AJUDHIA PARSHAD, DIWAN (1799-1870), soldier and civil administrator in Sikh times, was the adopted son of Diwan Ganga Ram. Maharaja Ranjit Singh first employed Ajudhia Parshad in 1819 to serve in the military office in Kashmir. Three years later, he was recalled to Lahore and appointed paymaster of the

ANJULIA (N), by Guru Arjan, is a short composition comprising two hymns entered in the Guru Granth Sahib under Maru musical measure (GG, 1019). This word anjulia (n) is the plural form of Sanskrit anjuli which means the joining together of palms in supplication, reverence or salutation. The word

ATTAR SINGH, SARDAR SIR (1833-1896), scholar nobleman, was a collateral of the rulers of Patiala, and belonged to the village of Bhadaur, in present day Sangrur district of the Punjab. He was born in 1833, the son of Kharak Singh. From the very beginning, he had a bent for

BABA, a Persian word meaning \'father\' or \'grandfather\', is used among Sikhs as a title of affection and reverence. In its original Persian context, Baba is a title used for superiors of the Qalandar order of the Sufis, but as transferred to India its meaning extends to cover the old

BHAI, of Indo Aryan origin (Sanskrit bhratr, Pali bhaya), means brother in its literal sense and is employed as an honorific as well as in the dominant familial sense and as a title of affection between equals. It has been used in the Guru Granth Sahib in the latter sense

BIR MRIGESH, full title SRI BIR MRIGESH GURBILAS DEV TARU, is a voluminous nineteenth century work by Bhai Sher Singh, a disciple of Baba Khuda Singh (1786-1861), who completed it in 1911. In bold Gurmukhi typography, the book runs to 1912 pages, divided into two parts comprising 847 and 1065

CHALI MUKTE, lit. forty (chalf) liberated ones (mukte), is how a band of 40 brave Sikhs who laid down their lives fighting near the dhab or lake of Khidrana, also called Isharsar, on 29 December 1705 against a Mughal force in chase of Guru Gobind Singh are remembered in Sikh

DARBARA SINGH, DlWAN (d. 1734), originally from the mercantile community of Sirhind, became a Sikh receiving the initiatory rites on 30 March 1699, the day the Khalsa was created, and took part in the battles of Anandpur. During the period after Banda Singh he commanded much esteem as a

DINRAIN, lit. (din + rain) day and night, is the title (dinraini) of a single 4stanza hymn by Guru Arjan Dev in the Majh measure (GG, 13637). The composition evidently follows the prosodic vogue of inscribing verses to kalkrama (process of time) embracing forms such as baramaha (twelve months

HIKAYAT is the title given to the eleven tales, in Persian verse but in Gurmukhi letters, in the Dasam Granth, immediately after the Zafamamah. The title `Hikayat` does not occur in the actual text, but most of the tales have a verse, coming after two or three invocational lines

KARHAIE is the title under which two compositions, each of ten verses, by Guru Ram Das appear in the Guru Granth Sahib in Raga Gaun Purabi. The title has been picked from the text of the hymns wherein the term karhale (plural form) or karhald (singular form) has been

RAGHBfR SINGH, RAJA (1834-1887), son of Raja Sarup Singh, ascended the throne of Jind on 31 March 1864 after the death of his father. He was an able and enlightened ruler, indefatigable in his efforts to promote the prosperity of his people. He built the town of Sarigrur on