guru

NANAK PRAKASH, by Bhai Mahendranath Bose, is a biography of Guru Nanak in the Bengali language. The author was a follower of Keshabchandra Sen, and the followers of Sen used the word Bhai or Rev. Bhai for one another to convey a sense of close kinship and brotherhood. He had lived in the Punjab in 1871 in connection with his missionary work, and had learnt Punjabi and acquainted himself with Sikh literature. He planned to write a life sketch of Guru Nanak and began serializing his account in the Bengali journal Dharmatatva (July 1883). Interrupting the series, he started work on a book Nanak Prakdsh, the first part of which was published in 1885 and the second in 1893.

NANHERI,   village on the bank of the River Ghaggar, in Patiala district, about 10 km southwest of Ambala City (30° 23`N. 76° 47`E), has a shrine called Gurdwara Patshahi IX ate X, commemorating the visits of Guru Tegh Bahadur and Guru Gobind Singh. Guru Tegh Bahadur is said to have stayed in this village for several days with the local masand, Bhai Ghoga, while on his way to the eastern parts in 1665, and Guru Gobind Singh came here as a child from Lakhnaur in 1670 at the request of Bhai Ghoga.

NAULAKKHA, a village about 20 km north of Patiala (30° 20`N, 76° 26`E), has a gurdwara dedicated to the memory of Guru Tegh Bahadur who visited the site during one of his journeys across the Malva region. The shrine was managed for a long time by a line of mahants from whom the village Sikh community secured prossession of it during the days of the Gurdwara Reform movement of the 1920`s. The old building was replaced by a new one in 1991 Bk/AD 1934. This present building is constructed around a domed sanctum. The Guru ka Langar is close by. The shrine is managed by a local committee under the auspices of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee.

NIRANKARIS, a sect of the Sikhs born of a reform movement which arose in northwest Punjab in the middle of the nineteenth century aiming to restore the purity of Sikh belief and custom. Its founder, Baba Dayal (1783-1855), was a contemporary of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. A man of humble origin, he cavilled at the shortcomings of the mighty and assailed the rites and observances which had perverted the Sikh way of life. His main target was the worship of images against which he preached vigorously.

ONKAR, generally written down as Oankar in Sikh Scriptural writings, is derived from the Upanisadic word Oankara (om+kara) originally signifying pronouncing or rendering into writing the syllable Om. Known as synonym of Om it has been used in the Vedic literature and, in particular in its religio philosophical texts known as the Upanisads, as a holy vocable of mystical signification and as the most sacred of the names of Brahman, the Supreme Self or the one entity which fills all space and time and which is the source of the whole universe including the gods themselves. The word om, the most hallowed name of Brahman, is derived, according to the Gopathabrdhmana (I. 24), from dp `to pervade` or from av `to protect`.

PALAHI, village 4 km north of Phagwara (31° 14`N, 75° 46`E) in the Punjab, is sacred to Guru Hargobind, who passed through it in 1635 on his way from Kartarpur to Kiratpur. According to the Bhatt Vaht Talaudd, a skirmish between the Mughal troops and the Guru`s followers, generally described as the battle of Phagwara, took place here on 29 April 1635. Later, Guru Har Rai also visited the place. Gurdwara Chhevin Patshahi, commemorating the martyrs who laid down their lives in the battle, is in the eastern part of the village, with the sanctum where the Guru Granth Sahib is seated at one end.

PARCHIAN PATSHAI 10 is an anonymous and so far unpublished work, comprising 50 parchts or stories from the life of Guru Gobind Singh (MS. held at the Khalsa College, Amritsar, under MS. No. 2300E). Of the 45 folios, 14 describe in brief the lives of the first nine Gurus; the rest are devoted to Guru Gobind Singh. Special mention is made of the Zafamdmah at which point the Guru`s major battles against the hill chiefs and the Mughal government are alluded to.

PEHOVA or Pahoa, also called Paheva or Bheva (29°59`N, 76°35`E), an ancient pilgrimage centre of the Hindus situated on the left bank of the rivulet Sarsvati, in Kurukshetra district of Haryana, has two historical gurudwaras. GURDWARA BAOLI SAHIB, located outside the old town, is dedicated to Guru Nanak, though Guru Tegh Bahadur and Guru Gobind Singh are also said to have visited the site. Guru Nanak was in Pehova at the time of the festival of Chef Chaudas (fourteenth day of the dark half of the month of Chet) and preached on the futility of offering oblations for the benefit of the souls of one`s ancestors long dead.

PIARA, BHAI, a RandhavaJatt, was a devoted Sikh of the time of Guru Hargobind. When the Guru was...

PRITHI CHAND DADHVAL (d.1696) was one of the hill chieftains who sided with Bhim Chand, the ruler of Kahlur, in the battle of Nadaun fought on 20 March 1691 against Alif Khan, the deputy of Mian Khan. governor of Jammu. Guru Gobind Singh helped Bhim Chand and his allies in this battle, which they won. In 1696, Dilawar Khan, Mughal chief, sent an expedition under his commander Husain Khan to chastise the hill chiefs. Husain Khan overran the Dadhval territory, subjugated a part of Kangra, won over the ruler of Kahliir and invested Guler, whose ruler Raj Singh (Raja Gopal of the Bachitra Ndtak) sought Guru Gobind Singh`s help to ward of the Mughal invasion. Husain waged war against the Guru`s force and his hill allies. In the battle, fought at Guler, Husain was slain in action. So was Raja Prithi Chand who had been fighting on the side of Raja Raj Singh.