DHUAN, Punjabi for smoke, is a term which is particularly used for seats of certain monkish orders where a fire is perennially kept alive. In the Sikh context it is employed for the four branches of Udasi Sikhs established by Baba Gurditta (1613-38), on whom the headship of the sect

GURU NANAK SARBSAMPRADAI CONFERENCE, 1934, convened at Bhaini Sahib, centre of the Namdhari Sikhs, on 13 and 14 October 1934 at the instance of Baba Partap Singh, the Namdhari chief, with the primary object of forging unity among various Sikh sects following the teachings of Guru Nanak. Almost all the

KHALSA DIWAN AMRITSAR, established at Amritsar on 11 April 1883 to oversee and provide direction to the work of the Singh Sabha. This reform movement had originated in Amritsar with the formation of the first Singh Sabha on 1 October 1873. Singh Sabhas began springing up in other places,

PAKKHOKE RANDHAVE, a village in the east of Dera Baba Nanak (32° 2`N, 75° 2`E) in Gurdaspur district of the Punjab, is the place where Guru Nanak`s wife and children stayed with his fatherinlaw during the Guru`s absence on udasis or preaching journeys. The village has a historical shrine

GURDWARA SHAHIDGANJ BABA GURBAKHSH SINGH, a small shrine standing in a narrow bazar behind the Akal Bunga, commemorates the saga of heroism of Baba Gurbakhsh Singh Nihang and his twenty-nine comrades who faced a Durrani horde in December 1764 and fell to the last man fighting in defence of the

BALAK SINGH, BABA (1785-1862), mentor of Baba Ram Singh, acknowledged to be the forerunner of the Namdhari movement, was born in 1841 Bk/AD 1785 to Dial Singh and Mata Bhag Bhari, in an Arora family of village Chhoi in Attock district, in Rawalpindi division, now in Pakistan. Balak Singh

BARBARA SINGH, BABA (1814-1870), second in the hierarchy of the Nirankari sect, was the eldest of the three sons of Baba Dayal, the founder of the sect. He was born at Rawalpindi on 1 Baisakh 1871 Bk / 11 April 1814 and succeeded to his father`s seat on 30

DIP SINGH SHAHID. BABA (1682-1757). founder of the Shahid misi or principality as well as of the Damdami Taksal or Damdama school of Sikh learning, was born in 1682, the son of Bhai Bhagata and Mai Jiuni. a Sikh couple living in Pahuvind, a village 40 km southwest of

HAKTMPUR, a village 9 km southeast of Banga (31"11`N, 76"E) in Jalandhar, district of the Punjab, claims a historical shrine called Gurdwara Nanaksar, sacred to Guru Nanak (1469-1539), who, according to local tradition, once halted here travelling from Kartarpur (Ravi). Guru Har Rai, Nanak VII, (1630-61) also visited this

KHEM SINGH BEDI, BABA SIR (1832-1905), one of the founders of the Singh Sabha movement, was born on 21 February 1832 at Kallar, a small town in Rawalpindi district, now in Pakistan. He was a direct descendant, in the thirteenth place, of Guru Nanak. He received the rites of

PARDHAN KAUR (1718-1792), Patiala princess, better known as Bibi Pardhan, was the daughter of Baba Ala Singh, founder of the family. She was born in 1718 at Bhadaur, in present day Sarigrur district of the Punjab. She was married to Mohar Singh Randhava, of the village of Ramdas in

TAPIYA SINGH, MAHANT (1892-1980), was a master of the Sikh scholarly texts besides being learned in Ayurveda and Sanskrit grammar. He was born into a Saraojatt family of Lehal Kalan in Sangrur district. He was a descendant of ^ Baba Ark who had been blessed by Guru Tegh Bahadur himself.