PRASADI HATHI, an elephant trained to perform several unusual feats, was among the presents brought to Guru Gobind Singh by an Assamese chief, Ratan Rai. According to Sikh chronicles, Ratan Rai`s father. Ram Rai had served Guru Tegh Bahadur during his travels across Assam in the mid1660s and received his

GULABA, a former masand or local sangat leader who, after the abolition of the office by Guru Gobind Singh in 169899, had settled at Machhivara in present day Ludiriana district of the Punjab, faithfully served tlie Guru and his three companions coming out after the battle of Chamkaur (December

GURBILAS PATSHAHI 10, a poeticized account of Guru Gobind Singh`s career, was completed in 1751, forty-three years after his death. Until it was published in 1968, there were only four manuscript copies of the work known to exist. Apart from specialists, very few had heard of it. The author

GURBILAS PATSHAHIDASVIN, a poeticized account of the life of Guru Gobind Singh by Bhai Sukkha Singh. The poet, a convert to Sikhism from the barber caste, was born at Anandpur in 1768 and completed the work in 1797 when he was barely twenty-nine. The poetry is more Braj than Punjabi,

GURDIT SINGH was a devoted Sikh of the time of Guru Gobind Singh. According to Kuir Singh, Gurbilas Patshahi 10, he was in the retinue of the Guru as his treasurer during his journey to the Deccan in 1708.

PAIRA, BHAI (d. 1634), a Chandalia Banjara, took initiation at the hands of Guru Arjan. Bhai Paira served with diligence and devotion at the time of the digging of the sacred pool at Amritsar. He was one of the five Sikhs who accompanied Guru Arjan during his last journey

PANJ MUKTE, lit. five (panj) liberated ones (mukte), is how a batch of five Sikhs, who according to Bhai Daya Singh`s Rahitndmd, were the first after the Panj Piare to receive the rites of Khalsa initiation at the hands of Guru Gobind Singh on the historic Baisakhi day of AD