MOHAN, BABA (b. 1536), the elder son of Guru Amar Das, was born to Mata Mansa Devi at Basarke Gillan, near Amrtisar, in 1536. He was of a taciturn disposition and most of the time kept to his room in Goindval absorbed in study and contemplation. He had in his possession manuscript collections of the Gurus` hymns inherited from his father. When Guru Arjan (1563-1606) undertook the compilation of the (Guru) Granth Sahib, he sent Bhal Gurdas and then Bhai Buddha to borrow these from him, but Baba Mohan refused each time to part with them. Finally, Guru Arjan himself went to Goindval.
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MULOVAL, a village 11 km west of Dhuri (30°22`N,75°53`E) in Sangrur district of the Punjab, is sacred to Guru Tegh Bahadur, who visited it in the course of one of his journeys through the Malva. According to Sikh chronicles, the Guru coming from Rajo Majra stopped near the village well and asked for water. The villagers said that the water being brackish the well had fallen into disuse and offered to bring water from another place some distance away. Guru Tegh Bahadur had the well uncovered and declared the water to be sweet. The well so sweetened is still in existence.
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.
NAM JAPANA, KIRAT KARNI, VAND CHHAKANA, i.e. ever to repeat God`s name, to be ready to engage in the labour of one`s hands and to be willing to share with others what one has gathered may be said to be the triple principle underlying Sikh ethics and way of life. This swiftly enunciated three way formula meant conjointly to form a single edict affirms that a Sikh should ideally be a man of a sensitive spiritual and moral conscience, always ready to put his hand to the wheel and never shying away from his duty. Actions of a morally oriented individual are directed not solely towards achieving his own welfare, but towards ensuring the good of society as a whole. By linking ndmjapand to the other two precepts, Sikhism declares that the basis of wholesome living is God centredness, compulsions and obligations of physical existence notwithstanding.
NANDA, BHAI, a Sanghera Jatt, received the rites of initiation at the hands of Guru Arjan. He trained as a warrior in the time of Guru Hargobind, and was killed in the battle of Lohgarh, Amritsar, in 1629. According to Bhai Santokh Singh, Sri GUT Pratdp Suraj Granth, Bhai Nanda`s sword broke in the thick of action. Barehanded. he pounced upon the Mughal commander, Mirza Beg, and pulled him down from his horse. He grappled with him in an unarmed combat, and fell under fire.
NATTHA, BHAI, a devoted Sikh of the time of Guru Arjan. He was one of those who went to the Guru to report that spurious hymns were being composed by Prithi Mall under the pseudonym Nanak for inclusion in the holy corpus. Bhai Nattha`s name is included in the roster of the Guru`s devotees in Bhai Mani Singh, Sikhdn di Bhagat Maid. BIBLIOGRAPHY Mani Singh, Bhai, Sikhdn di Bhagat Maid. Amritsar, 1955 T.S. NATTHA, BHAI, Muslim bard who, in company with Bhai `Abdulla, sang heroic poetry at Sikh divdnsin the time of Guru Hargobind.
NIHANGS or Nihang Singhs, originally known as Akalis or Akah Niharigs, are endearingly designated the Guru`s Knights or the Guru`s beloved, for the military ambience they still carry about them and the heroic style they continue to cultivate. They constitute a distinctive order among the Sikhs and are readily recognized by their dark blue loose apparel and their ample, peaked turbans festooned with quoits, insignia of the Khalsa and rosaries, all made of steel. They are always armed, and are usually seen mounted heavily laden with weapons such as swords, daggers, spears, rifles, shotguns and pistols.
Nandram, one of the poets who kept Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708) company, was the son of a well-known Sufi poet, Vali Ram. He had been in the service of Dara Shukoh, who, having lost the struggle for succession to his father\'s throne, was executed by his brother, Emperor Aurangzib, in 1659. When he came under the patronage of Guru Gobind Singh is not known. Two of his poems, Nand Pachisi and Karkha Guru Gobind Singh Ka, both in Gurmukhl script, have survived. The former describing Kaliyuga, the on temporary Age of Darkness, was written in 1687 and the latter an ode on the life of Guru Gobind Singh, sometime after the battle of Chamkaur (1705).
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 to Lahore. According to Gurbilds Chhevin Pdtshdhi, he displayed soldierly skills in the time of Guru Hargobind and had command of 100 horsemen. Bhai Paira was in Guru Hargobind`s train when he visited Kashmir in 1620. He fell fighting in the battle of Amritsar fought, according to the Bhatt Vahis, in 1634.
PANTH, from Sanskrit patha, pathin, or pantham, means literally a way, passage or path and, figuratively, away of life, religious creed or cult. In Sikh terminology, the word panth stands for the Sikh faith as well as for the Sikh people as a whole. It represents the invisible mystic body comprising all those who profess Sikhism as their faith and encompassing lesser bodies, religious as well as political, claiming to represent the whole of the Sikh population or any section of it.
