Singh \'Rup\', Harinder, born in 1907, was an eminent Punjabi poet of the neo-classical tradition in which emotion remains subdued. He published his poems in collections entitled Nave pandh (New paths, 1945) and Dunghe vahin (Deep streams, 1947). Rup did not develop a new style or content of his poetry; the subject as well as the technique are traditional. In Dunghe vahin, there is maturity and depth.
TEJ BHAN, BABA (d. 1533), affectionately referred to as Tejo in early chronicles, was the father of Guru Amar Das, Nanak III (1479-1574). A Khatri of the Bhalla clan, Tej Bhan was born to Baba Hariji and Mata Milavi of Basarke Gillari, a village 12 km southwest of Amritsar. He was married at the age of 12 to Bakht Kaur (also known as Lachhmi, Lakhmi or simply Lakkho) from a Duggal Khatri family. Guru Amar Das, born on 5 May 1479, was the eldest of their four sons, the other three being Ishar Das, Khem Rai and Manak Chand. The family lived partly by agriculture and partly by trade. According to Kesar Singh Chhibbar, Bansavalmama, Baba Tej Bhan died in Kattak 1590 Bk, corresponding to October 1533.
UGARU, BHAI, a native of Dalla, a village in present day Kapurthala district of the Punjab, was a devout Sikh of the time of Guru Amar Das. He was among those who waited upon the Guru when he visited Dalla and received initiation at his hands.
ATAR SINGH, SANT (1867-1927), of Gurdwara Reru Sahib at Rampur, in Ludhiana district in the Punjab, was born in March 1867 at the village of Lopon, now in Faridkot district. He was the son of Lal Singh, the village headman. Atar Singh was married in 1885 to Bishan Kaur ofTodarpur, a village near Samrala. A son, Indar Singh, was born to them in 1887.
GURMUKH SINGH, SANT (1849-1947), with titles such as Patialevale, Karsevavale or simply Sevavale commonly added to the name as a suffix, was born in an Arora family in 1849 at the village of Dialgarh Buna, in the princely state of Patiala. His parents, Karam Singh and Gurdet, were a pious couple. From his father, Gurmukh Singh learnt to read the Guru Granth Sahib. He was of a quiet nature and spent most of his time reciting gurbdm.
MANI SINGH, BHAI (d. 1737), scholar and martyr, came, according to Kesar Singh Chhibbar, his contemporary, of a Kamboj family, and according to some later chroniclers, following Giani Gian Singh, Panth Prakash, of a DullatJatt family of Kamboval village (now extinct), near Sunam (30°7`N, 75"48`E), in Sarigrur district of the Punjab. Mani Singh is said to have been brought in the early years of his birth to the presence of Guru Tegh Bahadur at Anandpur. He was approximately of the same age as the Guru`s own son, Gobind Singh, Both grew up together Gobind Rai [Das] and Mani Ram were the names they went by in those preKhalsa days. Man! Singh remained in his company even after he had ascended the religious seat as Guru.
RAM TIRATH, SVAMI (1897-1977), also known as Dandi Sannyasi (different from Rama Tirtha, Svami), was a recluse who after a prolonged spiritual quest turned to the Guru Granth Sahib. Born on 31 August 1897 to Pandit Balak Ram and Hari Devi, a Gaur Brahman family of the village of Tauhra, in the then princely state of Nabha, he received the name of Ram Pratap but was rechristened Svami Ram Tirath by Svami Narayan Tirath, an ex-principal of Queens College at Calcutta, who initiated him into sannydsm 1937. For his early education. Ram Tirath was apprenticed to a Pandit in Nabha from where he moved to Patiala to study Sanskrit grammar with Pandit Ram Basant Singh, his cousin and a famous Nirmala scholar, who later took him to the Nirmala akhdrd at Nankana Sahib, the birthplace of Guru Nanak, and taught him the Sikh texts.
SRI CHAND, BABA (1494-1629), the elder son of Guru Nanak and the founder of the ascetic sect of Udasis, was born to Mata Sulakkhani on Bhadon sudi9, 1551 Bk/8 September 1494 at Sultanpur Lodhi, now in Kapurthala district of the Punjab. After Guru Nanak left home on his travels to distant parts, Sri Chand`s mother took him and his younger brother, Lakhmi Das, to her parents` home at Pakkhoke Randhave on the left bank of the River Ravi. Sri Chand from the very beginning loved solitude and, as he grew up, he developed indifference to worldly affairs. At the tender age of eleven he left for Kashmir where he studied Sanskrit texts under Pandit Purushottam Kaul and later studied and practised yoga under Avinasha Muni.
AKUL, BHAI, a resident of Sultan pur Lodhi in present day Kapurthala district of the Punjab, embraced the Sikh faith in the time of Guru Amar Das. Bhai Gurdas in his Varan praises his sincerity and devotion to the Guru. Once Bhai Akul, along with several others from his village, waited on Guru Arjan and begged to be instructed in how sattvika gunas, or qualities of purity and goodness, might be cultivated.
BANARASI DAS. alias Banarasi Babu, who professed to be a Kuka Sikh, was originally a resident of Allahabad. Widely travelled, he had been to England in 1885-86 where he had met the deposed Maharaja Duleep Singh. On his return from England he went to Nepal, the favoured resort of the Kukas espousing Maharaja Duleep Singh`s cause. Banarasi Das preached insurrection against the British. He declared that Duleep Singh had joined hands with the Russians and would invade India via Kashmir. He wielded considerable influence among the Hindus who venerated him as a person of sanctity.
