guru

TULSA, BHAI, a Bhalla Khatri of the village of Dalla, now in Kapurthala district of the Punjab. He received the rites of initiation at the hands of Guru Amar Das and learnt to shed the pride of caste. His name figures in Bhai Gurdas, Varan, XI. 16. TULSA, BHAI, a Vahura (Volwa) Khatri trader living in Sultanpur Lodhi, now in Kapurthala district of the Punjab, received the rites of initiation during the time of Guru Amar Das. His name is included among the Guru`s devotees in Mani Singh, Sikhan di Bhagat Mala. BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Mani Singh, Bhai, Sikhan di Bhagat Mala. Amritsar, 1955 2. Santokh Singh, Bhai, 5n Gur Pratap Suraj Granth.

UNTOUCHABILITY, a feature of the caste system prevalent in Hindu society since time immemorial, reduces certain classes and castes to a very low level in the social scale. The caste system, the origins of which can be traced to the Purusa Sukta, hymn 90, of the tenth book of the Rgveda, had, by the time of the Epics, become an inalienable part of the Varnasrama Dharma of the Aryans. While Buddhism disapproved of caste distinctions, the Bhagavad gita (IV. 13) confers divine sanction on the caste system. Again, Bhagavadgita implies the distribution of human beings into castes in accordance with their guna or qualities and karma or actions.

VAR HAQIQAT RAI, by Aggra or Aggar Singh, is a versified account of the life and martyrdom of Haqiqat Rai. No biographical details are available about Aggra, except that he was a contemporary of Haqiqat Rai and that he came of a Sethi Khatri family. Haqiqat Rai was the son of Bagh Mall and the grandson, on the mother`s side, of Bhai Kanhaiya, a devout Sikh of the time of Guru Gobind Singh. The Var was completed in 1841 Bk/AD 1784, and it comprises 212 stanzas. 

Var Patshahl Dasvin Ki, ballad in Punjabi by an unknown poet who describes, Guru Gobind Singh\'s battle against the combinded forces of hill rajas and the Mughal faujdar Rustam Khan. The poet has not mentioned where and when the action took place the names of the Mughal commander Rustam Khan and his brother Himmat Khan mentioned in the Var indicate that it was the battle of Nirmohgarh, fought in 1700. The Var opens with a supplicatory verse where after the poet straightway begins the narrative. Rustam Khan has arrived at the head of a Mughal host with the proclaimed hiect of routing the Guru and his Sikhs.

AGAMPUR or AGAMPURA, lit. city unapproachable or inaccessible (Skt. agamya plus pur or pura). The word appears in one of the hymns of Guru Nanak in Asa measure where it is used to signify God`s abode or the ultimate state or stage of spiritual enlightenment and bliss. Another term used synonymously in the same hymn is nijaghar, lit. one`s own real home signifying the ultimate sphere of jivatma.

AJMER CHAND, ruler of Kahlur (Bilaspur), one of the princely states in the Sivaliks. He succeeded his father. Raja Bhim Chand, who had retired in his favour. Bhim Chand had led battles against Guru Gobind Singh, and his son, Ajmer Chand, continued the hostility. He formed a league of the hill chieftains and solicited help from Emperor Aurangzib in order to evict Guru Gobind Singh from Anandpur which fell within his territory. Their attacks upon Anandpur in 1700 and 1703 proved abortive, but Guru Gobind Singh had to evacuate the citadel in 1705 under pressure of a prolonged siege. Ajmer Chand joined the imperial troops in their pursuit of the Guru up to Chamkaur. Ajmer Chand died in 1738.

AKUL, BHAI, a resident of Sultan pur Lodhi in present day Kapurthala district of the Punjab, embraced the Sikh faith in the time of Guru Amar Das. Bhai Gurdas in his Varan praises his sincerity and devotion to the Guru. Once Bhai Akul, along with several others from his village, waited on Guru Arjan and begged to be instructed in how sattvika gunas, or qualities of purity and goodness, might be cultivated.

AMAR DAS, GURU (1479-1574), the third of the ten Gurus of the Sikh faith, was born into a Bhalla Khatri family on Baisakh sudi 14, 1536 Bk, corresponding to 5 May 1479, at Basarke, a village in present day Amritsar district of the Punjab. His father\'s name was Tej Bhan and mother\'s Bakht Kaur; the latter has also been called by chroniclers variously as Lachchhami, Bhup Kaur and Rup Kaur. He was married on 11 Magh 1559 Bk to Mansa Devi, daughter of Devi Chand, a Bahil Khatri, of the village of Sankhatra, in Sialkot district, and had four children two sons, Mohri and Mohan, and two daughters. Dani and Bhani. Amar Das had a deeply religious bent of mind.

ANAND (Skt. Anand, from nand meaning "to rejoice" or "to delight") denotes mystical experience, spiritual bliss or a state of consciousness such as that ofaJi`van mukta, i.e. one released while still in body. Anand in the Upanisadic texts istaken to be one of the three inherent attributes of atman or Brahman, the other two being sat and chit. In the Taittiriya Upanisad (II. 15), it acquried this meaning of pure bliss. The self at the lowest or first stage of its evolution is defined as the annamaya kosa (the matter) which evolves successively into prana (life), man (mind or perceptual consciousness), vijnana (self consciousness) and ananda, nondual bliss.

ARJAN DEV, GURU (1563-1606), fifth in the line of ten Gurus or prophet teachers of the Sikh faith, was born on Baisakh vadi 7, 1620 Bk/15 April 1563 at Goindval, in present day Amritsar district, to Bhai Jetha who later occupied the seat of Guruship as Guru Ram Das, fourth in succession from Guru Nanak, and his wife, Bibi (lady) Bhani, daughter of Guru Amar Das, the Third Guru. The youngest son of his parents, (Guru) Arjan Dev was of a deeply religious temperament and his father\'s favourite. This excited the jealousy of his eldest brother, Prithi Chand. Once Guru Ram Das had an invitation to attend at Lahore the wedding of a relation.