ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>NISH&#256N S&#256HIB</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="NISHN,SHIB"> <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">&#65279NISH&#256N S&#256HIB is the name for the tall Sikh flag which marks all <i>gurdw&#257r&#257s</i> and other religious premises of the Sikhs. <i>Nish&#257n</i> is a Persian word with multiple meanings, one of these being a flag or standard. S&#257hib, an Arabic word with the applied meaning of lord or master, is here used as an honorific. Thus Nish&#257n S&#257hib in the Sikh tradition means the holy flag or exalted ensign. A synonymous term is Jha&#7751&#7693&#257 S&#257hib (jha&#7751&#7693&#257 also meaning a flag or banner). The Sikh pennant, made out of saffron-coloured, occasionally out of blue-coloured, mainly in the case of Niha&#7749gs, cloth is triangular in shape, normally each of the two equal sides being double of the shorter one. The pennant is stitched to the mast sheath at the top which is also of the same cloth. On it is commonly printed or embroidered the Sikh emblem, comprising a kha&#7751&#7693&#257 (two-edged sword) and <i>chakra</i> (an edged circular weapon, a disc or quoit) and two <i>kirp&#257ns</i> which cross each other at the handles, with the blades flanking the <i>chakra</i>. Sometimes the flag would have inscribed on it <i>Ik O&#7749k&#257r</i>, term in the M&#363l Mantra signifying the Supreme Reality. The flagstaff has a steel <i>kha&#7751&#7693&#257</i> fixed on the top of it. No size is laid down for the Nishan S&#257hib. The two flags standing adjacent to each other betwixt the Harimandar and the Ak&#257l Takht at Amritsar are approximately 40 metres high. Nish&#257n S&#257hib is hoisted either in the compound of a <i>gurdw&#257r&#257</i> or on the top of the building itself. Sometimes there are two flags in a <i>gurdw&#257r&#257</i>, one in the premises and the other atop the edifice.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Outside of <i>gurdw&#257r&#257s</i>, the Nish&#257n S&#257hib is seen carried at the head of Sikh processions. In such public marches which generally take place on religious occasions, five Sikhs, designated as Pañj Pi&#257re, carry one each of the five Nish&#257n S&#257hibs in front of the palanquin in which the holy Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib is seated. Sikh public congregations as often as not open with the flag-hoisting ceremony at which Nish&#257n S&#257hib is unfurled by an eminent member of the Panth. Earlier in the time of Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh and during the eighteenth century, the Sikh armies, when on the march or in the battlefield, had the Sikh standard carried in front by <i>nish&#257nch&#299s</i> (standard-bearers). One of the Sikh <i>misls</i>, which in addition to being a fighting formation in its own right, perhaps provided nish&#257nch&#299s to other <i>misls</i>, was for this reason named Nish&#257n&#257&#7749v&#257l&#299 <i>misl</i>. In their <i>ard&#257s</i>, routine supplicatory prayer, Sikhs daily, and in fact every time they pray individually or collectively, recall <i>nish&#257n&#257&#7749 dh&#257m&#257&#7749 d&#299 kam&#257&#299</i>, the grandeur of their flags and holy places, and supplicate: <i>chauk&#299&#257&#7749, jha&#7751&#7693e, bu&#7749ge jugo jug a&#7789al</i> (may our choirs, standards and citadels flourish forever).</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The origin of the Nish&#257n S&#257hib is traced to the time of Gur&#363 Hargobind who hoisted a flag over the Ak&#257l Ta<u>kh</u>t (or Ak&#257l Bu&#7749g&#257) at Amritsar as it was erected in 1606. The flag, the first of its kind in Sikh tradition was called Ak&#257l Dhuj&#257 (the immortal flag) or Satgur&#363 k&#257 Nish&#257n (standard of the true Gur&#363). The flag on the top of the Harimandar was first installed by Sard&#257r Jha&#7751&#7693&#257 Si&#7749gh of the Bh&#257ng&#299 clan in 1771. In 1783, Ud&#257s&#299 Mahants Santokh D&#257s and Pr&#299tam D&#257s brought from &#7693er&#257 R&#257m R&#257i (Dehr&#257 D&#363n) a tall <i>s&#257l</i> tree in one piece and using it as the flagpost raised a Nish&#257n S&#257hib in front of a <i>bu&#7749g&#257</i> (a hospice or resting place) next to the Ak&#257l Ta<u>kh</u>t, whence this <i>bu&#7749g&#257</i> acquired the name <i>Jha&#7751&#7693&#257 Bu&#7749g&#257</i>. In 1820, Sard&#257r Des&#257 Si&#7749gh Maj&#299&#7789h&#299&#257 whom Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh had entrusted with the management of Darb&#257r S&#257hib, replaced the wooden flagpost with a steel one covered with gilded copper sheets. Later, a similar flagpost was also presented by the Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 himself, but this was not erected till 1841 when the one installed by the Maj&#299th&#299&#257 <i>sard&#257r</i> was damaged in a storm. Then the damaged flagpost was also got repaired and erected by Des&#257 Si&#7749gh's son, Lahi&#7751&#257 Si&#7749gh Maj&#299&#7789h&#299&#257, and two Nish&#257n S&#257hibs of equal height have been flying in front of Jha&#7751&#7693&#257 Bu&#7749g&#257 since then. Both these flag posts were of solid iron. After it had been decided to widen the <i>parikram&#257</i> (circumambulatory terrace around the <i>sarovar</i>), the two Nish&#257n S&#257hibs were pulled out and refixed a few metres away from the former site in 1923. In 1962, the Shiroma&#7751&#299 Gurdw&#257r&#257 Parbandhak Committee replaced them with new ones of steel pipes similarly sheathed with gilded copper sheets so that electric cables leading to the lights on top could pass through them.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> K&#257hn Si&#7749gh, Bh&#257&#299, <i>Gurmat Marta&#7751&#7693</i>. Amritsar, 1962<BR> <li class="C1"> Sumer Si&#7749gh, B&#257b&#257, <i>Sr&#299 Gurpad Prem Prak&#257sh</i>. Lahore, 1882<BR> <li class="C1"> Macauliffe; Max Arthur, <i>The Sikh Religion</i>. Oxford, 1909<BR> <li class="C1"> Cole, W.Owen and Piara Si&#7749gh Sambhi, <i>The Sikhs: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices</i>. Delhi, 1978<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Park&#257sh Si&#7749gh<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>