifth in the line of the ten Gurus or prophet-teachers of the Sikh faith. Guru Arjan Dev\'s poetry has the imprint of chaste classical culture, despite its limitation today, being in a

CHHEHARTA SAHIB, GURDWARA, 7 km west of Amritsar (31° 38`N, 74° 52`E), is named after a well got sunk by Guru Arjan (1563-1606). The well was so wide that six Persian wheels installed around it could operate simultaneously. Hence its name Chheharta, lit. having six (chhe) Persian wheels (hart