MULRAJ, DIWAN (1814-1851), son of Diwan Savan Mall, the governor of Multan, served as the kardar of Shuja`abad and Jharig during the lifetime of his father. He succeeded his father to the governorship of Multan after the latter`s death on 29 September 1844. The subah of Multan then included the

ANAND, BABA, was the second son of Baba Mohri and a grandson of Guru Amar Das. He received his name from the Guru himself who also uttered a long hymn in Ramkali measure calling it Anandu. The hymn has since formed an important part of Sikh liturgy. Baba Anand

BHIM CHAND, ruler of Kahlur (Bilaspur), a princely state in the Sivaliks, from 1665-92. The family claimed descent from Chandel Rajputs of Bundelkhand. Bhim Chand`s father, Dip Chand, was a tributary of the Mughals and he was allowed to exercise nominal authority over twenty-two states in the hills including

DESU, Jatt of Chahal clan, was a minor chief at Bhikhi, in present day Bathinda district, when Guru Tegh Bahadur visited that village travelling through the Malva region in 1672-73. As he came to see him, the Guru asked him why he carried a walking stick in his quiver.

GIRDHARI, BHAI, a wealthy but childless shopkeeper from southern districts, who hearing of how a certain goldsmith had got offspring as a result of Guru Amar Das`s blessing, made a pilgrimage to Goindval to see the Guru. The Guru uttered a sloka (couplet) as he saw him: "None can erase

JAI RAM (d. 1518), brother in law of Guru Nanak, was a trusted official at the court of Nawab Daulat Khan Lodhl at Sultanpur, in presentday Kapurthala district of the Punjab. He was married to Nanaki, daughter of Kalian Chand and sister of Guru Nanak, in 1475 at Talvandi

KAUDA was, according to Janam Sakhi accounts, the head of a clan of cannibals somewhere in Central India. The cannibals belonged to a sect of the yogis called Kapalikas who went about naked, smeared their bodies with the ashes of a corpse and ate and drank from human skulls.

LAKHPAT RAI (d. 1748), diwan or revenue minister at Lahore under two successive Mughal viceroys, Zakariya Khan (1726-45) and Yahiya Khan (1745-47). He came of a Hindu Khatri family of Kalanaur, in Gurdaspur district of the Punjab. In 1736 when Zakariya Khan organized a mobile column of 10,000 to scour

NAMDEV (1270-1350), saint of Maharashtra who composed poetry of fervent devotion in Marathi as well as in Hindi. His Hindi verse and his extended visit to the Punjab carried his fame far beyond the borders of Maharashtra. Sixty-one of his hymns in fact came to be included in Sikh Scripture,

RAM CHANDRA, PROFESSOR, born into a Kayastha family in 1821 at Panipat. Professor Ram Chandra became a distinguished teacher of mathematics. He joined the English school at Delhi in 1833 and earned a merit scholarship. At the age of 11, he was lured into marrying a girl who was completely

SAVAN MALL, DIWAN (d. 1844), governor of Multan from 1821 to 1844, was son of Hoshnak Rai, a Chopra Khatri, in the service of Sardar Dal Singh ofAkalgarh. When in 1804, Maharaja Ranjit Singh took over Akalgarh on the death of Dal Singh, Savan Mall was employed as a

SUKKHU, sadhu of the Divana (lit. madmen) sect, was incited by his mentor, Ghudda, to attack Guru Gobind Singh to avenge the death of one of his followers at the hands of a Sikh. The deceased had been mortally wounded while attempting to force his entry into Guru Gobind