ATI AKHAND PATH (ati = extreme, arduous, of superlative degree; akhand = nonstop, without a break; path = reading of the Holy Volume) means an unbroken path of the Guru Granth Sahib by a single reader in one continuous sitting without once getting up or interrupting the reading in

BHIRAI, MATA, the maternal grandmother of Guru Nanak, was married to Rama of the village of Chahal, near Lahore. See RAMA. BABA

DALIP SINGH, SANT (1883-1948), son of Ishar Singh and Har Kaur, was born in 1883 at the village ofLahri, in Hoshiarpur district. He was hardly five years old, when his father died. He was brought up by his maternal grandfather, Nihal Singh, at his village Dumeli. He received his early

GURCHARAN SINGH, a Kuka leader (formally designated subd, i.e. governor or deputy, by Baba Ram Singh) who attempted to seek help of the Russians against the British, was born in 1806 at Chakk Pirana in Sialkot district, now in Pakistan, the son of Afar Singh Virk. He joined the

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

MAHADEV, BABA (1560-1605), the second son of Guru Ram Das (1534-81) and Mata Bhani, was born on 1 June 1560 at Goindval, in present-day Amritsar district of the Punjab. As he grew up, he displayed little interest in worldly affairs and remained occupied in meditation. According to Bhai Gurdas,

SHAM SINGH, SANT (1803-1926), holy man who was also an accomplished musician, was born in 1803 to Bhai Darbari and Krishan Kaur, a couple of humble means belonging to the Sevapanthi sect of the Sikhs and inhabitants of Shahpur, in Sargodha district of Pakistan. His father died when he

ATMA SINGH, also remembered as Atma Ram, was a faqir of Shuja`bad, near Multan, who received the Sikh rites under the influence of Baba Khuda Singh. Before his initiation into the Sikh faith, he lived in a dharamsala at Shuja`bad which received a grant of Rs 100 from the

BIKRAM SINGH BEDI, BABA (d. 1863), was the third and youngest son of Sahib Singh Bedi of Una, a lineal descendant of Guru Nanak. On Sahib Singh`s death in 1834, Bikram Singh suceeded to his father`s jagirs and position as preceptor to royal family of Lahore. After the deaths

DALJIT SINGH (d. 1937), one of the passengers on board the S.S. Komagata Maru, was born at the village of Kauni, now in Faridkot district. He passed his matriculation examination and became assistant editor on the Panjabi Bhain, a journal sponsored by Sikh Kanya Mahavidyalaya, Firozpur, to promote the

GURDIT SINGH, BABA (1861-1954), patriot of Komagata Maru fame, was born in 1861, into a Sandhu Sikh family of Sarhali, a village in Amritsar district. Gurdit Singh`s grandfather had served in the Sikh army as an officer but his father, Hukam Singh, was a small farmer of moderate means.

KALIAN CHAND, BABA (1440-1522), variously mentioned by chroniclers as Mahita Kalu, Kalu Rai, Kalu Chand, Kalian Rai and Kalian Chand, was the father of Guru Nanak, founder of Sikh faith. He was the elder of the two sons of Baba Shiv Ram, a Bedi Khatn, and Mata Banarasi of