BAZIGARS or acrobats, a counterpart of nats outside the Punjab, are a nomadic people travelling from one place to the other, using camels and donkeys as pack animals. Earlier they had been an occupational group performing bazi, i.e. acrobatic feats, in the form of various types of jumps and other

SANT TRADITION comprises those medieval monotheistic and devout personalities belonging to different shades of Indian society who are supposed to have been quiet, tranquil nonsectarian, opposed to Brahmanical ritualism, piously tired of the duplicity of the world but otherwise deeply conscious and critical of the outrageous anamolies professed by certain

BAD TIRATH SAHIB GURUDWARA, VILLAGE HARIPURA Gurdwara Bad Tirath Sahib is associated with the First Guru, Guru Nanak Dev Ji as well as the Tenth Guru, Guru Gobind Singh Ji. A deep pool of water to the north of the village, was an ancient place of pilgrimage known as Bad

Singh \'Rup\', Harinder, born in 1907, was an eminent Punjabi poet of the neo-classical tradition in which emotion remains subdued. He published his poems in collections entitled Nave pandh (New paths, 1945) and Dunghe vahin (Deep streams, 1947). Rup did not develop a new style or content of his

BENARES (BANARASA, VARANASI) .....They have rosaries around their necks and glittering jugs in their hands—they cannot be called the saints of Hari, they are the Thugs of Benares (Varanasi).(Asa Kabir, pp. 476) He lives on the bank of Asi rivulet in Benares (Varanasi). (Gond Namdev, p. 873) It is

TURK, a word standing in Sikh tradition usually for a Muslim, is really the name of a race of people which orginating probably in Central Asia established itself in Asia Minor and southeastern Europe in the west and in India in the east. The earliest references to Turks connect them

Duggal, Kartar Singh (1917 - ) is one of the most prolific fictionist in Punjabi. He was born at Pothohar town in Dhamiyal (now in Pakistan). He is well-acqainted with the life of rural Punjab, particularly before the Partition which left ever-oozing scars on the psyche of the brave

UDHAM SINGH (1899-1940), a militant nationalist, was born Sher Singh on 26 December 1899, at Sunam, in the then princely state of Patiala. His father, Tahal Singh, was at that time working as a watchman on a railway crossing in the neighbouring village of Upali. Sher Singh lost his

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

WATHEN, GERARD ANSTRUTHER (1878-1958), a British educator who came by much applause and friendliness at the hands of his Sikh pupils and their parents during his time as principal of the Khalsa College at Amritsar in the early part of the twentieth century. By his helpfulness and natural affability and

GOSHTI, from Sanskrit gostha (go = cow + stha = place, i.e. cowpen) means, secondarily, an assembly of people engaged in a discourse or debate on some metaphysical, theological or ethical point, thereby seeking to expound their respective views or tenets and revealing in the process their dialectical prowess