MAHA DEVI, MATA (d. 1645), also called Mata Marvahi after her ancestral caste-name, was the daughter of Bhai Dvara (also known as Daya Ram) and Mata Bhagan of the village of Mandiala on the right bank of the Ravi, 20 km southwest of Lahore. She was married to Guru

PARTAP SINGH. GIANI (1855-1920), Sikh school-man and calligraphist, was born in 1855, the son of Bhai Bhag Singh Giani of Lahore. As a young boy, Partap Singh learnt Punjabi, Urdu and Sanskrit and studied Sikh Scriptures. In 1884, he accompanied Thakur Singh Sandhanvalia to England to read the Guru Granth

SHAHZADA, son of Bhai Mardana, Guru Nanak`s favourite minstrel and companion. Like his father, Shahzada was a devotee of the Guru and an accomplished musician. After the death of Mardana, he remained in attendance upon Guru Nanak at Kartarpur and continued to perform kirtan or hymn singing to the

TAKHT MALL, a Khahira Jatt and chaudhary or headman of Khadur, accepted the Sikh faith in the time of Guru Angad (1504-52). He served the Guru with devotion and always brought ample provisions for Guru ka Langar, the community kitchen.

AJAB SINGH (d. 1705). son of Bhai Mani Ram, a Rajput Sikh of `Alipur in Multan district, now in Pakistan, came to Anandpur with his father and four brothers, and received the rites of initiation at the inauguration of the Khalsa by Guru Gobind Singh on the Baisakhi day

DITT SINGH, GIANI (1853-1901), scholar, poet and journalist, was an eminent Singh Sabha reformer and editor. He was born on 21 April 1853 at Kalaur, a village in Patiala district of the Punjab. His ancestral village was Jhalliari, near Chamkaur Sahib, but his father, Divan Singh, had migrated to

JAND SAHIB, GURDWARA, 5 km west of Chamkaur Sahib (SOS`N. 76°25`E) in Ropar district of the Punjab, stands at the fringe of a vast expanse of marshy grassland. It is sacred to Guru Gobind Singh, who after leaving Chamkaur on the night of 78 December 1705, took a westerly direction

MAHAN SINGH, BHAl (d. 1705), one of the martyrs of Muktsar, collectively called Chali Mukte, the Forty Liberated Ones. He, in addition to Mata (Mother) Bhago, was the only one among the wounded who had some life still left in him. As the Guru went across to visit the site

PRATAP SINGH, GIANI (1904-1984). preacher, journalist and author, was the son of Bhai Makkhan Singh and Mat Mathura Devi of the village of Nara in Rawalpindi district of the Punjab (now in Pakistan). Born on 3 January 1904, he learnt Gurmukhi and scripture reading at home and passed his

SHER SINGH, GIANI (1890-1944), political leader, orator and newspaper editor, was born the son of Varyam Singh and Nand Kaur at the village of Thikrivala, now in Sangrur district of the Punjab, .in January 1890. An attack of smallpox when he was barely two years old left him totally

VADDA GHAR, village 19 km southwest of Moga (30"48`N, 75"10`E) in the Punjab, is sacred to Guru Hargobind, who arrived here from Darauli in 1634 staying here for five days before setting out on an extensive journey across the Malva region. A memorial platform was later constructed on the site

AJAIB SINGH (d. 1705), one of the martyrs of Chamkaur, was the son of Bhai Mani Ram, a Rajput Sikh of the time of Guru Tegh Bahadur and Guru Gobind Singh. Mani Ram had presented five of his sons including Ajaib Singh to Guru Gobind Singh at Anandpur where