BAVANJA KAVI, lit. fifty-two poets, is how the galaxy of poets and scholars who attended on Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708) is popularly designated. Guru Gobind Singh, Nanak X, prophet and soldier, was an accomplished poet and also a great patron of letters. According to Sarup Das Bhalla, Mahima Prakash, he

BHATT BANI, recorded under the title Savaiyye, is the name popularly given to the compositions of the Bhatts as included in the Guru Granth Sahib (pp. 13891409). Bhatts were bards or panegyrists who recited poetry lauding the grandeur of a ruler or the gallantry of a warrior. Bhatt was

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

BUDDHO, BHAI. a washerman of Sultanpur Lodhi, embraced Sikh faith in the time of Guru Amar Das, Over the years, he became reputed for his piety. He once visited Amritsar with the sangat of his town and received blessing from Guru Arjan. SeeAKUL. BHAI, and BHIKHA. BHATT

CHAU, BHAI, a Bammi Khatri and a resident of Sultanpur Lodhi, embraced Sikhism during the time of Guru Amar Das. He was one of the sangat who, according to Bhai Mani Singh, Sikhan di Bhagat Mala, went to see Guru Arjan at Amritsar and received the holy precept. See

CHHAJJU, BHAI, a Bhalla Khatri of Sultanpur Lodhi, whose name figures in Bhai Gurdas, Varan, XI. 21, and who had embraced the Guru`s precept at the hands of Guru Amar Das. He once visited Amritsar with the sarig`at of Sultanpur and received instruction from Guru Arjan. See AKUL, BHAI,

GURU KIAN SAKHIAN, containing stories from the lives of the Gurus, was written by Bhatt Sarup Singh Kaushish, of Bhadson, in Parganah Thanesar. As recorded by the author, the manuscript was completed in 1847 Bk/AD 1790 at Bhadson itself. The original manuscript was written in Bhattachchhari, a script used by

PIRAGA, BHAI, or Parag Das as he is named in the Bhatt Vahis, was the son of Gotam, a Chhibbar Brahman of village Kariala now in Jehlum district of Pakistan. Bhai Piraga embraced Sikh faith in the time of Guru Arjan. In the time of Guru Hargobind, he distinguished

SHAHID BILAS (BHAI MANI SINGH), by Kavi Seva Singh, is a biography in verse of Bhai Mani Singh, a Rajput warrior of Panvar clan, whom the poet identifies with Bhai Mani Singh, the martyr. Seva Singh, son of Kesar Singh Kaushish, was a bhatt or family bard of one of