BALA JANAM SAKHI. The Janam Sakhis of the Bala tradition owe both their name and their reputation to Bhai Bala, a SandhuJa^ from Guru Nanak`s village of Talvandi. According to the tradition`s own claims, Bala was a near contemporary of Guru Nanak who accompanied him during his period in

BALA MARVAHA. a devoted Sikh of the time of Guru Arjan. He served diligently as the Harimandar at Amritsar was under construction. Once, as says Bhai Mani Singh, Sikhari di Bhagat Mala, Bhai Bala, along with Bhai HamzaJa|ja, Bhai Nanon Ohri and Bhai Suri Chaudhari, went up to the

BANARASI, MATA, grandmother of Guru Nanak and mother of Baba Kalu or Kalian Rai, was the wife of Shiv Ram, resident of Talvandi Rai Bhoi Ki, now called Nankana Sahib. She was the mother of two sons, Kalu and Lalu. See SHIV RAM, BABA

JANAM SAKHI SRI GUR NANAKU SAH KI by Sant Das Chhibbar is a versified biography of Guru Nanak (1469-1539), founder of the Sikh faith, based primarily on Janam Sakhi Bhai Raid. A manuscript copy of the work is preserved in the Central Public Library, Patiala, under MS. No. 2737. This

LALA, a Pannu Jatt, was, according to Bhai Santokh Singh, Sri Gur Pratap Suraj Granth, a devoted Sikh contemporary of Guru Angad. He is said to have accompanied Bhai Bala sent out by Guru Angad in search of the horoscope of Guru Nanak so that he might have a

LALO, BHAI, was, according to Bala Janam Sakhi, a carpenter by profession who lived at Saidpur, present day town of Eminabad in Gujranwala district of Pakistan, and with whom Guru Nanak put up for three days during his travel through those parts. Bhai Lalo served him with devotion. That

MAN CHAND, son of Khan Chand. resident of Kabul in Afghanistan, became a devotee of Guru Nanak. According to Bala Janam Sakhi, once Guru Nanak accompanied by Bhai Bala went to Kabul especially to meet Man Chand whom he sent for through a local Pathan. Man Chand, who had

SACHCHA SAUDA, GURDWARA, at Chuharkana in Sheikhupura district of Pakistan, celebrates a popularly told event from the lit of Guru Nanak. According to Bhai Bala janam Sakhi, Guru Nanak`s father, Baba Kalu, to settle his son in a permanent vocation once gave him a sum of twenty rupees and

SALAS RAI was, according to Bhai Bala Janam Sakhi, a jeweller of Bishambharpur, present Bishnupur in Bankura district of West Bengal, although a tradition recorded by Giani Gian Singh, Twankh Guru Khalsa, identifies the place as the city of Patna in Bihar. As Guru Nanak travelling in the eastern

ADHARKA, according to Bhai Bala Janam Sakhi, visited Guru Nanak in the train of his master, Salas Rai, the jeweller. Both master and servant turned disciples and set up a Sikh sangat, fellowship or centre, in their native town, Bishambharpur.

AMAR KATHA, of unknown authorship, comprises a mixture of diverse hagiographic traditions bearing on the life of Guru Nanak. The work remains unpublished, but several manuscripts are known to exist: for instance, two of them, dated AD 1818 and 1872, respectively, are preserved in the Guru Nanak Dev University Library

BALA, BHAI (1466-1544), who, according to popular belief, was a lifelong companion of Guru Nanak, was the son of Chandar Bhan, a Sandhu Jatt of Talvandi Rai Bhoi, now Nankana Sahib in Pakistan. Three years senior in age to Guru Nanak, he was his childhood playmate in Talvandi. From