BHIKHAN SHAH OR SHAH BHIKH, PIR, a seventeenth century Sufi saint, was born the son of Sayyid Muhammad Yusaf of Siana Sayyidari, a village 5 km from Pehova, now in Kurukshetra district of Haryana. For a time, he lived at Ghuram in present day Patiala district of the Punjab and finally settled at Thaska, again in Kurukshetra district. He was tlie disciple of Abul Mu`ali Shah, a Sufi divine residing at Ambhita, near Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh, and soon became a pfr or saint of much repute and piety in his own right. According to tradition preserved in Bhai Santokh Singh, Sri Gur Pratap Suraj Granth, Pir Bhikhan Shah, as he learnt through intuition of the birth of Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708) at Patna, made obeisance that day to the east instead of to the west.
CHHACHHRAULI, a small town about 12 km northeast of Jagadhri (30° 10`N, 77° 18`E) in Ambala district of Haryana, was the capital of the princely state of Kalsia. Guru Gobind Singh is believed to have visited Chhachhrauli during his sojourn at Kapal Mochan in 1688. The site was brought to light only in 1920 by Sant Harnam Singh of Mastuana, and the building was erected by Rani RanbTr Kaur of Kalsia in 1924.
DHAUNKAL SINGH (d. 1844), a drillnaik in the army of the East India Company who deserted the service of the British and joined the Sikh army about 1805. In 1807, Jamadar Khushal Singh, who had come to Lahore to seek his fortune and had eventually risen to the position of deohridar or chamberlain, was placed under Dhaunkal Singh. In 1828-29, when the Lahore army was reorganized, Dhaunkal Singh was given command of a regiment composed mainly of Purbia deserters from the East India Company and a few Sikhs. Subsequently, he was promoted general who took an important part in the military administration of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
DOABA REGION of the Punjab lying between 30° 57` to 32° 7` North latitudes and 75° 4` to 76° 30` East longitudes, and bounded by the Himalayas on the east, and by the Beas on the north and the west, and the Sutlej on the south, embracing the present districts of Jalandhar. Hoshiarpur and Kapurthala, is a distinct geographical region by virtue of its interfluvial character, its distinctive cultural identity and its recognition as such in geographical and historical literature.
