GURDWARA HOLGARH SAHIB stands on the site of Holgarh Fort, one and a half km north-west of the town across the Charan Gariga rivulet. It was here that Guru Gobind Singh introduced in the spring of 1701, the cel-ebration of hola on the day following the Hindu festival of colour-throwing, holi. Unlike the playful sprinkling of colours as is done during holi, the Guru made hola an occasion for Sikhs to demonstrate skills-al-arms in simulated battle. Hola or Hola Mahalla, became thereafter an annual tour-ney of warlike sports in Anaiidpur as long as the Guru stayed there.
JHORAR, a village still flanked on two sides by arid mounds of shifting sands, 6 km northeast of Bara Gudha railway station (29"43`N, 75"1`E), in Sirsa district of Haryana, is sacred to Guru Gobind Singh, who made a brief halt here while travelling from Talvandi Sabo towards Sirsa in the winter of 1706. Gurdwara Patshahi X, constructed in the 1950`s, is a flat roofed hall, within a lowwallcd compound. It is maintained by the village sanga.l.
JOTI BIGAS is the joint title of two poetic compositions, one in Persian and the other in Punjabi, by Bhai Nand Lal Goya, a devoted Sikh of Guru Gobind Singh, much revered in Sikh piety and in letters. Bhai Nand Lal`s verse is classed as approved Sikh canon and can be recited at religious assemblies along with the hymns of the Gurus. Both the works included mJoti Bigds are in the nature of a fervent homage to the Gurus, all ten of whom are acclaimed as sharing the same light, the same voice speaking through ten bodies. The work in Punjabi comprises forty-three couplets whereas the one in Persian has 175 couplets.
KARAM SINGH, BHAI (1885-1922), who died a martyr in the Panja Sahib episode, was the son of Bhat Bhagvan Singh, a priest of Takht Kesgarh, at Anandpur Sahib. He was born on 14 November 1885 and given the name of Sant Singh. He received instruction in the Sikh sacred lore and in devotional music from his father and grew up to be an accomplished singer of the holy hymns. At the time of the Guru ka Bagh agitation in 1922, Karam Singh and his wife, Kishan Kaur, went on a pilgrimage to Gurdwara Panja Sahib where he so impressed the sahgat with his kirtan that the Gurdwara committee employed him permanently as one of the choir.