Sikhism · Glossary

Glossary of Sikh history

The ideas, texts, schools, places, figures and pieces of evidence that recur across the series, each defined in a few sentences. The definitions summarise what the chapters argue; the dates and the evidence behind them are cited in the chapter each entry links to. Arabic, Persian and Turkish terms are given in a simple transliteration, with common spellings alongside.

A

Ādi Granth also Adi Granth Text: "The first book": the scripture Guru Arjan completed in 1604, with Bhāī Gurdās as scribe, and installed in the Harmandir Sāhib. It holds the hymns of the first five Gurus, of fifteen bhagats and of poets of the Gurus' court; with the ninth Guru's hymns added it became the Guru Granth Sāhib. More in The Gurus Build a Community
Ahmad Shāh Abdālī also Ahmad Shah Abdali, Abdālī, Abdali Person: The Afghan ruler whose repeated invasions the Khālsā fought. On 5 February 1762 he caught the Dal Khālsā near Malerkotla, the Vaḍḍā Ghallūghārā, and that April he blew up the Harmandir. More in Banda, Persecution and the Misls
Air India Flight 182 also Air India 182 Evidence: The airliner destroyed by a bomb off Ireland on 23 June 1985, killing all 329 aboard; a second bomb that day killed two baggage handlers at Narita. Investigators traced the plot to members of the Babbar Khālsā in British Columbia, and the only person convicted pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 2003. More in 1984
Akāl Takht also Akal Takht Place: "Throne of the Timeless One", facing the Harmandir Sāhib at Amritsar. Tradition says Guru Hargobind raised a platform there in 1606; the Khālsā's assemblies met before it and edicts are issued from it. Wrecked in June 1984, it was rebuilt by the Panth in the 1990s. More in Miri and Piri: The Sword Beside the Rosary
Akālī movement also Akali movement, Guru kā Bāgh, Guru ka Bagh Evidence: The campaign of 1920–1925 in which Sikh reformers took the historic gurdwaras from the mahants, through mass non-violent campaigns and some bloodshed, at Nankāṇā Sāhib, Guru kā Bāgh, Jaito and elsewhere. It ended with the Sikh Gurdwaras Act of 1925. More in Gurdwara Reform, Partition and Punjabi Suba
Akālīs also Akalis, Akālī, Akali Movement: "Followers of the Timeless One": in Ranjit Singh's time, the Khālsā warrior bands, also called Nihaṅgs, devoted to the Akāl Takht; from 1920, the volunteers of the gurdwara reform movement and the members of the Shiromaṇī Akālī Dal. More in Gurdwara Reform, Partition and Punjabi Suba
amritdhārī also amritdhari, Amritdhārī, Amritdhari Idea: A Sikh who has taken amrit, the Khālsā initiation, and keeps the Five Ks and the code. Most Sikhs are not amritdhārī; no census counts the proportion. More in Sikhs Today
Amritsar also Rāmdāspur, Ramdaspur Place: The town Guru Rām Dās began around a pool, by tradition in 1577, called Rāmdāspur or Chakk Gurū before it took its name from the pool ("pool of nectar"). The Harmandir Sāhib and the Akāl Takht stand there. More in The Gurus Build a Community
Anand Kāraj also Anand Karaj, Anand Marriage Act Idea: The Sikh marriage rite, in which the couple circle the Guru Granth Sāhib four times while the Lāvāṅ is sung, with no Brahmin and no fire. The Anand Marriage Act of 1909 declared such marriages valid while leaving other Sikh marriage customs valid too. More in Under the Raj: The Singh Sabhā and the Boundaries
Anandpur also Anandpur Sāhib, Anandpur Sahib, Chakk Nānakī Place: The town in the Śivālik hills that grew from Chakk Nānakī, founded by Guru Tegh Bahādur in 1665. Guru Gobind Singh held court there and founded the Khālsā there in 1699; he left it in December 1704. More in Miri and Piri: The Sword Beside the Rosary
Anandpur Sāhib Resolution also Anandpur Sahib Resolution Text: The Shiromaṇī Akālī Dal's statement of aims, adopted at Anandpur Sāhib in October 1973 and endorsed in revised form at Ludhiana in 1978. It asked for the Punjabi-speaking areas and for the centre's powers to be limited to four subjects, and named "the pre-eminence of the Khālsā" as its goal; several versions circulated. More in 1984
Anglo-Sikh wars also Anglo-Sikh War, First Anglo-Sikh War, Second Anglo-Sikh War Evidence: The two wars between the Lahore state and the British: the first after the army crossed the Sutlej in December 1845, the second after a revolt at Multān in 1848. The Sikh defeat at Gujrāt in February 1849 ended in the annexation of the Punjab on 29 March 1849. More in Ranjit Singh's Kingdom
Ardās also Ardas Text: The prayer recited at every Sikh service. It remembers the martyrs "cut joint by joint", keeps the words deg tegh fateh, and as the SGPC prints it asks for free access to Nankāṇā Sāhib and the other shrines left in Pakistan. More in Banda, Persecution and the Misls
Article 25 Evidence: The article of the Indian Constitution that guarantees freedom of religion. Its first Explanation protects the kirpān; its second says that "Hindus" in one clause includes Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists, to which Akālī leaders have objected since 1949. More in Gurdwara Reform, Partition and Punjabi Suba
Arya Samāj also Arya Samaj Movement: The Hindu reform society Dayānanda Sarasvatī founded in Bombay in 1875, strongest in Punjab. Some Sikh reformers joined it at first; the alliance broke in the 1880s over what it said of the Gurus, and its śuddhi of Rahtiā Sikhs in 1900 sharpened the quarrel. More in Under the Raj: The Singh Sabhā and the Boundaries

B

Bābā Rām Singh also Baba Ram Singh Person: Founder of the Nāmdhārīs (1816–1885), a carpenter's son of Bhainī in Ludhiana district who began his movement at Vaisākhī 1857. He disowned the violence of 1871–1872 but was deported, and died in Burma in 1885. More in Under the Raj: The Singh Sabhā and the Boundaries
Bābar-vāṇī also Babar Vani, Babarvani Text: Four hymns of Guru Nānak on Bābur's invasions of Punjab in the 1520s, named from a line saying "Bābar's command has gone forth". They describe the invasions as recent and seen, and show Guru Nānak alive and composing in that decade. More in Guru Nānak
Banda Singh Bahādur also Banda Singh Bahadur, Banda, Mādho Dās Person: A Bairāgī ascetic, Mādho Dās, who met Guru Gobind Singh at Nanded in 1708 and led a rising in Punjab that killed Wazīr Khān and sacked Sirhind in 1710. He ruled from Lohgaṛh and struck coins in the Gurus' names; he surrendered at Gurdās Nangal in December 1715 and was executed in Delhi in June 1716. More in Banda, Persecution and the Misls
Bandaī Khālsā also Bandai Khalsa, Bandaī Movement: Banda Singh Bahādur's followers, remembered as the rivals of the Tat Khālsā after his death. Kesar Singh Chhibbar wrote in 1769 that many regarded Banda as the eleventh Guru; they survived as a small following with a shrine near Riāsī in Jammu. More in Banda, Persecution and the Misls
Bandī Chhoṛ also Bandi Chhor, Bandī Chhoṛ Divas, Bandi Chhor Divas Idea: "Liberator of prisoners": Guru Hargobind's title, from the later tradition that on his release from Gwalior he freed fifty-two princes held with him. The name Bandī Chhoṛ Divas for the Sikh Dīvālī is modern. More in Miri and Piri: The Sword Beside the Rosary
bhagat also bhagats, Bhagats, bhagat bāṇī Idea: "Devotee": the scripture's name for the poets from outside the line of Gurus whose hymns it includes, fifteen of them in the Ādi Granth, among them Kabīr, Ravidās, Nāmdev and Shaikh Farīd. More in Punjab Before Guru Nānak
Bhāī Gurdās also Bhai Gurdas Person: A kinsman of the third Guru and the scribe of the Ādi Granth (d. 1636), whose forty Punjabi vārs are the earliest Sikh writing outside the scripture to survive. His first vār already tells of Guru Nānak's journeys to Mecca and Baghdad. More in How We Know
Bhāī Manī Singh also Bhai Mani Singh Person: A companion of Guru Gobind Singh who kept the Harmandir for Mātā Sundarī and is credited by tradition with compiling the Dasam Granth. Tradition says he was executed at Lahore, cut apart joint by joint; the year is given as 1734, 1737 or 1738. More in Banda, Persecution and the Misls

D

Dabistān-i Mazāhib also Dabistan-i Mazahib, Dabistān Evidence: A Persian survey of the religions of India and Iran, c. 1645–1658, by an author who had met Guru Hargobind and Guru Har Rāī, now usually identified as Mīr Zulfiqār Ardastānī. Its chapter on the followers of Guru Nānak describes the masands, the Guru's armed retinue and Guru Arjan's death. More in How We Know
Dal Khālsā also Dal Khalsa Movement: "The army of the Khālsā", in which, by Sikh tradition, the fighting bands were united at Amritsar at Vaisākhī 1748 under Jassā Singh Āhlūvālīā. A separate Dal Khālsā founded in 1978 was among the roots of the Khālistān movement. More in Banda, Persecution and the Misls
Damdamā Sāhib also Damdama Sahib, Talvaṇḍī Sābo, Talwandi Sabo Place: Talvaṇḍī Sābo in the Mālvā, where Guru Gobind Singh stayed for some months in 1705 and where, tradition says, the final recension of the scripture was prepared, with his father's hymns added. More in Guru Gobind Singh and the Khālsā
Damdamī Ṭaksāl also Damdami Taksal Movement: A seminary of Sikh learning that traces its line to Guru Gobind Singh's stay at Talvaṇḍī Sābo, based at Mehtā Chowk near Amritsar. Jarnail Singh Bhiṇḍrāṅwāle was its head from 1977, and it opposed the Nanakshahi calendar. More in 1984
Dasam Granth Text: "The book of the tenth [Guru]": a collection of about 1,400 pages attributed to Guru Gobind Singh, usually thought compiled after 1708. Several of its compositions are recited daily; whether he wrote all of it, part of it or little of it is the most heated textual argument in Sikh studies. More in Guru Gobind Singh and the Khālsā
deg tegh fateh also Deg Tegh Fateh Idea: The cooking-pot that feeds, the sword that protects, and victory: words from the couplet on Banda Singh Bahādur's seal, struck on the Sikh coins of Lahore from 1765 and on Ranjit Singh's Nānakshāhī rupees, and still in the Ardās. More in Banda, Persecution and the Misls
ḍerā also dera, Ḍerā, Dera Idea: "Camp": a religious centre around a living teacher, such as the Rādhā Soāmī Satsaṅg at Beās or the Ḍerā Sachā Saudā at Sirsā. Many Dalits follow them, and a ḍerā head who takes a Guru's role challenges the ending of the line of human Gurus in 1708. More in Sikhs Today
Ḍerā Sachkhaṇḍ Ballāṅ also Dera Sachkhand Ballan, Amritbāṇī Movement: A ḍerā near Jalandhar followed by many Ravidāsīās. After an attack on its two leaders in Vienna in 2009, it declared a separate religion, Ravidāsīā Dharam, in January 2010, and began to replace the Guru Granth Sāhib in its temples with its own scripture, the Amritbāṇī. More in Sikhs Today
Dharam Yudh Morcha Evidence: "Righteous war campaign": the Akālī Dal's agitation launched under Longowāl on 4 August 1982 from the Golden Temple complex, for the demands of the Anandpur Sāhib Resolution, the river waters and Chandigarh. Volunteers courted arrest in tens of thousands. More in 1984
Duleep Singh also Maharaja Duleep Singh Person: Ranjit Singh's youngest son (1838–1893), Maharaja at five, who signed away his kingdom and the Koh-i-Nūr in 1849. Baptised a Christian in 1853, he lived in England, received the Khālsā initiation at Aden in 1886 and died in Paris. More in Ranjit Singh's Kingdom

F

Five Ks also Five K's, five Ks, kakkār Idea: The five articles a Khālsā Sikh keeps, each beginning with k: kes (uncut hair), kaṅghā (comb), kaṛā (steel bracelet), kachhahirā (short breeches) and kirpān (sword). The practices are early; the formula of five is first clearly attested later, the first full list McLeod found dating from 1883. More in Guru Gobind Singh and the Khālsā

G

Ghadar also Ghadar Party, Ghadar movement, Ghadr Movement: A movement of Punjabi migrants on the Pacific coast, most of them Sikh, founded in 1913 and named after its paper, Ghadar ("rebellion"). Several thousand returned to India in 1914 to raise a rising, betrayed in February 1915; the British called them seditionists, Sikh memory honours them as martyrs. More in Under the Raj: The Singh Sabhā and the Boundaries
Ghallūghārā also Ghallughara, Chhoṭā Ghallūghārā, Vaḍḍā Ghallūghārā, Chhota Ghallughara, Vadda Ghallughara Evidence: "Great massacre" (often rendered "holocaust"): the Sikh name for two killings. In the Chhoṭā (lesser) Ghallūghārā of 1746 Sikh chronicles say about 7,000 were killed; in the Vaḍḍā (great) Ghallūghārā of 5 February 1762 Ahmad Shāh Abdālī caught the Dal Khālsā near Malerkotla, and Ṭahmās Khān put the Sikh dead at about 25,000, Ratan Singh Bhaṅgū at 30,000. More in Banda, Persecution and the Misls
Goindvāl also Goindval, Goindwal Place: A new settlement on the Beās at a ferry on the road between Lahore and Delhi, the seat of Guru Amar Dās, who dug its step-well, the first Sikh tīrath. Jahāṅgīr names it as Guru Arjan's seat. More in The Gurus Build a Community
Goindvāl pothīs also Goindval pothis, Goindwal pothis Evidence: Hymn collections copied under Guru Amar Dās at Goindvāl, dated by Gurinder Singh Mann to about 1570–1572. Two survive, held by descendants of the Guru's family; they are the oldest Sikh manuscripts and the earliest dated examples of Gurmukhī. More in How We Know
gurdwara also gurdwārā, Gurdwara, Gurdwārā Place: A Sikh place of worship. Most historic gurdwaras were held by hereditary mahants until the Akālī movement of 1920–1925, and the Sikh Gurdwaras Act of 1925 vested 241 of them in an elected Sikh body. More in Gurdwara Reform, Partition and Punjabi Suba
Gurmukhī also Gurmukhi Idea: "From the Guru's mouth": the script of the Sikh scriptures. Tradition credits Guru Aṅgad with creating it; historians hold that it grew from the Laṇḍā and Śāradā-family scripts of Punjab, which the early Gurus adopted and regularised. More in The Gurus Build a Community
Guru Amar Dās also Guru Amar Das, Amar Dās, Amar Das Person: The third Guru (1552–1574), a Bhallā Khatrī who became Guru at about seventy-three. At Goindvāl he dug the step-well, made the laṅgar a rule, organised the followers through the mañjīs and fixed Vaisākhī and Dīvālī as days of gathering; the Goindvāl pothīs were copied under him. More in The Gurus Build a Community
Guru Aṅgad also Guru Angad, Aṅgad, Angad, Lahaṇā Person: The second Guru (1539–1552): Lahaṇā, a Khatrī trader and by tradition once a devotee of the goddess, whom Guru Nānak renamed Aṅgad and installed in place of his own sons. He settled at Khaḍūr; about sixty of his saloks are in the scripture, and tradition credits him with creating Gurmukhī. More in The Gurus Build a Community
Guru Arjan also Arjan Person: The fifth Guru (1581–1606), Guru Rām Dās's youngest son, chosen over his elder brother Prithī Chand. He built the Harmandir Sāhib, completed the Ādi Granth in 1604 and died in Mughal custody at Lahore in 1606. Jahāṅgīr wrote that he ordered the execution; Sikh tradition remembers a martyrdom. More in The Gurus Build a Community
Guru Gobind Singh also Gobind Singh, Gobind Rāi, Gobind Rai Person: The tenth Guru (1675–1708), called Gobind Rāi in the sources of his early life. A ruler, poet and patron at Anandpur, he founded the Khālsā at Vaisākhī 1699, lost Anandpur and all four of his sons in 1704–1705, and died at Nanded in 1708, naming no human successor. More in Guru Gobind Singh and the Khālsā
Guru Granth Sāhib also Guru Granth Sahib, Granth Sāhib, Granth Sahib, Damdamā recension Text: The Sikh scripture in its standard form: the Ādi Granth with Guru Tegh Bahādur's hymns added, by tradition at Damdamā Sāhib in about 1706, though manuscripts with his hymns are older. Sikhs hold that Guru Gobind Singh made it the Guru; it is cited by aṅg in the standard 1,430-page layout. More in How We Know
Guru Har Krishan also Har Krishan, Harkrishan Person: The eighth Guru (1661–1664), named at five. Summoned to Delhi after Rām Rāī contested the succession, he died there of smallpox on 30 March 1664, aged about seven. By tradition his last words pointed to "the Bābā at Bakālā". More in Miri and Piri: The Sword Beside the Rosary
Guru Har Rāī also Guru Har Rai, Har Rāī, Har Rai Person: The seventh Guru (1644–1661), a grandson of Guru Hargobind. Sikh tradition says Dārā Shukoh called on him in 1658. He passed over his elder son, Rām Rāī, and named the five-year-old Guru Har Krishan before he died at Kīratpur. More in Miri and Piri: The Sword Beside the Rosary
Guru Hargobind also Hargobind Person: The sixth Guru (1606–1644), who succeeded his executed father at eleven. He kept horses, armed retainers and a court, was held for a time in Gwalior fort, fought Mughal officers between 1621 and 1635 and moved to Kīratpur. Tradition says he wore two swords, of mīrī and pīrī. More in Miri and Piri: The Sword Beside the Rosary
Guru Nānak also Guru Nanak, Nānak, Nanak, Bābā Nānak Person: The first Guru (1469–1539), born at Talvaṇḍī, now Nankāṇā Sāhib, into a Bedī Khatrī family. He worked at Sultānpur Lodhī, travelled for many years and spent his last years at Kartārpur on the Rāvī. Nearly a thousand of his hymns survive; most of the stories of his life come from the later janamsākhīs. More in Guru Nānak
Guru Panth also Guru Granth, Guru Panth Idea: The belief that after Guru Gobind Singh, who named no human successor, the Guru's authority passed to the scripture and to the Khālsā community. The couplet commanding Sikhs to accept the Granth as Guru is first found in later texts, in its familiar form in 1880. More in Guru Gobind Singh and the Khālsā
Guru Rām Dās also Guru Ram Das, Rām Dās, Ram Das Person: The fourth Guru (1574–1581), after whom the Guruship stayed in the Sodhī family. He began the pool and town of Rāmdāspur, later Amritsar, by tradition in 1577, and composed the Lāvāṅ, the marriage hymn. More in The Gurus Build a Community
Guru Tegh Bahādur also Guru Tegh Bahadur, Tegh Bahādur, Tegh Bahadur Person: The ninth Guru (1664–1675), Guru Hargobind's youngest son, recognised at Bakālā in 1664. He founded the settlement that became Anandpur, travelled as far as Assam, and was beheaded in Chāndnī Chowk, Delhi, on 11 November 1675; why is argued over. His hymns were added to the scripture later. More in Miri and Piri: The Sword Beside the Rosary

H

Ham Hindū Nahīṅ also Ham Hindu Nahin Text: "We are not Hindus": Kāhn Singh Nābhā's book of 1898, a dialogue arguing from the scripture and the codes that Sikh doctrine on caste, incarnation, images and ritual differs from Hindu doctrine. The first edition was signed with initials only. More in Under the Raj: The Singh Sabhā and the Boundaries
Harchand Singh Longowāl also Harchand Singh Longowal, Longowāl, Longowal Person: President of the Akālī Dal who launched the Dharam Yudh Morcha in 1982 and signed the Rajiv–Longowāl Accord in July 1985. He was shot dead in a gurdwara at Sherpur on 20 August 1985. More in 1984
Harjot Oberoi also Oberoi Person: Historian whose The Construction of Religious Boundaries (1994) argued that Sikh practice before the Singh Sabhā was plural and loosely bounded, and that the hard line between Sikh and Hindu was drawn after 1873. J. S. Grewal and others reply that a distinct Khālsā identity was already clear. More in Ranjit Singh's Kingdom
Harmandir Sāhib also Harmandir Sahib, Harmandir, Golden Temple, Darbār Sāhib, Darbar Sahib Place: The "temple of God" that Guru Arjan built in the pool at Amritsar, begun by tradition in 1588, where the Ādi Granth was installed in 1604. Abdālī blew it up in 1762; rebuilt from 1764, it was gilded under Ranjit Singh, hence its English name, the Golden Temple. More in The Gurus Build a Community
haumai also Haumai Idea: "I-me": in the Gurus' teaching, the self-centredness that keeps a person from God and binds them to rebirth. More in Guru Nānak
hukam also Hukam Idea: In the Gurus' teaching, the divine order or command within which everything happens. The Japjī's answer to how one becomes true is to walk in the hukam. More in Guru Nānak
hukamnāmā also hukamnama, Hukamnāmā, Hukamnama Text: A letter or edict: the letters of the Gurus and their widows to the congregations, and the edicts issued from the Akāl Takht, as against Gurmukh Singh in 1887 or the Ḍerā Sachā Saudā in 2007. More in Miri and Piri: The Sword Beside the Rosary

J

Jahāṅgīr also Jahangir Person: The Mughal emperor who wrote in his memoirs that he ordered Guru Arjan's property confiscated and his execution in 1606, after the Guru blessed the rebel prince Khusrau: the earliest datable non-Sikh reference to a Guru. He later had Guru Hargobind held in Gwalior fort. More in How We Know
Jallianwālā Bāgh also Jallianwala Bagh, Jallianwalla Bagh Evidence: An enclosed ground near the Harmandir Sāhib where, on Vaisākhī, 13 April 1919, troops under General Dyer fired 1,650 rounds into a crowd for about ten minutes. The official count was 379 dead; the Congress inquiry judged 1,000 no exaggeration. More in Under the Raj: The Singh Sabhā and the Boundaries
janamsākhī also janamsakhi, Janamsākhīs, Janamsakhis, Purātan, Bālā janamsākhī, Miharbān janamsākhī Text: A collection of stories (sākhīs) about Guru Nānak's life, written in Punjabi prose from the seventeenth century onward and read aloud in congregations. The main traditions are the Purātan, the Miharbān, the Bālā and the B40; W. H. McLeod judged most of their episodes legend. More in How We Know
Japjī also Japji, Japji Sahib, Japu Text: Guru Nānak's poem that opens the scripture: thirty-eight stanzas with an opening and a closing salok, recited every morning, beginning with the Mūl Mantar. Bhāī Gurdās says it was recited at Kartārpur before dawn. More in Guru Nānak
Jarnail Singh Bhiṇḍrāṅwāle also Bhiṇḍrāṅwāle, Bhindranwale, Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale Person: Head of the Damdamī Ṭaksāl from 1977 (1947–1984), who preached initiation and abstinence, lived in the Golden Temple complex from 1982 and in the Akāl Takht from December 1983, and was killed in Operation Blue Star. To many Sikhs he is a martyr; to the government of the day and many others he was responsible for the violence in Punjab. More in 1984
Jaṭs also Jats, Jaṭ Sikhs, Jat Sikhs Movement: A large caste of herders and cultivators who became the settled peasantry of central Punjab, joined the Sikh community in large numbers from the late sixteenth century and later became most of it. How much they shaped the turn to arms is debated. More in Punjab Before Guru Nānak

K

Kāhn Singh Nābhā also Kahn Singh Nabha Person: A scholar at the court of Nābhā (1861–1938) whose Ham Hindū Nahīṅ (1898) argued from scripture that Sikhs are not Hindus. Its title became the Tat Khālsā's slogan. More in Under the Raj: The Singh Sabhā and the Boundaries
Kartārpur also Kartarpur, Kartārpur Sāhib, Kartarpur Sahib Place: "The Creator's town": the settlement on the Rāvī where Guru Nānak spent his last years with the first community and died in 1539, now in Pakistan's Nārowāl district. Guru Arjan founded a second Kartārpur, in the Jalandhar Doāba, where the Kartārpur volume is kept. More in Guru Nānak
Kartārpur corridor also Kartarpur corridor, Kartarpur Corridor Evidence: The visa-free crossing from India to Kartārpur in Pakistan, agreed on 24 October 2019 and opened on 9 November 2019. Closed during the pandemic and reopened in November 2021, it has been closed by India since 7 May 2025. More in Sikhs Today
Kartārpur volume also Kartarpur volume, Kartārpur bīṛ, Kartarpur Bir Evidence: A large manuscript of the scripture kept by the Sodhī family at Kartārpur near Jalandhar, held by tradition and by its own dating to be Guru Arjan's master copy of 1604. Its status is argued over; most specialists accept it as that copy or a very early one. More in How We Know
keshdhārī also keshdhari, Keshdhārī, Keshdhari Idea: A Sikh who keeps uncut hair, men usually with a turban, without necessarily having taken the Khālsā initiation. More in Sikhs Today
Khālistān also Khalistan Idea: The independent Sikh state declared by five militant leaders in the Golden Temple complex on 29 April 1986. The demand had older roots; after 1984 several armed groups in Punjab and organisations in the diaspora fought for it, and it was never one organisation. More in 1984
Khālsā also Khalsa Movement: The order of initiated Sikhs founded by Guru Gobind Singh at Vaisākhī 1699, owing allegiance to the Guru directly rather than to the masands. The word, from Arabic khāliṣ, "pure", was already used of congregations that belonged to the Guru directly. The Khālsā has always been part of the community rather than the whole. More in Guru Gobind Singh and the Khālsā
khaṇḍe dī pāhul also khande di pahul, amrit, pāhul, charan pāhul Idea: "Initiation of the double-edged sword": the Khālsā rite of 1699, given by five initiated Sikhs, in which the initiate drinks water stirred with a khaṇḍā (amrit). Over the eighteenth century it displaced charan pāhul, water touched by the Guru's or a masand's foot. More in Guru Gobind Singh and the Khālsā
Khatrīs also Khatris, Khatrī, Khatri Movement: A Punjabi caste of traders, accountants and clerks who claimed Kṣatriya descent. All ten Gurus were Khatrīs: Guru Nānak was a Bedī, and from the fourth Guru the line was Sodhī. More in Punjab Before Guru Nānak
Khem Singh Bedī also Khem Singh Bedi Person: A descendant of Guru Nānak (1832–1905) who led the Amritsar side of the Singh Sabhā and held that Sikhs were part of the Hindu community: the leading Sanātan figure in Oberoi's account. More in Under the Raj: The Singh Sabhā and the Boundaries
kīrtan also kirtan, Kīrtan, Kirtan Idea: Hymns sung to music, sung at Kartārpur in the evening and at the centre of Sikh worship since. The Rahit Maryādā lets any Sikh perform it in the congregation; women are not among the rāgīs who sing in the Harmandir Sāhib's sanctum day to day. More in Sikhs Today

L

laṅgar also langar, Langar, Laṅgar Idea: The free communal kitchen where all eat together regardless of caste, part of every gurdwara today. Its earliest mention is in the ballad of Sattā and Balvaṇḍ in the scripture; the rule that visitors eat before seeing the Guru is attributed to Guru Amar Dās. More in Guru Nānak

M

mahant also mahants, Mahant, Mahants Idea: A custodian of a shrine. In 1920 most historic gurdwaras were held by mahants, many of them Udāsīs, who passed them on as their own; the Akālī movement of 1920–1925 took the shrines from them. More in Gurdwara Reform, Partition and Punjabi Suba
Mandla v Dowell Lee also Mandla v. Dowell Lee Evidence: The House of Lords judgment of 24 March 1983 that Sikhs are an ethnic group under the Race Relations Act 1976, so that a Birmingham school's rule against a Sikh boy's turban was unlawful discrimination. More in Sikhs Today
mañjī also manji, Mañjī Idea: "Cot", the seat from which a teacher spoke. Guru Amar Dās is credited with organising his followers through deputies each holding a mañjī; the tradition counts twenty-two. More in The Gurus Build a Community
Mardānā also Mardana, Bhai Mardana Person: Guru Nānak's companion on the road in every tradition: a Muslim of the Ḍūm or Mirāsī caste of musicians, from Talvaṇḍī, who played the rabāb while the Guru sang. Bhāī Gurdās names him, and his descendants, the rabābīs, sang at the Harmandir Sāhib into the twentieth century. More in Guru Nānak
martial races also martial race, Martial races Idea: The British army's doctrine, after 1857, that some peoples, mostly of the north and north-west, were born soldiers. Jaṭ Sikhs stood near the top of the list, and the army required its Sikh recruits to keep uncut hair and take the Khālsā initiation. More in Under the Raj: The Singh Sabhā and the Boundaries
masand also masands, Masand, dasvandh Idea: A deputy of the Gurus, from Persian masnad-i ʿālī, who taught in the Guru's name and gathered the offerings, among them the dasvandh, a tenth of income. The masands became a rival authority, and Guru Gobind Singh removed them when he founded the Khālsā in 1699. More in The Gurus Build a Community
Master Tārā Singh also Master Tara Singh Person: The Akālī leader of the 1940s and 1950s and of the Punjabi Suba campaign. He gave up a fast in 1961 after forty-eight days on the promise of a commission; a panel of Pañj Piāre set him a penance, and it broke his leadership. More in Gurdwara Reform, Partition and Punjabi Suba
Mātā Sundarī also Mata Sundari Person: A wife of Guru Gobind Singh who lived in Delhi until her death in 1747 and guided the community for decades after 1708. Her hukamnāmās of 1717–1730 address "the Khālsā of Akāl Purakh" and claim no Guruship. More in Banda, Persecution and the Misls
Mīṇās also Minas, Mīṇā, Prithī Chand Movement: "Dissemblers": their opponents' name for the line of Prithī Chand, Guru Arjan's elder brother, which set up as Gurus, held the Harmandir for much of the seventeenth century and produced the Miharbān janamsākhī. More in The Gurus Build a Community
mīrī and pīrī also Mīrī-pīrī, Miri-Piri, Miri Piri, miri piri Idea: Worldly and spiritual authority, from Persian mīr, commander, and pīr, Sufi master. Tradition says Guru Hargobind put on two swords for them in 1606; the story of the two named swords is told in later texts, and the swords flank the khaṇḍā in the Sikh emblem. More in Miri and Piri: The Sword Beside the Rosary
misl also misls, Misl, Misls Movement: One of the armed confederacies of the Khālsā's fighting bands in the mid-eighteenth century, each under its own sardār: Bhaṅgī, Āhlūvālīā, Rāmgaṛhīā, Kanhaiyā, Sukkarchakkīā and others. The usual count of twelve is a later convention; after 1765 they ruled their own territories until Ranjit Singh absorbed them. More in Banda, Persecution and the Misls

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nām also naam, nām simaran Idea: In the Gurus' teaching, the divine Name: not a word chanted for its own sake but God's whole nature as revealed. To remember the Name (nām simaran) is the centre of the discipline Guru Nānak taught. More in Guru Nānak
Nāmdhārīs also Namdharis, Nāmdhārī, Namdhari, Kūkās, Kukas, Kūkā, Kuka Movement: "Bearers of the Name": followers of Bābā Rām Singh from 1857, who wore white, protected cows, boycotted British institutions and hold that the line of living Gurus did not end in 1708. Called Kūkās, "shouters"; sixty-five or more were blown from guns at Malerkoṭlā in January 1872 without trial. More in Under the Raj: The Singh Sabhā and the Boundaries
Nanakshahi calendar also Nānakshāhī calendar, Nanakshahi Calendar Idea: A solar calendar devised by Pal Singh Purewal, counting years from Guru Nānak's birth in 1469 and fixing Sikh anniversaries to the solar year. Approved in 2003 and amended in 2010, it is still disputed, and some anniversaries are marked on two days. More in Sikhs Today
Nankāṇā Sāhib also Nankana Sahib, Nankāna Sāhib, Talvaṇḍī, Talvaṇḍī Rāi Bhoe Place: Guru Nānak's birthplace, the village of Talvaṇḍī Rāi Bhoe west of Lahore. On 20 February 1921 the mahant's men killed a jathā of reformers in its Janam Asthān gurdwara; it went to Pakistan in 1947. More in Gurdwara Reform, Partition and Punjabi Suba
Nāth yogīs also Nath yogis, Nāths, Kānphaṭa Movement: An order of Śaiva ascetics tracing their teaching to Gorakhnāth and practising haṭha yoga, known by the rings through their split ears, the patched coat and the ash. Guru Nānak's hymns argue with them more than with any other group. More in Punjab Before Guru Nānak
Nihaṅgs also Nihangs, Nihaṅg, Nihang Movement: Khālsā warriors in dark blue with high turbans ringed with steel, organised in the Buḍḍhā Dal and the Taruṇā Dal, who trace their orders to the eighteenth-century Khālsā armies, a lineage some dispute. They keep their own maryādā, giving more weight to the Dasam Granth than the SGPC does. More in Sikhs Today
Nirankārīs also Nirankaris, Nirankārī, Bābā Dayāl Movement: Followers of Bābā Dayāl (1783–1855) of Peshawar and Rawalpindi, who preached worship of God as nirankār, "the formless", condemned images and Brahmanical rites, and married by walking round the scripture. They are distinct from the twentieth-century Sant Nirankārīs. More in Under the Raj: The Singh Sabhā and the Boundaries
Nirmalās also Nirmalas, Nirmalā, Nirmala Movement: A learned order whose members studied Sanskrit and read the Gurus' hymns in the terms of Vedānta. Like the Udāsīs, they kept many gurdwaras through the eighteenth century without keeping the Khālsā form. More in Banda, Persecution and the Misls
November 1984 killings also 1984 anti-Sikh riots, 1984 anti-Sikh violence Evidence: The attacks on Sikhs in Delhi and other cities after Indira Gandhi was shot by two Sikh bodyguards on 31 October 1984. The official count is 2,733 dead in Delhi and 3,325 across India; a civil liberties report of November 1984 and the Nanavati Commission of 2005 found the attacks organised. More in 1984

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Operation Blue Star also Blue Star, Operation Bluestar Evidence: The Indian army's assault on the Golden Temple complex, 1–8 June 1984, to remove Bhiṇḍrāṅwāle's armed followers from the fortified Akāl Takht. The Akāl Takht was wrecked and the Sikh Reference Library burned; the White Paper counted 493 in its single "civilian/terrorist" category and 83 soldiers dead there, and other estimates run far higher. More in 1984

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Pañj Pyāre also Panj Pyare, Pañj Piāre, Panj Piare, Five Beloveds Idea: "The Five Beloveds": in the tradition's account of Vaisākhī 1699, the five who offered their heads and were the first initiated, and who then initiated the Guru; the scene is told in full only in later texts. Panels of five initiated Sikhs still act for the Panth. More in Guru Gobind Singh and the Khālsā
Panth also panth Idea: "The path": the community of the Gurus' followers, a name the early community used of itself beside "followers of Nānak" (Nānakpanthīs). More in How We Know
Partition also Radcliffe line Evidence: The division of Punjab between Pakistan and India along the Radcliffe line in August 1947. Nankāṇā Sāhib and Kartārpur went to Pakistan, almost every Sikh in western Punjab left or was killed, and estimates of the dead across the partition run from about 200,000 to two million. More in Gurdwara Reform, Partition and Punjabi Suba
Punjabi Suba also Punjabi Sūbā, Punjabi Suba movement Evidence: The Akālī Dal's campaign, from the late 1940s to 1966, for a Punjabi-speaking state, argued on grounds of language and opposed as a demand for a Sikh-majority state. The Punjab Reorganisation Act created it on 1 November 1966, with Haryana separate and Chandigarh a union territory. More in Gurdwara Reform, Partition and Punjabi Suba

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rahitnāmā also rahitnama, Rahitnāmās, Rahitnamas, rahit Text: A code of conduct for the Khālsā, attributed to companions of the Guru such as Nand Lāl and Chaupā Singh or presented as records of his words. McLeod dated them from 1718–19 to the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century; how much reaches back to 1699 is argued. More in Banda, Persecution and the Misls
rākhī also rakhi Idea: "Protection": the share of revenue, usually put at a fifth, that villages paid the misls twice a year in return for being left alone and defended against others; the step between raiding and government. More in Banda, Persecution and the Misls
Rām Rāīyās also Ram Raiyas, Rām Rāī, Ram Rai Movement: The followers of Rām Rāī, Guru Har Rāī's elder son, whom tradition says was passed over for altering a line of Guru Nānak's at Aurangzeb's court. He settled under Mughal patronage at Dehra Dun, which takes its name from his ḍerā. More in Miri and Piri: The Sword Beside the Rosary
Ranjit Singh also Maharaja Ranjit Singh Person: The chief of the Sukerchakia misl (1780–1839) who took Lahore in 1799, was proclaimed Maharaja in 1801 and built a kingdom from the Sutlej to the Khyber. He ruled in the Khālsā's name, kept ministers of every community and paid for the gilding of the Harmandir Sāhib. More in Ranjit Singh's Kingdom
Ravidās also Ravidas Person: A poet of Banaras, of a caste traditionally assigned leather work, one of the Sant poets; about forty hymns under his name are in the Guru Granth Sāhib. The Ravidāsīās venerate him. More in Punjab Before Guru Nānak
Ravidāsīās also Ravidasias, Ravidāsīā, Ravidasia, Ravidassia Movement: Dalits, many of a caste traditionally assigned leather work, who venerate the poet Ravidās. Many were Sikhs or kept the Guru Granth Sāhib in their temples; in 2010 the Ḍerā Sachkhaṇḍ Ballāṅ declared a separate Ravidāsīā religion, which not all of them followed. More in Sikhs Today

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sabad also shabad, Shabad, śabda Idea: In the Gurus' teaching, the Word: God's self-revelation, heard through the Guru and sung in the hymns. More in Guru Nānak
sahajdhārī also sahajdhari, Sahajdhārī, Sahajdhari Idea: Literally a "slow adopter": a Sikh who follows the Gurus and the scripture but does not keep uncut hair. Since 2003, confirmed by Parliament in 2016, sahajdhārīs may not vote in SGPC elections. More in Sikhs Today
sāhibzāde also Sahibzade, Sāhibzāde Person: The four sons of Guru Gobind Singh: Ajīt Singh and Jujhār Singh, killed in the fighting at Chamkaur, and Zorāwar Singh and Fateh Singh, aged about eight and six, executed at Sirhind. Their deaths are commemorated every December. More in Guru Gobind Singh and the Khālsā
Sainapati also Srī Gur Sobhā, Sri Gur Sobha Person: A poet of Guru Gobind Singh's court whose Srī Gur Sobhā, dated in the text 1701 or 1711 (the later usually preferred), is the earliest account of the Khālsā's founding. It describes the removal of the masands and the new initiation, not the call for five heads. More in Guru Gobind Singh and the Khālsā
Sanātan Sikhs also Sanatan Sikhs, Sanātan Sikhism, Sanatan Sikhism Movement: "Everlasting" Sikhs: Harjot Oberoi's name for the plural, loosely bounded Sikh practice of the early nineteenth century, and for the Singh Sabhā side, led by Khem Singh Bedī, that accepted Hindu rites and the authority of the Gurus' descendants. Grewal and others reply that the Khālsā norm was already dominant. More in Ranjit Singh's Kingdom
saṅgat also sangat, Sangat, Saṅgat Idea: A congregation of Sikhs. From Guru Amar Dās's time the scattered saṅgats were organised through deputies, first the holders of mañjīs and then the masands. More in Guru Gobind Singh and the Khālsā
Sant Nirankārīs also Sant Nirankari, Sant Nirankārī, Sant Nirankaris Movement: A twentieth-century movement with a living Guru. A clash at their Amritsar convention on 13 April 1978 left thirteen of the Sikhs who marched against them and two or three Nirankārīs dead; a few months later the Akāl Takht told Sikhs to sever ties with them, and their leader Gurbachan Singh was shot dead in Delhi in 1980. More in 1984
Sant tradition also Sants, Sant poets Movement: Scholars' name, fixed by Karine Schomer and W. H. McLeod's The Sants (1987), for the poets of northern India such as Kabīr, Ravidās and Nāmdev who worshipped a formless God and rejected images, caste and ritual. Whether Guru Nānak was one of them is one of the field's oldest arguments. More in Punjab Before Guru Nānak
Sarbat Khālsā also Sarbat Khalsa, gurmatā Idea: "The whole Khālsā": the assembly of the misl chiefs at Amritsar, which took decisions called gurmatās before the Akāl Takht in the presence of the scripture. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism records the last of the period in 1805; a gathering called as a Sarbat Khālsā met again in January 1986. More in Banda, Persecution and the Misls
Sarkār-i Khālsā also Sarkar-i Khalsa, Sarkār Khālsājī Idea: "The government of the Khālsā": the name of Ranjit Singh's state, which bore no king's name and struck its coins, the Nānakshāhī rupees, in the Gurus' names. More in Ranjit Singh's Kingdom
Shaikh Farīd also Bābā Farīd, Baba Farid, Sheikh Farid, Farīd Person: Farīd al-Dīn Masʿūd Ganj-i Shakar (d. 1265), the great Chishtī Sufi of Punjab, buried at Pākpattan. The section headed Salok Shaikh Farīd has 130 couplets; eleven are headed as the Gurus' own, and the usual count, Pashaura Singh's, gives 112 to Farīd and 18 to the Gurus answering him; Macauliffe credited them instead to a later head of his shrine, and the question is still argued. More in Punjab Before Guru Nānak
Shiromaṇī Akālī Dal also Shiromani Akali Dal, Akālī Dal, Akali Dal Movement: The body formed on 14 December 1920 to organise the volunteers of the gurdwara reform movement, which became the main Sikh political party. It led the Punjabi Suba campaign and adopted the Anandpur Sāhib Resolution in 1973. More in Gurdwara Reform, Partition and Punjabi Suba
Shiromaṇī Gurdwārā Parbandhak Committee also SGPC, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee Movement: The "supreme committee for gurdwara management", created at an assembly before the Akāl Takht on 15 November 1920 and made a statutory body elected by Sikh voters by the Sikh Gurdwaras Act of 1925. It manages the historic gurdwaras of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh, and approved the Sikh Rahit Maryādā. More in Gurdwara Reform, Partition and Punjabi Suba
Sikh Gurdwaras Act also Gurdwaras Act Evidence: The Punjab law of 1925 that listed 241 historic shrines as Sikh gurdwaras and vested them in an elected body, the SGPC. It gave the first legal definition of a Sikh, by declaration of belief; later amendments defined the amritdhārī, sahajdhārī and patit. More in Gurdwara Reform, Partition and Punjabi Suba
Sikh Rahit Maryādā also Sikh Rehat Maryada, Rahit Maryādā, Rahit Maryada Text: The SGPC's code of conduct, drafted from the early 1930s, approved in 1945 and published in 1950: the first agreed by a representative body for the whole community. It defines a Sikh and sets the Ardās, the services, the initiation, the Five Ks and the four prohibitions. More in Gurdwara Reform, Partition and Punjabi Suba
Singh and Kaur Idea: Singh, "lion", already used by Rajputs, is the name Sikh tradition says Guru Gobind Singh gave every man initiated into the Khālsā in 1699. Kaur, a princely title, is given to Sikh women today; Doris Jakobsh has argued that it became the required name of all Sikh women only in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. More in Guru Gobind Singh and the Khālsā
Singh Sabhā also Singh Sabha, Singh Sabhas, Chief Khālsā Dīwān Movement: The Sikh reform movement begun with the Srī Gurū Singh Sabhā of Amritsar in 1873 and a more thoroughgoing reformist Sabhā at Lahore in 1879, brought together in the Chief Khālsā Dīwān in 1902. Its societies founded schools and presses, campaigned against practices they judged un-Sikh and won the Anand Marriage Act of 1909. More in Under the Raj: The Singh Sabhā and the Boundaries
Sirhind Place: The Mughal town whose governor, Wazīr Khān, executed Guru Gobind Singh's two younger sons. Banda Singh Bahādur took and sacked it in 1710, and the Dal Khālsā took it again in January 1764. More in Banda, Persecution and the Misls

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Tat Khālsā also Tat Khalsa Movement: "The true Khālsā": in the eighteenth-century tradition, the Sikhs loyal to Mātā Sundarī against Banda's followers; in the Singh Sabhā, the more thoroughgoing reformist wing that held the Khālsā to be the norm and the Sikhs a religion separate from Hinduism. Its view prevailed. More in Under the Raj: The Singh Sabhā and the Boundaries

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Udāsīs also Udasis, Udāsī, Udasi Movement: An ascetic order ("the detached") tracing its origin to Guru Nānak's son Srī Chand, which kept the Gurus' hymns with ascetic practices the Gurus rejected. Udāsī mahants held many Sikh shrines in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and lost many of them under the Gurdwaras Act of 1925. More in Banda, Persecution and the Misls

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Vaisākhī also Vaisakhi, Baisakhi Idea: The spring festival that Guru Amar Dās fixed as a day for Sikhs to gather at the Guru's seat. Guru Gobind Singh founded the Khālsā at Vaisākhī 1699, and the Jallianwālā Bāgh shooting of 13 April 1919 fell on it. More in Guru Gobind Singh and the Khālsā

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W. H. McLeod also McLeod, William Hewat McLeod Person: New Zealand historian (1932–2009) whose Guru Nanak and the Sikh Religion (1968) sorted the janamsākhī stories and set Guru Nānak's teaching in the Sant tradition. He later argued that the Khālsā's code took its fixed form gradually, and his work drew organised replies. More in How We Know

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Zafarnāmā also Zafarnama Text: "Letter of victory": a Persian poem to Aurangzeb attributed to Guru Gobind Singh, written about 1705–1706, reproaching the emperor's commanders for broken oaths and defending the resort to arms. Most scholars accept it as the Guru's; it is in the Dasam Granth. More in Guru Gobind Singh and the Khālsā