guru

DABISTANIMAZAHIB, a seventeenth century work in Persian, is a unique study of different religious creeds and systems, including early Sikhism. It first attracted wide notice when it was translated into English by David Shea and Anthony Troyer and was published by Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland, London, in 1843. The section on Nanakpanthis, i.e. Sikhs, was first translated into English by Sardar Umrao Singh Majithia, and into English and Punjabi by Dr Ganda Singh.

DARA SHUKOH, PRINCE (1615-1659), the eldest son of Prince Khurram (later Emperor ShahJahan), was born on 30 March 1615 at Ajmer. Following the failure of his father`s rebellion against his grandfather, Emperor Jaharigir, Dara and his brother, Aurarigzib, were sent to the Emperor as hostages. They arrived at Lahore in June 1626 and rejoined their father only after the tatter`s coronation on 4 February 1628. Educated under eminent Muslim scholars and trained in the affairs of State, Dara was given his first military rank or mansab and assigned a.jagir at the age of 18. 

DESU SINGH, BHAI (d. 1781), was the second of the five sons of Bhai Gurbakhsh Singh of the well known Bhai family, deriving its name from the celebrated Bhai Bhagatu, contemporary of three successor Gurus, Guru Arjan, Guru Hargobind and Guru Har Rai. According to Bhai Santokh Singh, Garb Ganjani Tika, Desu Singh was the fifth in the line of Bhai Bhagatu`s descendants. His father, Bhai Gurbakhsh Singh, was a close associate of Ala Singh of Patiala and had carved for himself some territories around Sirhind and Kaithal besides his ancestral possessions in several villages around Bhuchcho, near Bathinda.

DHARAMSALA or dharamsala from Sanskrit dharmasala, lit. court of justice, tribunal, charitable asylum, religious asylum, stands in Punjabi for a place of worship or the village hospice. Dharamsala as a Sikh institution is the precursor of gurdwara (q.v.). According to janam sakhis, accounts of the life of Guru Nanak (1469-1539). the Guru wherever he went, enjoined his followers to build or set apart a place where they should meet regularly to sing praises of the Lord and to discuss matters of common concern. These places came to be called dharamsalas and the congregations assembling therein became sangats. Dharamsalas grew up in far flung places in the wake of Guru Nanak\'s extensive travels.

DIAL DAS, son of Gaura and grandson of the celebrated Bhai Bhagatu, lived at Bhuchcho, now in Bathinda district of the Punjab, at the time of Guru Gobind Singh`s journey through those parts in 1706. At the village of Bhagu, Dial Das took the rites of amrit at the hands of Guru Gobind Singh and received the name of Dial Singh. There after the Guru and the Sikhs partook of the food he had brought for them. It so happened, says the Sakhi Pothi, that a few more Sikhs arrived after all the food had been consumed. Dial Singh sold his gold ring and bought fresh victuals for the newcomers,

DUGGHRI, 5 km east of Chamkaur Sahib (30° 53`N, 76° 25`E) in Ropar district of the Punjab, is...

DAULAT KHAN LODHI, NAWAB, an Afghan noble, was, during the last quarter of the fifteenth century, governor of Jalandhar Doab with Sultanpur, a town in present day Kapurthala district, as his capital. One of his officials, Jai Ram, was married to Guru Nanak`s sister, Nanaki.Jai Ram secured young Nanak employment as keeper of the Nawab`s granaries and stores at Sultanpur. Nanak applied himself to his duties diligently, and impressed everyone with his gentleness and openhanded generosity.

FARIDKOT TIKA, the earliest full scale exegesis or annotated version of the Guru Granth Sahib, was prepared under the patronage of the princely rulers of the state of Faridkot. Hence its popular name Faridkot Vala Tika or, for short, FaridkotTika. Its full title is Adi Sn Guru Granth Sahib ji Satik. Satik literally means with tika, annotation or commentary. The Guru Granth Sahib is an anthology of spiritual poetry of six of the Gurus and a number of medieval saints as well as of some of the followers contemporary with the first five Gurus.

GANDA SINGH MASHARIQI (1857-1909), Urdu poet, scholar and religious guide in the line of family preceptors to the chiefs of Ropar in the Punjab. His grandfather, Bhai Bagh Singh (1757-1822), and his father, Bhai Bishan Singh (1809-90), had served the Ropar family as priests and counsellors. When the British East India Company confiscated the princely state in 1846 for its sympathy with the Sikhs during the AngloSikh war (1845-46), and placed Raja Bhup Singh, of Ropar, under detention in Saharanpur, Bhai Bishan Singh accompanied his master to Saharanpur. He returned to Ropar after the death of Raja Bhup Singh (1851) and settled down to a life of worship and strict religious discipline in his former residence, then famous as Granthi Bagh.

GAURI KI VAR, by Guru Ram Das, is one of his seven vars in a total of twenty-two in the Guru Granth Sahib. As the title indicates, the Vdr is cast in the Gauri musical measure a rdga commonly sung in the evening. In Sikh Scripture, Gaun is the third of the thirty-one ragas. Gaun ki Vdr comprises thirty-three pauns and sixty-eight slokas. Except pawns 15 and 20 which are preceded by three slokas each, the rest have two slokas prefixed to each.