BATALA (31° 49`N, 75° 12`E), an old town in Gurdaspur district of the Punjab, is sacred to Guru Nanak, who was married here, according to local tradition, on Bhadon sudf7, 1544 Bk/24 September 1487, to Sulakkhani, daughter of Mul Chand, of the village of Pakkhoke, on the River Ravi,

BIHAGRE KI VAR, by Guru Ram Das, is one of the twenty-two vars included in the Guru Granth Sahib. The Var, originally comprised pauris which were prefaced with slokas, or couplets, by Guru Arjan at the time of the compilation of the Guru Granth Sahib. All the twenty-one pauris

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

DASAM GRANTH (lit. the Tenth Book, generally signifying the Book of the Tenth Guru) is how the collection of compositions attributed to the Tenth Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, is named to distinguish it from the earlier work, the Adi Granth, the First or Primary Book, compiled by Guru Arjan, the

DIVALI, festival of lights (from Sanskrit dipamala or dipavali meaning row of lamps or nocturnal illumination), is observed all over India on amavasya, the last day of the dark half of the lunar month of Kartika (October-November). Like other seasonal festivals, Divali has been celebrated since time immemorial. In its

GHUMAN, village 10 km west of Sri Hargobindpur (30°41`N, 75°29`E) in Gurdaspur district of the Punjab. Namdev (1270-1350), the muchrevered saint of Maharashtra, some of whose hymns are included in the Guru Granth Sahib, lived in this village for a considerable time. Most of his years until the age of

GURDITTA BHATHIARA was, according to tradition, engaged by Chandu Shah to torture Guru Arjan to death. Death by torture had been ordered by Emperor Jaharigir himself and Chandu Shah had, out of personal rancour, taken upon himself the responsibility of carrying out the imperial fiat. Gurditta, a poor bhathidrd

HAZARA SINGH, GIANI (1828-1908), scholar and educator, was born in Amritsar in 1828. He also used to inscribe his name as Bhai Hazara Singh Giani as well as Hazur Hari. His father, Bhai Savan Singh, was employed in the Golden Temple as a store keeper. The family had migrated from

JODH, BHAI, a Brahman turned Sikh, served as a cook in Guru ka Larigar in the time of Guru Arigad as well as of Guru Amar Das. He was humble and dedicated and tirelessly cooked and served food at all hours of day. He used to clean the utensils

MOTA SINGH, BHAI (1902-1921), one of the Nankana Sahib martyrs, was the son of Bhai Hari Singh and Mat Thakari, Ramdasia Sikhs, weavers by profession, originally of Bassi village in Hoshiarpur district, who had migrated for better living to Chakk No. 18 Bahoru in Sheikh upura district (now in Pakistan).

NANU, a Pandit of Kurukshetra proud of his learning, came to Guru Nanak, then visiting the town, to engage him in a religious debate. But according to Bhai Santokh Singh, Sri Gur Pratdp Suraj Granth, in the presence of the Guru, he learnt to be humble. He took instruction

PAINTIS AKKHARI, lit., a poem based on paintis or thirty-Five letters, is a composition in the form of an acrostic utilizing for successive verses the thirty-five characters of the Gurmukhi alphabet. The poem is sometimes attributed to Guru Nanak but mistakenly, for it is not included in the Guru