guru

AMRITDHARI (amrit, lit. nectar, commonly Sikh sanctified initiatory water + dhan= practitioner) is one who has received baptismal vows of the Khalsa initiated by Guru Gobind Singh (30 March 1699) and abides by them and by the panj kakari rahit, distinctive insignia introduced by the Guru on that day comprising five symbols each beginning with the Gurmukhi letter " oT" (pronounced "kakka") or its Roman equivalent "k". These are kes (long unshorn hair and beard), kangha (a comb to keep the hair tidy), Jenpan (a sword), kara ( a steel bracelet worn about the wrist), and kachh (short breeches worn by soldiers). See PAHUL

ANI RAI, BABA (b.1618), son of Guru Hargobind, was, according to Gurbilas Chhevin Patshahi, born to Mata Nanaki at Amritsar on 16 Maghar 1675 Bk/14 November 1618. The first to arrive to see the child`s face was grandmother, Mata Ganga, and she was the most rejoiced of all the family. Guru Hargobind, to quote the Gurbilas again, gave him the name Ani Rai (am` , Skt. anik = troops, army; rai = raja or chief), Lord of Armies. As he grew up, Ani Rai remained absorbed within himself most of the time.

AURANGABAD, (19° 54`N, 75° 20`E) is a district town in Maharashtra. It is a railway station on the ManmadKachiguda section of the South Central Railway, 114 km from Manmad towards Nanded. The site was once the capital of the Yadavas ofDevgiri or Deogir in the 12th and 13th centuries; Aurangzib established his headquarters here when he was appointed governor of the four Deccan provinces in AD 1636. When as emperor he came to the Deccan in 1681 (never to return to the north again), he first stayed at Aurangabad, later shifting to Ahmadnagar.

AGAMPURA – A Gurdwara in the outskirts of the village Balachaur, about eleven km from Jagadhari railway station...

BABA BAKALA (31°34`N, 75°16`E), a small town in Amritsar district of the Punjab, is sacred to Guru Hargobind and Guru Tegh Bahadur. The original name of the place was Bakala. As Guru Har Krishan lay on his deathbed in Delhi, he was asked by the sangat to name his successor. All that the Guru could say at that time was \'Baba Bakale\' meaning that (Guru) Tegh Bahadur, who was the brother of his (Guru Har Krishan\'s) grandfather (baba) and who was living at Bakala, was to be the next Guru. Bakala, thereafter, came to be called Baba Bakala.

BAHIRVAL, village in Chuniari tahsil (subdivision) of Lahore district of Pakistan, is sacred to Guru Arjan( 1563-1606), who once visited it during his travels in these parts. According to tradition, as the Guru arrived here from Jambar in the north, he met a poor peasant, Hema, at a well just outside the village and asked him for water to drink. Bhai Hema said, "The water of this well is brackish and not fit to drink. But I shall run to the village and fetch sweet water for you." "No, brother," said the Guru, "You should not take the trouble.

BALU HASNA (1564-1660), Sikh preacher and the first head of a dhuan or branch of the Udasi sect, was born the son of Pandit Hardatt and Mai Prabha of Srinagar (Kashmir) on 13 November 1564.. His original name was Balu. Accompanying his elder brother, Alu, better known as Bhai Almast, he came to Amritsar in 1604, to receive instruction from Guru Arjan. He devoted himself to the service of the Guru. Of Guru Hargobind he was a constant companion.

BARATH, a village 8 km southwest of Pathankot (32° 15`N, 75° 32`E) in Gurdaspur district of the Punjab, has a historical shrine, Gurdwara Tap Asthan Baba Sri Chand Ji, popularly called Gurdwara Barath Sahib. Baba Sri Chand, the elder son of Guru Nanak, chose for himself the life of a recluse. After GuruNanak`s passing away, he left Kartarpur and spending sometime at the village of Pakkhoke, established a hermitage at Barath which became the centre of the Udasi sect he had founded. Gurus held him in high esteem for his spiritual eminence.

BAZIDPUR, village 7 km southeast of Firozpur Cantonment (31° 55`N, 74° 36`E) along the FirozpurLudhiana highway, is sacred to Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708), who passed through here in 1706 after the battle of Muktsar. Gurdwara Gurusar, formerly known as Tittarsar after a legendary partridge (tittar, in Punjabi), marks the site where Guru Gobind Singh had encamped, and was first constructed in the form of a small Manji Sahib by Bishan Singh Ahluvalia, an official under Maharaja Ranjit Singh (1780-1839).

BHAGAUTI or Bhavani (Skt. Bhagavati. consort of Visnu, or the goddess Durga) has had in Sikh usage a chequered semantic history.In early Sikhism, especially in the compositions comprising the Guru Granth Sahib, the word means a bhakta or devotee of God. "So bhagautijo bhagvantai janai; he alone is a true devotee who knoweth the Lord" (GG, 88). In Bhai Gurdas, bhagautfhas been used as an equivalent of sword. "Nau bhagauti lohu gharaia iron (a lowly metal) when properly wrought becomes a (powerful) sword" (Varan, XXV. 6).