SAN GRAND, sankranti in Sanskrit, is the first day of each month of the Indian solar calendar, based on the shifting of the sun from one house (rasi) to another. From quite early in human history, the sun, and its satellites, the planets, came to be regarded as objects endowed

ARJAN SINGH GARGAJJ (1905-1963), revolutionary and journalist, was born the son of Sundar Singh Ramgarhia, an artisan of Tarn Taran, in Amritsar district of the Punjab, in 1905. In 1919, when he was studying in class VI, young Arjan Singh was expelled from school for refusing to salute the

BILGA, village 14 km west of Phillaur(31°1`N, 75°47`E) in the Punjab, is sacred to Guru Arjan, who passed through it in June 1589 on his way to Mau where he got married. According to local tradition, Bilga was then a small settlement of only a few huts. The Guru changed

EKADASI, from Sanskrit ekadasa; eka(one)+ dasa (ten) meaning eleven, is the eleventh day of the lunar fortnight, in both its dark and light halves. Among Vaisnavite Hindus, ehkadasi also harivasar (lit. Visnu`s day) is a day of fasting. Partaking of food in any form on this day is considered

JAHANGIR, NUR LJDDIN MUHAMMAD (1569-1627), fourth Mughal emperor of Delhi. Born SalTm, he assumed at his accession the title of Jahangir, Conqueror of the World. During his father`s Dcc^an campaign of 1598-99, he had planned a rebellion, but in 1604 the father and son were reconciled, and the latter was

MAU, village 10 km west of Phillaur (3101`N, 75°47`E) in the Punjab, is sacred to Guru Arian, who was married here to (Mata) Gariga Devi, daughter of a local resident, Krishan Chand, on 22 Har 1646 Bk19 June 1589. Gurdwara Patshahl V, popularly known as Gurdwara Mau Sahib, raised

PIARA, BHAI, once visited Guru Arjan in the company of Bhai Lalu, Balu and Haridas, and became a disciple. The name occurs in Bhai Gurdas, Varan, XI. 18.

SARANG Kl VAR, in the Guru Granth Sahib, is of the composition of Guru Ram Das. It is set to be sung in Sarang raga and hence the tide Sarang ki Var. Nine of the 22 vars included in the Guru Granth Sahib are composed in the musical mode

ARJAN SINGH NALVA (d. 1848), a minor jagirdar in Sikh times, was youngest of the four sons of the famous general, Hari Singh Nalva. He was a favourite of Kanvar Nau Nihal Singh, Maharaja Ranjit Singh`s grandson. In July 1840, it was reported that Arjan Singh had killed one

BIRBABABUDDHAJI, GURDWARA, in the revenue limits of the village of Thatta, 20 km south of Amritsar, commemorates Baba Buddha (1506-1631), the venerable Sikh of the time of Guru Nanak who lived long enough to anoint five succeeding Gurus. He spent many years looking after the bir, lit. a reserved forest

GANGA, BHAI, a Sahigal Khatri of Agra, was a soldier in the Mughal army. He once called on Guru Arjan. The Guru, as says Bhai Man! Singh, Sikhan di Bhagat Maid, told him that it ill became him to serve the oppressive Mughal regime. When Ganga pleaded the need

JAITSAIILMAHALA 5 VARSLOKANNALI, by GuruArjan, is one of the twenty-two Vdrs, i.e. compositions in this folk form but moulded to a spiritual theme, included in the Guru Granth Sahib. It has been named Jaitsari because of the musical measure it belongs to. While the philosophical standpoint in the entire