ACROSTIC :At the age of seven Guru Nanak went to school and the schoolmaster wrote the alphabet on a wooden tablet for Nanak. After just one day Nanak copied the alphabet from memory and made an acrostic on the alphabet. The acrostic called the Patti or tablet in the

PAINTIS AKKHARI, lit., a poem based on paintis or thirty-Five letters, is a composition in the form of an acrostic utilizing for successive verses the thirty-five characters of the Gurmukhi alphabet. The poem is sometimes attributed to Guru Nanak but mistakenly, for it is not included in the Guru

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

SATI or sachch, Punjabi form of the Sanskrit satya or sat, lit. truth, in the philosophical sense is essential and ultimate reality as against inessential or partial truth. Rooted in Sanskrit as meaning "to be, live, exist, be present, to abide, dwell, stay", satya means " true, real, pure," as

DAN (Skt. dana from the root da `to give`) means the act of giving or that which is given either as charity or alms or as offering, fee or reward for spiritual instruction received or for religious rite or ritual performed. The latter, however, is more appropriately called daksina.

SATNAMI. The word satnami is derived from satnam, lit. the True Name , a term used in some religious traditions including Sikhism to denote the Supreme Being. Literally, a Satnami is one who believes in and worships only the True Being and as such every Sikh is a Satnami.

DHESI, BHAI, and Bhai Jodh, both Brahmans converted to Sikhism, once came to Guru Arjan and complained, "0 True King ! other Brahmans treat us as out castes, for they tell us that by taking a Khatri as a guru, by discarding Sanskrit, the language of the gods, and

SIDH GOSTI, i.e. dicourse or dialogue with the Siddhas or mystics adept in hatha yoga and possessing supernatural powers, is the title of one of Guru Nanak`s longer compositions recorded in the Guru Granth Sahib. A goshti (gostln) seeks to expound the respective doctrines of scholars or saints participating

DHARMARAJA (DHARAMRAI) Dharamrai (Dharmaraja) has been created by the Lord, therefore he does not come near a devotee and servant of the Lord. (Var Bihagra M. 4, p. 555) By the remembrance of the Name, all the troubles end and the papers of Dharamrai are torn. (Prabhati M. 5,

SORATHI KI VAR, or Ragu Sorathi Var Mahale Chauthe KI as is the full title recorded at the head of the text in the Guru Granth Sahib contrasting the short title in the index, is one of the eight vars composed by Guru Ram Das. It comprises twenty-nine pauns, i.e.

GAURI KI VAR, by Guru Ram Das, is one of his seven vars in a total of twenty-two in the Guru Granth Sahib. As the title indicates, the Vdr is cast in the Gauri musical measure a rdga commonly sung in the evening. In Sikh Scripture, Gaun is the

SUCHAJl (SUCHAJJI), literally, a woman of good manner and accomplishment, is the title of one of Guru Nanak`s compositions, in measure Suhi, in the Guru Granth Sahib. Antithetically, it follows another of his compositions called Kuchaji (literally, an awkward, illmannered woman). Suchaji (`sn`, meaning good or appropriate; `chaf meaning