GURDIAL SINGH, JATHEDAR( 1886-1958), also known as Giani Gurdial Singh or Sant Gurdial Singh Bhindranvale, was born in 1886 at Adampur, near Moga, now in Faridkot district of the Punjab. He studied up to matriculation. He enjoyed the patronage of Tikka (later Maharaja) Ripudaman Singh of Nabha, whom he

JAITO MORCHA, the name given to the Akali agitation for the restoration to his throne of Maharaja Ripudaman Singh of Nabha, a Sikh princely state in the Punjab. The Maharaja had strong pro-Akali sympathies and had overtly supported the Guru ka Bagh Morcha and donned a black turban as a

MAU, village 10 km west of Phillaur (3101`N, 75°47`E) in the Punjab, is sacred to Guru Arian, who was married here to (Mata) Gariga Devi, daughter of a local resident, Krishan Chand, on 22 Har 1646 Bk19 June 1589. Gurdwara Patshahl V, popularly known as Gurdwara Mau Sahib, raised

NESTA, village 2 km south of Atari in Amritsar district of the Punjab, is sacred to Guru Hargobind (1595-1644) who stayed here for a while during his journey from Lahore to Amritsar. According to local tradition, at the villagers` complaint that the water of their well was brackish, the

SEKHA, a village 11 km east of Barnala (30"23`N, 75()32 E) in Sangrur district of the Punjab, has a historical shrine, Gurdwara Sahib Guru Sar Patshahi Nauvin, situated on a low mound. According to local tradition. Guru Tegh Bahadur arrived here from Muloval on 22 December 1665 and stayed

TARA SINGHNEHRU PACT refers to an understanding arrived at in 1959 between Master Tara Singh, the Akali leader, and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister of India, in order to remove certain misgivings of the Sikhs with regard to government interference in their religious affairs. Looming in the background was the

AKALI DAL, SHIROMANI (shiromani= exalted, foremost in rank; dal = corps, of akali volunteers who had shed fear of death), the premier political party of the modern period of Sikhism seeking to protect the political rights of the Sikhs, to represent them in the public bodies and legislative councils being

BARGARI, village 15 km southeast of Kot Kapura (30° 35*N, 74° 49`E) in Faridkot district of the Punjab, is sacred to Guru Gobind Singh who visited it in December 1705 on his way from Dina to Kot Kapura. A shrine was established later on the site on the northern

BODAL, village 4 km south of Dasuya (31°49`N. 75°39`E) in Hoshiarpur district of the Punjab, is sacred to Guru Hargobind (1595-1644) who once visited here during a hunting expedition and rested under a garna tree (Capparis horrida) for some time. Bhai Chuhar, a Muslim bard of the village, entertained him

DHARAM ARTH BOARD, a body representing different sections of the Sikh community constituted in May 1949 by Maharaja Yadavinder Singh, Rajpramukh of the Patiala and East Punjab States Union (PEPSU), to manage the major Sikh shrines within the new state which had come into being in consequence of the amalgamation

GURMUKH SINGH MUSAFIR, GIANI (1899-1976), poet and politician, was born the son of Sujan Singh on 15 January 1899 at Adhval, in Campbellpore district, now in Pakistan. Gurmukh Singh attended the village primary school and went to the city of Rawalpindi to pass the middle school examination. He trained