JIT MALL, a cousin of Guru Gobind Singh, was the son of Bhai Sadhu, a Khosia Khatrl of Malla, in present day Faridkot district of the Punjab, and Bibi Viro, daughter of Guru Hargobind and elder sister of Guru Tegh Bahadur. As recorded in Guru Gobind Singh`s autobiographical poem

KAUL, SODHI, or Sodhi Karival Nain (1638-1706), son of Baba Hariji and a great grandson of Baba Prithi Chand, the elder brother of Guru Arjan (1563-1606), was born at Muhammadipur village in Lahore district of the Punjab (now in Pakistan). He was educated under eminent men of letters at Amritsar

LAKHISAR, a small habitation in the neighbourhood of Goniana Mandi (30°18`N, 74°54`E) in Bathinda district of the Punjab, is famous for the historical shrine, Gurdwara Lakkhi Jangal, raised in honour of Guru Gobind Singh. According to Sikh tradition,the name Lakkhi Jangal was given this semi desert tract by Guru

MEDINI PRAKASH, ruler from 1684 to 1704 of Sirmur, a state situated along the river Yamuna in the Kayarda Dun valley of the Sivalik hills, was one among the hill chiefs who did not support Raja Bhim Chand of Kahlur in his designs against Guru Gobind Singh. In April 1685,

NIHANGS or Nihang Singhs, originally known as Akalis or Akah Niharigs, are endearingly designated the Guru`s Knights or the Guru`s beloved, for the military ambience they still carry about them and the heroic style they continue to cultivate. They constitute a distinctive order among the Sikhs and are readily recognized

PRACHIN PANTH PRAKASH, by Ratan Singh Bharigu, a chronicle in homely Punjabi verse relating to the history of the Sikhs from the time of the founder, Guru Nanak (AD 1469-1539), to the establishment in the eighteenth century of principalities in the Punjab under Misi sarddrs. The work, which was completed

SADHAURA, an old town 43 km east of Ambala (30"23`N, 76"47`E) in Haryana, has a place in Sikh piety, being the seat of Sayyid Shah Badr udDin, commonly known as Pir Buddhu Shah, a Muslim saint who became a devotee of Guru Gobind Singh. Pir Buddhu Shah took the

SIANA SAYYIDAN, a village in Kurukshetra district of Haryana 5 km from Pehowa (29"59`N, 76"35`E), is the birthplace of Sayyid Shah Bhikh or Bhikhan Shah, a Muslim saint, who guided by intuition and divine inspiration, had gone to pay obeisance to the child Gobind at Lakhnaur in 1670. There

TAKHT MALL, a masand or preacher and the collector in the Nakka region (western part of Lahore district) during the time of Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708), was so scared when he heard of the Guru sending for some masands and punishing those found guilty of misappropriation of sangat`s offerings

VAR SRI BHAGAUTlJI Kl, a short anonymous poem describing an unnamed battle in which Guru Gobind Singh emerged a victor. The poem consists of eight stanzas only. It begins with a dohra, followed by six savaiyyas, and ends with another dohra. It panegyrizes Bhagauti (sword) as the source of

ALAM SINGH NACHNA (d. 1705), a warrior in the retinue of Guru Gobind Singh, was the son of Bhai Durgu, a Rajput Sikh of Sialkot. He earned the popular epithet Nachna (lit. dancer) because of his uncommon agility. Sarup Das Bhalla, Mahima Prakash, describes him as one of Guru

BAHADUR SHAH (1643-1712), Mughal emperor of India from 1707 to 1712. Born Muhammad Mu\'azzam at Burhanpur in the Deccan on 14 October 1643, he was actively employed by his father, Aurangzib, from 1663 onwards for subduing the kingdom of Bijapur and the Qutb Shahi dynasty of Golconda in the south.