JIVANMUKTA, in Sikhism the ideal and aim or objective of man`s spiritual life. The term is derived from jivanmukti {j`tvan=`ife; mukli=recasc, liberation, emancipation, freedom from bondage), and means one who has attained liberation from human bondage or one who has attained to the highest spiritual slate of being in tune

TEGH BAHADUR, GURU (1621-1675), prophet and martyr, revered as the Ninth Guru or Revealer of the Sikh faith, was the youngest of the five sons of the Sixth Guru, Guru Hargobind, and his wife, Nanaki. He was born at Amritsar on Baisakh vadl5,1678 Bk/ 1 April 1621. The early years

MALUK DAS was a long-lived Vaisnava saint who spanned the reigns of the Mughal emperors from Akbar to Aurangzib. He was widely venerated and counted among his admirers and followers, Muslims as well as Hindus. He lived at Kara, on the right bank of the River Ganga, in Allahabad

VAR MAJH KI, by Guru Nanak occurs in the musical measure Majh, in the Guru Granth Sahib. The word majh, in Punjabi, means in the middle or midway, and the raga which goes by this name was a folk tune of Majha, the central country of die Punjab, which

MARU VAR MAHALLA III, by Guru Amar Das, Nanak III, in the musical measure Maru is a poetical composition in the style of a vdr included in the Guru Granth Sahib. There are totally twenty-two such vdrs in the Guru Granlh Sahib in various musical moulds. A vdr is

MIRIPIRI, compound of two words, both of Perso Arabic origin, adapted into the Sikh tradition to connote the close relationship within it between the temporal and the spiritual. The term represents for the Sikhs a basic principle which has influenced their religious and political thought and governed their societal structure

BANDAI, name given to the followers of the Sikh hero, Banda Singh Bahadur (1670-1716), who regarded him not only as a military leader but also as Guru next to Guru Gobind Singh in spiritual succession. They were opposed and ultimately expelled in 1721 by the mainstream of the Sikhs,

NIHALU CHADDHA, BHAI, was a devoted Sikh who lived in Agra. Once he, accompanied by Bhai Saktu Mahita, visited Amritsar to pay obeisance to Guru Arjan. According to Bhai Mani Singh, Sikhdn di Bhagat Maid, they sought instruction saying, "Some believe that liberation is not possible without virtuous actions;

BAVAN AKHARI, a poem constructed upon 52 (bavan) letters (akhar) of the alphabet. In this form of poetry each verse begins serially with a letter of the alphabet. The origin of the genre is traced to ancient Sanskrit literature. Since the Devanagari alphabet, employed in Sanskrit, comprises fifty-two (bavan, in

Neki, Jaswant Singh, one of the prominent Punjabi poets, was born in 1927. As a psychiatrist, he presents modem psychological insights through his experimental poems. He penetrates to the fundamentals of existence and through a lucid style recaptures vividly its subtle patterns and concepts. He is predominantly a poet

BENI, BHAGAT is one of the fifteen saints and sufis some of whose compositions have been incorporated in the Guru Granth Sahib. Very little is known about his personal life except that he spent most of his time in prayer and contemplation. Nabhaji`s Bhagatmal, which includes him in its