THANESAR (Kurukshetra) (29058`N, 76050`E) is an ancient pilgrim centre of the Hindus. Devotees from all over India have since time immemorial been forgathering here for a dip in the holy lakes, especially on the occasion of solar eclipse. Several of the Sikh Gurus also visited the place to preach

VARYAM SINGH, BHAI (1881-1921), one of the Nankana Sahib martyrs, was born on 31 July 1881, the son of Bhai Dula Singh and Mai Hukami, a Mazhabi Sikh couple of the village of Sutoval, in Amritsar district. Dula Singh had a targe family of five sons and four daughters and

BADDON, village 10 km southeast of Mahilpur in Hoshiarpur district of the Punjab, has a historical shrine, Gurdwara Baba Ajit Singh, commemorating the visit in March 1703 of Sahibzada Ajit Singh (1687-1705), the eldest son of Guru Gobind Singh. Sahibzada Ajit Singh, on his way back from Bassi Kalan where

BATHINDA (30° 14`N, 74° 59`E), an old town in the Punjab, was called Vikramgarh during the preMuhammadan period. Tradition ascribes its foundation to Bhati Rao, a Rajput chief who also founded Bhatner, present Hanumangarh, in Rajasthan. The two towns together commanding the area between Hissar and Bikaner known as

BHAI RUPA, village 18 km north of Rampura Phul (30° 16`N, 75° 14`E) in Bathinda district of the Punjab, celebrates the name of a prominent Sikh, Bhai Rupa(Rup Chand, 1614-1709), who laid the foundation of it in 1631 at the instance of Guru Hargobind. Next to Bhai Rupa`s house was

BIDAR (17° 55`N, 77° 32`E) is a district town in Karnataka. It is a railway station on the VikarabadParliVaijnath section of the South Central Railway. It is also connected by road with Nanded. GURDWARA SRi NANAK JHiRA SAHIB at Bidar honours the memory of Guru Nanak. At the time

BHAI BUDHU DA AWA, GURUDWARA:This place is situated at Shalimar Road near Gulabi Gate (where the Sikh National College stood). It was earlier the brick klin of Bhai Budhu. Due to the admontition of Bhai Kamliya, the bricks remained raw. When Bhai Budhu went to Guru Arjan Dev for asking

CHET SINGH, BHAI (1891-1921), son of Bhai Javala Singh and Mai Ram Kaur, was born on 28 May 1891 at Bundala, in Amritsar district. In 1899 the family migrated westward to Chakk No. 64 Nihaleana, in the newly colonized Lyallpur district. Chet Singh studied up to the 5th standard

DELHI, also called Dilli (28° 40`N. 77° 13`E), the capital of India, is also connected with Sikh history. The first, sixth, eighth, ninth and tenth Gurus visited it. Mata Sundari and Mata Sahib Devari, consorts of Guru Gobind Singh, stayed here for a long time before and after the

DINA, village 15 km south of Nihalsinghvala (30° 35`N, 75° 16`E) in presentday Faridkot district of the Punjab, is sacred to Guru Gobind Singh, who, after evacuating Anandpur in December 1705, came here and stayed a few days. Chaudhari Shamir and Lakhmir, grandsons of the local chief, Rai Jodh,

ETAWAH (26° 47`N, 78° 58`E), a district town of Uttar Pradesh, 127 km southeast of Agra, has two Udasi Ashrams commemorating the visits of Guru Nanak and Baba Sri Chand. Sikh chronicles have not recorded these visits, but they do mention that Guru Tegh Bahadur while travelling to the

GOPAL SINGH (1883-1941), an Akali reformer, was born in November 1883 at the village of Sagari, in Rawalpindi district, now in Pakistan. His father, Sundar Singh (d. 1895) was a small shopkeeper. Within three years of Gopal Singh`s father`s death, his two elder brothers also passed away and the