Bet, the low land inside a river's flood plain. Bar, the high dry country between rivers before irrigation. Chos, seasonal torrents off the Shivaliks. Doab, the land between two rivers. Kandi, the belt along the foot of the hills.
Chak, a numbered canal colony village. Hadbast, a village's permanent revenue number. Khasra, a field number. Jamabandi, the record of rights. Shamlat, village common land. Patwari, the village revenue official. Girdawari, the crop inspection.
Misl, an eighteenth-century Sikh confederate band. Rakhi, the protection share they took. Gurmata, a binding resolution of the Sarbat Khalsa. Hukamnama, an edict, or the daily reading. Takht, a seat of temporal authority. Jathedar, its head. Jatha, a band or a party.
Got, a clan name. Muzara, a tenant farmer. Biswedar, the landlord he paid. Batai, the share he paid. Arhtiya, the commission agent. Mandi, the regulated market.
Vaar, a heroic ballad, and the word used for the chapters of this site. Qissa, a long narrative poem. Kafi, a Sufi lyric form. Boli, a giddha couplet. Dhadi, a ballad singer. Satth, the village gathering, which is what this project is named for.
The words used here are the ones people use. A pind is a village, a mandi a market, a chak a canal colony settlement, a got a clan, a bet a flood plain and a cho a hill torrent.
Where a term has an English equivalent that carries the wrong sense, the Punjabi is used: haveli for the cattle yard, satth for the men's gathering, daaj for the marriage goods.
Nothing here is transliterated to a standard. The spellings are the common ones in Punjabi English writing, and where a name has several spellings the page usually gives more than one.