ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>DHARAMS&#256L&#256</TITLE> <style type="text/css"> .BODY { background-color: #EAF1F7; background-image: url('images/gtbh.jpg'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; background-position: center; color: #0066CC;} .C1{text-align: justify;color: #0066CC;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .BIB{text-align: center;color: #000099;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .CONT{text-align: right;color: #FF0000;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} </style><META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="DHARAMSL"> <META http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></HEAD> <BODY class="BODY" oncontextmenu="return false" ondragstart="return false" onselectstart="return false"> <FONT ALIGN="JUSTIFY" FACE="Tahoma"> <p class="C1">&#65279DHARAMS&#256L&#256 or <i>dharams&#257l</i> from Sanskrit <i>dharma&#347&#257l&#257</i>, lit. court of justice, tribunal, charitable asylum, religious asylum, stands in Punjabi for a place of worship or the village hospice. <i>Dharams&#257l&#257</i> as a Sikh institution is the precursor of <i>gurdw&#257r&#257</i> (q. v.). According to <i>janam s&#257kh&#299s</i>, accounts of the life of Gur&#363 N&#257nak (1469-1539), the Gur&#363, wherever he went, enjoined his followers to build or set apart a place where they should meet regularly to sing praises of the Lord and to discuss matters of common concern. These places came to be called <i>dharams&#257l&#257s</i> and the congregations assembling therein became <i>sa&#7749gats</i>. <i>Dharams&#257l&#257s</i> grew up in farflung places in the wake of Gur&#363 N&#257nak's extensive travels. In the time of the successive Gur&#363s, the main <i>dharams&#257l&#257</i> was the one which was the seat of the reigning Gur&#363. Gur&#363 Arjan, N&#257nak V, said in one of his hymns preserved in the Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib, "I have set up a true <i>dharams&#257l</i>, I seek out the Gur&#363's Sikhs and bring them here; I wash their feet, wave the fan over them, and I bow at their feet. . . . " (GG, 73). The washing of feet and waving of fan underline the importance of <i>dharams&#257l&#257</i> as a place for practising <i>sev&#257</i> (service), a highly prized virtue in Sikhism. Similarly, bowing at the feet of the Sikhs emphasizes the virtue of humility in <i>sa&#7749gat</i>. In another hymn, this one in honour of B&#257b&#257 Mohan, the elder son of Gur&#363 Amar D&#257s, held in high regard for his piety, Gur&#363 Arjan extols B&#257b&#257 Mohan's house as a <i>dharams&#257l&#257</i> for the saints who always gather there and sing praises of the Compassionate Lord (GG, 248). Besides providing opportunities for devotional worship and humble service, <i>dharams&#257l&#257s</i> functioned as religious asylums providing food and shelter to travellers and the needy. Gur&#363 N&#257nak had called this very earth as <i>dharams&#257l</i>, the place for practising <i>dharma</i> or religion, which in the Gur&#363's vision was not only individual piety but also an active way of life.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; After the installation of the Holy Book, Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib, in <i>dharams&#257l&#257s</i> from the seventeenth century onward, they came to be called <i>gurdu&#257r&#257s</i> or <i>gurdw&#257r&#257s</i>, portals of the Gur&#363, though the word <i>dharams&#257l&#257</i> is still current in popular speech.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Cole, W. Owen and Piara Singh Sambhi, <i>The Sikhs: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices </i>. Delhi, 1978.<BR> <li class="C1"> Harbans Singh <i>Berkley Lectures on Sikhism</i>. Delhi, 1963<BR> <li class="C1"> Kohli, Surindar Singh, <i>Sikh Ethics</i>. Delhi, 1974<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Major Gurmukh Si&#7749gh (Retd.)<br></p><BR> </font> <img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""> </HTML></BODY>