SIRHIND (30°37`N, 7623E), pronounced Sarhind, an ancient town lying along the Grand Trunk Road (now renamed Sher Shah Suri Marg) midway between Ludhiana and Ambala, derives its name probably from Sairindhas, a tribe that according to Varahamihira (AD 50587), Brihat Samhita, once inhabited this part of the country. According

Singh, Mohan, better known as \'Divana\', is a versatile writer, a research scholar, a critic, a linguist, a short story writer, an essayist, a dramatist, a poet, a free thinker and literary giant, who, apart from Punjabi, writes in English, Hindi and Urdu also. He started his career at

TATT KHALSA, lit. the Real or Pure Khalsa, as against the followers of Banda Singh Bahadur who came to be called Bandai Khalsa, was one of the factions in the schism which arose among the Sikhs after the passing away of Guru Gobind Singh. Guru Go bind Singh, while sending

ANAND SINGH, RAI (d. 1827), vakil or agent of the Sikh kingdom, belonged to the famed Bhandan family of Batala founded by Bhag Mall, a wealthy adventurer. In 1809, Anand Singh was appointed an agent of the Sikh Darbar at Ludhiana, the British military station and political agency. He

BUDDHA DAL and Taruna Dal, names now appropriated by two sections of the Nihang Sikhs, were the popular designations of the two divisions of Dal Khalsa, the confederated army of the Sikhs during the eighteenth century. With the execution of Banda Singh Bahadur in 1716, the Sikhs were deprived of

DHARAMSALA or dharamsala from Sanskrit dharmasala, lit. court of justice, tribunal, charitable asylum, religious asylum, stands in Punjabi for a place of worship or the village hospice. Dharamsala as a Sikh institution is the precursor of gurdwara (q.v.). According to janam sakhis, accounts of the life of Guru Nanak (1469-1539).

GURDITTA, BHAI, a devoted Sikh of the time of Guru Arjan. He received instruction from the Guru himself and repeated constantly the name `Vahiguru`. Thus he remained absorbed in God`s remembrance (Varan, XI. 24). BIBLIOGRAPHY 1 Mani Singh, Bhai, Sikhan di Bhagat Maid. Amritsar, 1955 2. Santokh Singh, Bhai,

JAHANGIR, NUR LJDDIN MUHAMMAD (1569-1627), fourth Mughal emperor of Delhi. Born SalTm, he assumed at his accession the title of Jahangir, Conqueror of the World. During his father`s Dcc^an campaign of 1598-99, he had planned a rebellion, but in 1604 the father and son were reconciled, and the latter was

KHUIASAT UTTWARIKH, a chronicle in Persian by Munshi Sujan Rai Bhandari of Batala, completed in the 40th year of Aurarigzib`s reign (A.H. 1107/AU 1695-96), edited by Zafar Hasan and published at Delhi in 1918. Sujan Rai was a professional munshi and had served as such under various Mughal nazims or

MALUK SINGH converted to the Kuka or Namdhari faith in 1864. With a band of 50 of his companions, he set up what he called a Kuka government in his village, Tharajvala, in Firozpur district, by declaring British rule as having ended. He was arrested and imprisoned for this.

PARTAP SINGH KAIRON (1901-1965). political leader of wide influence and chief minister of the Punjab from 1956 to 1964, was born on 1 October 1901 in the village of Kairon, in Amritsar district of the Punjab, in a farming family of modest means. His father Nihal Singh, who had

SKETCH OF THE SIKHS, subtitled "A Singular Nation who inhabit the Province of the Punjab situated between the Rivers Jumna and Indus," by Lt.Col. John Malcolm, was originally published in the Asiatick Researches in 1810, and was published in book form in 1812 and reprinted in 1981 by Vinay