<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>PA&#7748GAT</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="PAṄGAT">
<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">&#65279PA&#7748GAT, from Sanskrit <i>pankti</i> (lit. a row, line, series, or a group, assembly, company), stands in Sikh terminology for commensality or sitting together on the ground in a row to partake of food from a common kitchen regardless of caste, creed, sex, age or social status. <i>Pa&#7749gat</i> is thus a synonym for Gur&#363 k&#257 La&#7749gar, an institution of fundamental importance in Sikhism. It is customary for diners in the Gur&#363 k&#257 La&#7749gar to sit side by side in a <i>pa&#7749gat</i> or row when food is served to them by <i>sev&#257d&#257rs</i> or volunteers. The institution of Gur&#363 k&#257 La&#7749gar itself thereby came to be referred to as <i>pa&#7749gat</i>. Another reason for the popularity of the term probably is its alliterative and sonorous affinity to <i>sa&#7749gat</i> or holy congregation, another basic institution of the Sikhs. As, later in Sikh history, <i>deg</i> (lit. kettle) came to stand for Gur&#363 k&#257 La&#7749gar because it rhymed with <i>te<u>gh</u></i> (lit. sword), so did <i>pa&#7749gat</i> for rhyming with <i>sa&#7749gat</i>. The earliest use of <i>pa&#7749gat</i> in Sikh literature appears in Bh&#257&#299 Gurd&#257s (d.1636), poet and exegete, in his <i>V&#257r&#257&#7749</i>, XVII.12, where it matches <i>sa&#7749gat</i> to produce resonant effect : <i>"ha&#7749s va&#7749su nihchal mat&#299 sa&#7749gati pa&#7749gati s&#257thu ba&#7751and&#257</i> &#8212 firm believers of the tribe of swans (i.e. the Sikhs) made appropriate company in <i>sa&#7749gat</i> and <i>pa&#7749gat</i> &#8212 in <i>sa&#7749gat</i> they pray together, in <i>pa&#7749gat</i> they eat together. Gur&#363 Amar D&#257s (1479-1574) attached particular importance to <i>pa&#7749gat</i>. He expected every visitor to partake of food in it before seeing him. This gave rise to the popular saying : <i>pahile pa&#7749gat pachhe sa&#7749gat</i> eating together must take precedence over meeting together.</p>
</font>
<p class="BIB">
BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Banerjee, Indubhusan, <i>Evolution of the Khalsa</i>. Calcutta, 1936<BR>
<li class="C1"> Macaulife, Max Arthur, <i>The Sikh Religion</i>. Oxford, 1909<BR>
<li class="C1"> Gi&#257n Si&#7749gh, Gi&#257n&#299, <i>Panth Prak&#257sh</i>. Delhi, 1880<BR>
<li class="C1"><i>&#346abad&#257rth Sr&#299 Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib</i>. Amritsar, 1964<BR>
</ol><p class="CONT">Bhagat Si&#7749gh<br></p><BR>
</font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>
�