Nishan Sahib

Nishan is a Persian word for a sign or standard, and Sahib is an honorific. The pennant is triangular and sewn to a cloth sheath over the mast. It commonly bears the Sikh emblem: a khanda, a circular chakra and two crossed kirpans. Sometimes it carries Ik Oankar instead. There is no fixed size.

The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism describes the cloth as saffron, or occasionally blue, mainly among Nihangs. The English text of the Sikh Rehat Maryada describes it as yellow-orange or greyish blue, and says the top of the mast should have a spearhead or a khanda.[EoS][Src]

The origin is traced to Sri Guru Hargobind Ji, who raised a flag over the Akal Takht. It was called the Akal Dhuja or the true Guru's standard. In the eighteenth century, armies carried the flag ahead of them, and one misl, the Nishananvali, took its name from it.

The Encyclopaedia dates the first flag on Harmandir Sahib to Sardar Jhanda Singh of the Bhangi misl in 1771. In 1783, two Udasi mahants brought a great sal tree from Dehra Dun to serve as a mast beside the Akal Takht. Steel masts followed in the nineteenth century. Since 1841, a pair of equal height has stood in front of the Jhanda Bunga, between the Akal Takht and Harmandir Sahib. The SGPC replaced them in 1962. The pair stands about 40 metres high.[EoS]

The flag flies day and night at gurdwaras. In processions, five Sikhs chosen as Panj Piare carry the flags ahead of the palanquin that bears Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji. Public Sikh gatherings often open by raising it. Ardas remembers the flags among the things Sikhs hold sacred, and prays that they may stand from age to age.[EoS][Src][EoS]