guru

DALLA. BHAI, a devout Sikh of the time of Guru Arjan. Once he, accompanied by Bhai Bhagirath, BhaiJapu and Bhai Nivala, waited upon Guru Arjan and begged to be enlightened whether Guru Nanak worshipped God in the nirguna, the unattributed, or saguna, the attributed form. The Guru, as says Bhai Mani Singh, Sikhan di Bhagat Mala, replied, "Guru Nanak was the worshipper of the Name, nam, which covers both these attributes of God. You, too, should practise nam and seek refuge in the sangat." Bhai Dalla and his companions were gratified to receive the Guru`s precept.

DEATH, the primordial mystery and one of the cardinal conditions of existence. Scientifically, death is defined as "the permanent cessation of the vital function in the bodies of animals and plants" or, simply, as the end of life caused by senescence or by stoppage of the means of sustenance to body cells. In Sikhism the universal fact of mortality is juxtaposed to immortality (amarapad) as the ultimate objective (paramartha) of life. As a biological reality death is the inevitable destiny of everyone. Even the divines and prophets have no immunity from it. Mortality reigns over the realms of the gods as well.

DHAKAULI, a village in Patiala district, 14 km east of Chandigarh (30° 44`N, 76° 46`E), is famous for Gurdwara Baoli Sahib, dedicated to Guru Gobind Singh. According to local tradition, the Guru, on his way back from Paonta to Anandpur in November 1688 decided to encamp on this site. He was told by the villagers that the nearest source of water was the stream Sukhna which was 2 km away.

DHILVAN KALAN, village 5 km southeast of Kot Kapura (30° 35`N, 74° 49`E) in Faridkot district of the Punjab, was the abode of Sodhi Kaul, shortened from Kaulnain, a descendant of Guru Arjan`s elder brother, Prithi Chand, and thus a collateral relation of Guru Gobind Singh. According to Bhai Santokh Singh, Sri" Gur Pratap Suraj Granth, Guru Gobind Singh, displeased at Chaudhari Kapura`s refusal to assist him in warding off the pursuing army from Sirhind, left Kot Kapura and came to Dhilvari Kalari, where Sodhi Kaul and his four sons received him with honour.

DIPALPUR (30° 40`N, 73° 32`E), tahsil (subdivision) town of Montgomery (or Sahiwal) district of Pakistan, was, according to Miharban Janam Sakhi, visited by Guru Nanak (1469-1539) on his way back from Pakpattan to Talvandi. According to local tradition, the Guru sat under a dead pipal tree on the southeastern outskirts of the town. The tree foliated. Guru Nanak is also said to have cured a leper named Nuri or Nauranga.

DAS GUR KATHA, by Karikan, one of the poets in attendance on Guru Gobind Singh, is a versified account, in an admixture of Braj, Hindi and Punjabi, of the events of the lives of the Ten Gurus. The only known manuscript of the work is present in the Panjab Public Library at Lahore, a copy of which was obtained for the library of the Khalsa College at Amritsar in 1956 and which was published with annotation in book form, in 1967, by the Khalsa Samachar, Amritsar. The colophon indicates the author`s name, but not the year of composition which from internal evidence is reckoned to be around AD 1699.

DUMAL GARH SAHIB GURUDWARA, ANANDPUR This Gurdwara is on the northern side of Kesgarh Sahib. Here, Guru Sahib used to train his sons. This place was also used as a playing ground. Wrestling matches and other competitions were also held here. On November 2,1703 when Ajmer Chand, the ruler of Bilaspur attacked Anandpur Sahib, Guru Sahib was sitting here under a bunyan tree.

FIVE SYMBOLS, a set of five distinctive features or elements of personal appearance or apparel that set off Sikhs from the followers of any other religious faith. Any study of religious symbols involves a dual task: first, to explain the meaning of symbols not only in terms of their original connotations but also on the basis of contemporary categories of understanding; secondly, to discriminate between genuine symbolism and piny post hoc interpretations which later times may have imposed on things originally having little symbolic relevance. A symbol is generally defined as something that stands for, represents or denotes something else, especially a material object representing or taken to represent something immaterial or abstract, as being an idea, quality or condition. Words, phrases and sentences, for instance, represent various beings, ideas, qualities or conditions.

GHUMAN, village 10 km west of Sri Hargobindpur (30°41`N, 75°29`E) in Gurdaspur district of the Punjab. Namdev (1270-1350), the muchrevered saint of Maharashtra, some of whose hymns are included in the Guru Granth Sahib, lived in this village for a considerable time. Most of his years until the age of 55 were spent at Pandharpur, in Sholapur district of Maharashtra. Then he journeyed extensively through north India and returned to Maharashtra after 18 years. During this period, he also visited the Punjab and, according to tradition, made Ghuman his seat of residence.

GOIND, BHAI, a Ghei Khatri of Sultanpur Lodhi, embraced the Sikh faith in the time of Guru Amar Das. He took part in sevd for the digging of the sacred pool at Amritsar under Guru Arjan. Bhai Gurdas describes Bhai Goind in his Varan, XI.20, as one of the leading disciples of the Guru. GOIND, BHAI, also known as Bhai Gonda (1569-1649), head of a dhudn, seat or branch of Udasi Sikh preachers, was born on 27 July 1569 in a Khatri family of Srinagar in Kashmir.