MAHA-MAI He who worships Maha Mai (the great goddess), from man he takes his birth as a woman. (Gond Namdev, p. 874) Maha Mai is an epithet for the goddess Parbati or Durga. She is also called Mahamaya.

PIPA, one of whose hymns is incorporated in the Guru Granth Sahib, was a prince who renounced his throne in search of spiritual solace. He was born at Gagaraun, in present day Jhalawar district of Rajasthan, about AD 1425. He was a devotee of the goddess Bhavani whose idol

SARABLOH GRANTH, a poem narrating the mythological story of the gods and the demons, in ascribed to Guru Gobind Singh, and is therefore treated as a sacred scripture among certain sections of the Sikhs, particularly the Nihang Sikhs. The authorship is however questioned by researchers and scholars of Sikhism on

SARSUTI (SARASVATI) Ganga, Jamuna, Godavari and Sarsuti måke effort to touch the dust of the feet of the saint. (They say: we are full of the din of sins and our ditt is removed by the dust of the feet of the saint). (Malar M. 4, p. 1263) In

TOTA PURI, a nineteenth century monk, was the preceptor of Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa whom he initiated into sannyasa. Little is known about his early life except that he hailed from the Punjab. He was born presumably of a Sikh family. Tota was his monastic name and Puri the name

VAHIGURU SHABDARTH TIKA (Vahiguru= Sikh term for God ; 6abdarth=sabda or word+arth or meaning), by Pandit Tara Singh Narotam, is small tract which traces the origin of the word Vahigurii, its meanings and its usage in Sikh scriptures. The tract has been published as part of the author`s Gurmat Nirnaya

VAR HAQIQAT RAI, by Aggra or Aggar Singh, is a versified account of the life and martyrdom of Haqiqat Rai. No biographical details are available about Aggra, except that he was a contemporary of Haqiqat Rai and that he came of a Sethi Khatri family. Haqiqat Rai was the son

CHANDI CHARITRA, title of two compositions by Guru Gobind Singh in his Dasam Granth, the Book of the Tenth Master, describing in Braj verse the exploits of goddess Chandi or Durga. One of these compositions is known as Chandi Charitra Ukti Bilas whereas the second has no qualifying extension

CHANDI DJ VAR (the Ballad of goddess Chandi) or, to give it its exact title, Var Sri Bhagauti Ji Ki, by Guru Gobind Singh and included in the Dasam Granth, is the story of the titan tic contest between Chandi and other gods on the one hand and the

DURGA Millions of Durgas massage the Lord. (Bhairo Kabir, p. 1162) Durga is the consort of Shiva. An account of her origin is found in \'Durga Saptshati\' in Markandeya Purana. Mahishasura, the king of demons, at one time conquered the haughty gods in war. They went to Brahma and

KESHO DAS, a idnirika (practitioner of magical techniques) of Varanasi, once came to Guru Gobind Singh at Anandpur and claimed that, if necessary facilities and provisions were made available to him, he could make the goddess Durga manifest the goddess who would eliminate oppression from the world. Though Guru

KHEDA, BHAI, a Brahman resident of Khem Karan, in present day Amritsar district, was a devout Sikh of the time of Guru Amar Das. According to Sarup Das Bhalla, Mahimd Prakdsh, Kheda was initially a staunch worshipper of the goddess Durga and regularly went on pilgrimage to Javalamukhi. Once,