guru

DAYA (usually spelt data in Punjabi), from Skt. Day meaning to sympathize with, to have pity on, stands for compassion, sympathy. It means `suffering in the suffering of all beings.` It is deeper and more positive in sentiment than sympathy. Daya, cognitively, observes alien pain; affectively, it gets touched by it and moves with affectional responses for the sufferer; and co-natively, it moves one to act mercifully, pityingly, with kindness and forgiveness.

FATEHNAMAH GURU KHALSA JI KA, by Ganesh Das, an employee of the Sikh Darbar, and published as edited by Sita Ram Kohli, contains accounts, in Punjabi verse, of three of the major battles of Sikh times. The first of these was fought at Multan in 1818 between Maharaja Ranjit Singh`s forces and the army of the local Afghan ruler Muzaffar Khan. The second, the first battle of Peshawar, also known as the battle of Naushera, was fought in 1823 between Sikhs and Muhammad`Azim Khan, who after the death of his brother Fateh Khan, had acquired power in Afghanistan and wished to reestablish Afghan supremacy over Peshawar.

GANGA, MATA (d. 1621), consort of Guru Arjan (1563-1606), Nanak V, was the daughter of Bhai Krishan Chand of the village of Mau, 10 km west of Phillaur in the Punjab. The nuptial ceremonies took place at her village on 19 June 1589. She was the mother of Guru Hargobind born to her at Vadali, near Amritsar, on 19 June 1595. She died at Bakala (now Baba Bakala) on 14 May 1621.

GHANI KHAN and his brother Nabi Khan, Pathan horse dealers of Machhivara in present day Ludhiana district of the Punjab, were admirers of Guru Gobind Singh whom they had visited at Anandpur and to whom they had sold many good animals. When they learnt that, travelling in a lonely state after the battle of Chamkaur (1705), the Guru had come to Machhivara, they at once turned out to meet him and offered their services. They provided him with a blue coloured dress and carried him out of Machhivara in a palanquin disguised as a Muslim divine. They declared him to be Uchch da Pir, the holy man of Uchch, an old seat of Muslim saints in south-west Punjab.

GOPI, BHAI, a devoted Sikh of the time of Guru Amar Das. He lived at the village of Dalla, in present day Kapurthala district of the Punjab, and received initiation at the hands of Guru Amar Das, (Varan, XI. 16) BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Mani Singh, Bhai, Sikhan di Bhagat Main. Aimitsar, 1955 2. Santokh Singh, Bhai, Sn Gur Pratap Silrnj Cranlii. Amritsar, 1927-33 B.S.D. GOPI, BHAI, a Bhardvaj Brahman, received initiation at the hands of Guru Arjan. Once he, accompanied by Bhai Vcsa and Bhai Tulsia, also Bhardvaj Brahmans, and Bhai Bhiara, who had been initiated along with him, waited upon the Guru.

GULAB SINGH, PANDIT, was a Nirmala scholar, the prefix pandit denoting his preeminence in Sanskrit letters rather than his caste. He was born in a peasant family in 1789 Bk/AD 1732 in the village of Sekham, in Lahore district, now in Pakistan. He was initialed into Sanskrit studies by Pandit Man Singh Nirmala to whom he has expressed his indebtedness at many places in his writings. As a small boy, he learnt Gurmukhi from a sdclhu in his own village and read with him the Guru Granth Sahib. 

GURDITTA, BABA (1613-1638), the eldest son of Guru Hargobind (1595-1644), was born on 15 November 1613 to Mata Damodari at Darauli Bhai in present day Faridkot district of the Punjab. He had his training in religious lore and in the martial arts under the supervision of his father. He was married on 17 April 1621 to Ananti alias Natti, daughter of Bhai Rama of Batala, an ancient town in Gurdaspur district. According to Gurbilds Chhevm Pdtshdhi, relations from Darauli, Mandiali, Goindval and Khadur Sahib accompanied the marriage party. Baba Buddha and Bhai Gurdas, however, stayed behind in Amritsar to look after the Harimandar and the Akal Takht.

GURU GIRARATH KOS is a dictionary of the Guru Granth Sahib compiled by the Nirmala scholar Pandit Tara Singh Narotam. The kos, completed in AD 1889, is in two volumes printed at Rajendra Press, Patiala the first (pp. 702) in 1895 and the second (pp. 706) in 1898. The first volume has a lengthy Introduction which carried no title except the abbreviated form of the mul mantra, i.e. Ik Oankar Satguru Prasad, at the head. The Introduction beginning with a definition of the word kos contains detailed information about the contents of the book, the method of arrangement of words and phrases, abbreviations used, a list of the Sanskrit prefixes, some specimens of the words which have different meanings in Sanskrit and Persian, and a few examples of the words which take different forms in different languages of India.

GURBAKHSH SINGH, one of the Chhibbar Brahman family of Kariala in Jehlum district, now in Pakistan, which had been managing the household affairs of the Gurus since the time of Guru Hargobind (1595-1644), was the son of Dharam Chand, treasurer to Guru Gobind Singh. Subsequent to the evacuation of Anandpur in 1705, Gurbakhsh Singh remained in the service of Mata Sundari and Mata Sahib Dcvari at Delhi. After the jagir or estate of Guru Chakk, i.e. Amritsar, was restored to Mata Sundari by Emperor Bahadur Shah in 1711, she sent him to Amritsar along with Kirpal Singh Subhikkhi as daroghah or manager. According to his son, Kesar Singh Chhibbar, the author of Dansavalmama, Gurbakhsh Singh`s duties included the supervision of gaukhana (cattleshed), karkhana (work centre), khazana (treasury) and the running of Guru ka Langar or community kitchen.

HARIMANDAR (lit. the House of God; hari = Visnu, or God; mandar = temple, house), Golden Temple to the English speaking world, is the Sikhs` most famous sacred shrine. Also called Sri Darbar Sahib (the Exalted Holy Court), it lies in the heart of the city of Amritsar in the Punjab. The city in fact grew around what initially stood as the temple portal. The present structure could well be described as a golden beauty amid a glittering pool of water.