HOLA MAHALLA or simply Hola, a Sikh festival, takes place on the first of the lunar month of Chef which usually falls in March. This follows the Hindu festival of Holi. The name Hola is the masculine form of the feminine sounding Holi. Mahalla, derived from the

BAWANA (VAMANA INCARNATION) Vishnu, who had assumed the form of Bawana (Vamana-dwarf), asked for two and a half steps of earth under some pretext, if (the demon king) Bali had recognised Him, why could he has been deceived for going to the nether-regions (Patala) ? (Prabhati M. l, p.

MAHARAJA RANJIT SINGH JIBAN VRITTANTA, by Brahmamohan Mallick, is a monograph in Bengali on the life of Maharaja Ranjit Singh (1780-1839). Published in 1862, within a quarter of a century of the Maharaja\'s death, it is one of the earliest biographies of the Maharaja written in any language. The

Bhagwan Singh (1850 - 1902) born in the village of Marajh, now in district Bhatinda in 1850,has given the story of Heer a popular rural colour characteristic of the Malwa or the southern region of Punjab. It is written in the classical Kabit form in the Hindu tradition. Sohni

MELI, lit. attached or companion, appears in the Sikh Scripture in different connotations usually as a verb form, past indefinite of melana (to attach, join, bring together), in the feminine form (GG, 54, 63, 90, 243, 379, 389, 584 et al.); as an adjective meaning loving, attached (GG, 4243); and

DAS, BHATT. See BHATT BANI DAS GRANTHI, a pothi, i.e. a small book, containing selected barns or texts from the Dasam Granth. Das, meaning `ten`, here stands for `tenth`, or the Tenth Master`s granth or book to distinguish it from the older Adi Granth, i.e. the first or primary

NAMDEV (1270-1350), saint of Maharashtra who composed poetry of fervent devotion in Marathi as well as in Hindi. His Hindi verse and his extended visit to the Punjab carried his fame far beyond the borders of Maharashtra. Sixty-one of his hymns in fact came to be included in Sikh Scripture,

DAS AVATARS (Ten incarnations of Vishnu) Under the God\'s Will ten incarnations were created. (Mani M. ], p. 1037) Ten incarnations were created out of Shunya. (Maru M. l, p. 1038) The ten incarnations led kingly lives...(Suhi M. 5, P. 747) The incarnations of the Satyuga : Machh, Kachh,

NARASINGH (Man-lion incarnation) The Lord manifested Himself by tearing off the column and killed the egoistic demon. (Bhairo M. 3, p. 1154) The Lord came out of the column assuming huge size and killed Hiranyaksha (Hiranyakashipu) with his nails. That Supreme Purusha and God of gods manifested Himself as

GHARIBDAS IAS, followers of` Sant Gharibdas (1717-78), also known as Satsahibias for their peculiar form of greeting which is `Sat Sahib,` i.e. eternally existent (satya) is the Lord (sahib). The founder of the sect, Gharib Das was born in 1717 in the small village Chhudani, in Rohtak district. He got