Hukamnama
Hukamnama
Example shown on the left.
A Hukamnama refers to a hymn from the Guru Granth Sahib which is given as an order to Sikhs or a historical order given by one of the Gurus of Sikhism. The Hukamnama also refers to a hymn randomly selected from the Guru Granth Sahib on a daily basis. This is seen as the order of God for that particular day. The Hukamnama is distributed and then read aloud in Gurdwaras throughout the world. Hukamnama , is a compound of two Persian words “hukam”, meaning command or order, and “namah”, meaning letter. In the Sikh tradition, historically it refers to the letters sent by the Sikh Gurus to their Sikhs or sangats (congregation) in different parts of the country during the period of the Ten Gurus from 1469 to 1708. However, now it is used to refer to the Shabd (Sacred Hymn) that is read after the Ardaas prayer is said in the presence of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji. In this case the word is can also be shortened to just the “Guru’s Hukam”.