VAR, a verse form in Punjabi popular in folklore as well as in refined poetry. In the old bardic tradition of the Punjab, var meant the poem itself with its typical theme as also the form in which it was cast. The earliest vars were ballads of battles and

ARJAN SINGH, BHAI (c. 1906-1924), born to Kishan Singh of the village of Kamalia, now in Sahival district of Pakistan, was a zealous worker in the cause of Sikh Gurdwara reform. As a young boy he was deeply affected by events at Nankana Sahib in 1921 (See NANKANA SAHIB MASSACRE).

BHATTVAHIS, scrolls or records maintained by Bhatts, hereditary bards and genealogists. According to Nesfield as quoted in W. Crooke, The Tribes and Castes of the North Western India, 1896, Bhatts are an "offshoot from those secularised Brahmans who frequented the courts of princes and the camps of warriors, recited

DIPA, BHAI, was a devoted Sikh of Guru Arjan\'s time (Bhai Gurdas, Varan, XI. 22). He zealously served in the Guru ka Larigar. He cooked food and served it to visiting Sikhs. He took the last turn and ate what was left over. He washed with warm water the

HEMA, BHAI, a devout Sikh of Khanpur, a village now known as Khan Chhapn, 8 km west of Goindval (30°22`N, 75"9`E) in Amritsar district of the Punjab, who would extend the hospitality of his humble thatched hut, chhapn`m Punjabi, to any Sikh or holy man. Once, during the winter

MANIK, BHAI, of village Maddar in present day Sheikh upura district of Pakistan, received initiation as a Sikh at the hands of Guru Amar Das. When Guru Hargobind visited this village on his way back from Kashmir in 1620, Manik served him with devotion and narrated to him the

PAIRA, BHAI (d. 1634), a Chandalia Banjara, took initiation at the hands of Guru Arjan. Bhai Paira served with diligence and devotion at the time of the digging of the sacred pool at Amritsar. He was one of the five Sikhs who accompanied Guru Arjan during his last journey

SALOX VARAN TE VADHIK is the title given to a miscellany comprising 152 slokas or couplets appearing in the concluding portion of the Guru Granth Sahib. Guru Arjan, when compiling the Holy Volume introduced slokas by the Gurus he had collected into the texts of vars, another favored form

WAZIRKHAN (d. 1634) is the name popularly given by Sikh chroniclers to Hakim `Alim udDin, son of Shaikh `Abd ulLatif of Chiniot, a town now in Jhang district of Pakistan Punjab. Trained as a physician, he rose in favour with Emperor Shah Jahan, who created him a ma.nsa.bdar of

ARJAN SINGH, BHAYEE (1875-1946), of Bagarian, titled chief much honoured in Sikh piety, was a descendant of Bhai Rup Chand, a devoted disciple of Guru Hargobind, who had bestowed on him the title `Bhai` (also written as Bhayee) or holy brother. Rup Chand belonged to the village of Vadda

BHAU MORAL, BHAI, a Mokal Khatri, was a devoted Sikh of Guru Arjan`s time. He was one of the sangat who once waited on the Guru and complained how some people were composing verses using Nanak as a pseudonym. According to Bhai Mani Singh, Sikhan di Bhagat Mala, this

DINRAIN, lit. (din + rain) day and night, is the title (dinraini) of a single 4stanza hymn by Guru Arjan Dev in the Majh measure (GG, 13637). The composition evidently follows the prosodic vogue of inscribing verses to kalkrama (process of time) embracing forms such as baramaha (twelve months