ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>M&#256ÑJ&#298</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="MÑJ*"> <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">&#65279M&#256ÑJ&#298, derived from the Sanskrit <i>mañcha</i> and <i>mañchak&#257</i> meaning a stage, platform, raised seat, dais, throne, beadstead, or a couch, has a special connotation in Sikh tradition. Ordinarily, a <i>mañj&#299</i>, in Punjabi, means a cot, especially of the simple, stringed variety. Social manner in India requires that when more than one person are seated on the same cot, the one senior in age or superior in relationship should occupy the upper portion of it. But when someone commanding high social or spiritual status is present, he alone occupies the <i>mañj&#299</i>, while the others squat on the ground in front of or around it. When Gur&#363 Amar D&#257s, the third Gur&#363, appointed some leading Sikhs to cater for the needs of Sikh <i>sa&#7749gats</i> in different parts of the country, the districts or dioceses came to be known as <i>mañj&#299s</i>, from the <i>m&#257ñj&#299s</i> or high seats on which the incumbents sat when preaching the Gur&#363's word. According to Sikh chroniclers, Gur&#363 Amar D&#257s established 22 <i>mañj&#299s</i>. The persons appointed came to be called <i>masands</i>, a word derived from the Persian <i>masnad</i> also meaning, like the Sanskrit <i>mañchak&#257</i>, a throne or a couch. These <i>mañj&#299s</i> and <i>masands</i> played a significant role in knitting the Sikhs into a community. Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh abolished the institution of <i>masands</i> and, implicitly, of <i>mañj&#299s</i>, establishing a direct relationship with <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257, without any intermediaries.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The Gur&#363s themselves travelled widely and frequently to visit their devotees, individually or collectively organized in <i>sa&#7749gats</i> or holy fellowships. The Sikhs, naturally, had the Gur&#363 seated on a cot while they sat on the ground to listen to his sermon. After the Gur&#363's departure the Sikhs treated the places where the Gur&#363 had sat or stayed as sacred. Usually a platform was constructed on the spot, where they would assemble on festival occasions to pay reverence to the memory of the holy visit. Such a platform was reverentially called <i>mañj&#299 s&#257hib</i>. Later, as Sikhs came through a period of prolonged persecution and acquired power in the Punjab, small shrines were raised over these platforms and the Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib installed. Each such shrine or Gurdw&#257r&#257 was also called a <i>mañj&#299 s&#257hib</i>. It usually consisted of a small, domed building, square or octagonal in shape, with or without circumambulatory passage. Even those constructed on a grandiose scale and liberally endowed with land and cash grants by Sikh rulers continued to be similarly designated. This name is generally followed by a reference to the Gur&#363 whose visit the shrine commemorates &#8212like (Gurdw&#257r&#257) Mañj&#299 S&#257hib P&#257tsh&#257h&#299 Pahil&#299 &#8212shrine in honour of the first Gur&#363, i.e. Gur&#363 N&#257nak, and so on.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Gandhi, Surjit Singh, <i>Struggle of the Sikhs for Sovereignty</i>. Delhi, 1980<BR> <li class="C1"> Banerjee, Indubhusan, <i>Evolution of the Khalsa</i>. Calcutta, 1936.<BR> <li class="C1"> Fauja Singh, "Development of Sikhism under the Gur&#363s' in <i>Sikhism</i>. Patiala. 1969.<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>