guru

KISANA, BHAI, of Muzarig near Lahore, became a disciple in the time of Guru Arjan, when the Guru appointed Bhai Bhanu to preach among the inhabitants of Muzarig, notorious for their lack of morals. Bhai Kisana and Seth Marigina were the first who, along with their families, accepted the Sikh teaching. They formed the nucleus of the local sangat, and assembled early in the morning to listen to Bhai Bhanu`s discourses and to sing the sacred hymns. Gradually, following their example, others were also converted, and a new pious way of life opened for them. Bhai Kisana joined the voluntary digging of the sacred pool at Amritsar.

KUNVARESH, one of the many poets and scholars kept by Guru Gobind Singh, came from a Kashyap Brahman family of the village of Bari, near the ancient town of Kara (26°7`N, 80°22`E), in the present Fatehpur district ofUttar Pradesh. He translated into Bhakha, written in GurmukhT script, "Drona Parva" of the Mahdbhdrata at the instance of Guru Gobind Singh in 1695. Only a fragment of this work has survived. It is preserved in the private collection of the Maharaja of Patiala. A manuscript in the Sikh Reference Library, Amritsar, contained another work by Kunvaresh, Rati Rahasya Kos, a panegyric on Guru Gobind Singh.

LAKKHAN RAI, son of Bik Chand, a Changra Rajput of Una, now a district town of Himachal Pradesh, embraced Sikhism during the time of Guru Tegh Bahadur (1621-75), and was later counted, along with his brother Bhoj Raj, among the poets and scholars patronized by Guru Gobind Singh. The only work of Lakkhan Rai that has come down to us is a translation in Hindi verse of the Sanskrit classic, Hitopadesa, completed in 1737 Bk/AD 1680. This is the earliest extant work by any of Guru Gobind Singh`s poets and scholars.

LAMMAN, also known as Lammah Jatpura, in Ludhiana district, is 14 km from Raikot (30°39°N.`75°37°E) on the Guru Gobind Sihgh Marg. Guru Gobind Sihgh stayed in the village for a few days in December 1705 on his way from Chamkaur to Dina and Kahgar. While Rai Kalha had despatched a fast messenger, Nura Mahi, to Sirhind to bring news of Mata Gujari and two younger sons of Guru Gobind Singh, rumoured to have been taken into custody by the local governor, the Guru halted at Lammah Jatpura to await his return. Nura Main returned and tearfully narrated the tragic happenings at Sirhind.

MADDAR, village five kilometre north of Balloke head works in Pakistan, was known to Sikhs in prepartition Punjab for its Gurdwara Sachchi Manji and some relics of the Gurus it claimed to preserve. One of these was a cot (manji, in Punjabi, after which the Gurdwara was named), said to have been used by Guru Nanak at the time of his visit to the village. Another was one of the pair of Guru Amar Das\' shoes kept in the house of Bhai Chaina Mall, also known as Pero Mall.

MAHIMA SHAHANVALA, one of the three adjacent villages sharing the name Mahima, 8 km west of Goniana Mandi (30°18\'N, 74°54\'E) in Bathinda district of the Punjab, has a historical shrine, called Gurdwara Gurusar Patshahi X. The shrine marks the spot where, according to local tradition, Guru Gobind Singh made a brief halt during his journey, early in 1706, from Lakkhi Jangal to Dan Singhvala. The present building on a high base comprises an assembly hall in front of a semi-octagonal flat-roofed sanctum. The verandah enclosing the hall and the sanctum has a cubicle at each corner. Guru ka Langar is in a separate enclosure beside the sarover. The Gurdwara with a few acres of land around it is controlled by Nihangs of the Buddha Dal.

MALLAN, village 15 km southwest of Jaito (30°-26\'N, 74°-53\'E) in Faridkot district of the Punjab, claims a historical shrine, Gurdwara Ramsar Patshahi X, one km north of the village where Guru Gobind Singh is said to have stopped for a short while travelling towards Khidrana, now Muktsar, in December 1705. The Gurdwara, a flat-roofed hall inside a walled compound entered through a steel gate, is maintained by the village sangat.

MANI RAM, BHAI (1644-1734), from a devoted Sikh family of Pramar Rajputs, was, according to Seva Singh, Shahid Bilds (Bhal Mani Singh), the third of the twelve sons of Naik MaT Das and his wife, Madhari Bai, of `Alipur village in Muzaffargarh district. His grandfather, Ballu, had laid down his life fighting for Guru Hargobind (1595-1644), in the battle of Amritsar in 1634. Born on 10 March 1644, Mani Ram was brought by his father to Guru Har Rai (1630-61) at Kiratpur in 1657. He stayed there for two years, receiving instruction in Sikh lore.

MARU VAR MAHALLA III, by Guru Amar Das, Nanak III, in the musical measure Maru is a poetical composition in the style of a vdr included in the Guru Granth Sahib. There are totally twenty-two such vdrs in the Guru Granlh Sahib in various musical moulds. A vdr is essentially a folk form of poetry. It is a song of chivalry, a heroic tale of battle, sacrifice, love or romance. 

MELI, lit. attached or companion, appears in the Sikh Scripture in different connotations usually as a verb form, past indefinite of melana (to attach, join, bring together), in the feminine form (GG, 54, 63, 90, 243, 379, 389, 584 et al.); as an adjective meaning loving, attached (GG, 4243); and as a noun meaning associate, friend (GG, 392). In Zulfiqar ArdistanT, Dabistdni Mazdhib, the term meli has been used as a title for a class of preachers among the seventeenthcentury Sikhs. Preaching districts or manjis had been set up during the time of Guru Amar Das (1552-74).