Biographical

CHARPAT NATH, one of the yogis whom, according to the Miharban Janam Sakhi, Guru Nanak met on Mount Sumer, was a Gorakhpanthi recluse. Guru Nanak himself mentions his name twice in his compositions in the Guru Granth Sahib in his Si`dh Gosti and in another hymn in Raga Ramkali. In the Sidh Gosti (lit. discourse or dialogue with the Siddhas), Charpat is stated to have put this question to him: "How is one to go across the world described as an impassable ocean?" Answers the Guru: As unaffected liveth the lotus in water, And the duck, So with the mind fixed on the Word, One swimmeth across the Ocean of Existence.

DUDDUN RAM, a saintly person of Pandori, in present day Amritsar district of the Punjab. He gave shelter in his dera at Pandori to some Sikh women and children when the Sikhs were being hounded out in 1817 Bk / AD 1760 by the joint forces of the subahs of Sirhind, Multan and Lahore under the orders of Ahmad Shah. A Niranjania informed the Mughal scouts, who searched the dera. As no Sikhs were apprehended inside the dera, Duddun Ram and his disciples were tortured, but they gave out nothing.

GURDITTA BHATHIARA was, according to tradition, engaged by Chandu Shah to torture Guru Arjan to death. Death by torture had been ordered by Emperor Jaharigir himself and Chandu Shah had, out of personal rancour, taken upon himself the responsibility of carrying out the imperial fiat. Gurditta, a poor bhathidrd or gramparcher by trade, was told to heal up an iron plate placed over a big hearth. Guru Arjan was made to sit on the redhot plate and Gurditta was ordered to pour hot sand over his body. The torture ended in Guru Arjan`s death. Years later, when Jaharigir was reconciled to Guru Arjan`s son and successor, Guru Hargobind, he had Chandu Shah handed over to the Guru to be dealt with according to his deserts.

KAHN SINGH, a Kuka leader, was born in 1840 at the village of Hazro in Rawalpindi district, now in Pakistan. His father`s name was Bhai Manna Singh. He was a nephew of Baba Balak Singh, founder of the Kuka faith, after whose death he came to be acknowledged as the head of the group known as Hazro Kukas. M.L.A.

KIRPA RAM, DIWAN (d. 1843), civil administrator, soldier and statesman in Sikh times, was the youngest son of Diwan Moti Ram. In 1819, Kirpa Ram was sent by Maharaja Ranjit Singh to Hazara to settle that turbulent country. The same year he was transferred to the Jalandhar Doab as governor in place of his father, Moti Ram, entrusted witli charge of the Kashmir province. In 1823, Kirpa Ram joined tlic Maharaja with the Doab forces and took part in the battle of Naushchra in which the Afghan forces under Muhammad `Azim Khan of Kabul suffered a heavy defeat.

MEGH RAJ (d. 1864), the third son of Misr Divan Chand, starting as a clerk in Gobindgarh Fort at Amritsar under Maharaja Ranjit Singh, became head of the treasury at Amritsar in 1816. He held this position until the Maharaja`s death in 1839 soon after which Prince Nau Nihal Singh and Raja Hira Singh visited Amritsar to have his accounts checked. The accounts revealed no embezzlement, yet Megh Raj and his brother Rup Lal were taken into custody, and a fine of 5,00,000 rupees was imposed on them. They remained in captivity until Hira Singh`s assassination on 21 December 1844.

PHERU MALL, BABA (d. 1526), father of Guru Arigad, was the third son of Bhai Gchnu Mall, a Trchan Khairi of Marigoval village in the present Gujrat district of Pakistan. He was born in his ancestral village, but was brought up in the family of his mother`s parents, who lived at Matte di Sarai, a village now known as Sarai Nariga, 16 km northeast of Muktsar, in the Punjab. He gained proficiency in Persian and, as he grew up, he was employed as an accountant by the local landlord, Chaudhari Takht Mall. He was married in the same village (the bride`s name has been recorded differently by chroniclers as Sabhrai, Ramo and Daya Kaur).

RUP LAL (d. 1865), the eldest son of Misr Divan Chand, served in the Lahore treasury until he was appointed in 1832 by Maharaja Ranjit Singh to replace Shaikh Muhi udDin as governor of the Jalandhar Doab. Maharaja Sher Singh made him governor of Kalanaur and the Lahore territory south of the Sutlej. After the assassination of Sher Singh, he was imprisoned by Raja Hira Singh upon whose death Wazir Jawahar Singh appointed him governor of Jasrota.

SOHAN LAL (d. 1888), son of Chhaiju, the goldsmith, of Charkhi Dadri in the princely state of JJnd, was the steward of the estates of Thakur Singh Sandhanvalia`s mother in law, Rani Kishan Kaur of Ballabgarh. Thakur Singh, who liad set up an emigre government in Pondicherry in behalf of the deposed Maharaja Duleep Singh, utilized Sohan Lal`s services to have secret letters delivered to men of influence such as Raja Narendra Bahadur, the Peshkar to the Nizam of Hyderabad, the Rajas of Nabha, Patiala, Jind and Faridkot seeking their help. Sohan Lal kept circulating stories about the arrival of foreign troops Russian, Turk and Afghan to have Duleep Singh installed as Maharaja of the Punjab. In September 1887, Sohan Lal was arrested by the British. He died in March 1888 while still under detention.

TRILOCHAN, one of the three Maharashtrian saint poets whose compositions are included in the Guru Granth Sahib, the other two being Namdev and Parmanand. Trilochan is said to have been born in AD 1267 of a Vaisya family. There is no unanimity among scholars regarding the place of his birth. Some say that he was born in the village of Bars! in present day Sholapur district of Maharashtra, others that he was born and brought up in Uttar Pradesh but came to Maharashtra where he spent most of his life. Besides being an ardent Vaisnavite, Trilochan (lit. the three eyed, that is one who can see the past, present and future all at once) was a learned scholar well versed in the Puranic lore and Indian philosophical thought.