guru

Bara Mah Tukhari written in Tukhari raga by Guru Nanak presents the devotee in the image of a woman who is restless to meet her lover; the romance of nature making her more tense. It is believed that this was the last poetic creation by Guru Nanak. We see the zenith of lyrical and poetic excellence in this \'Calendar Composition\' based on the 12 months of a year. It is one of the most sensitive pieces of this poetic form.

CHANDPUR, village connected by a 4km stretch of link road to Ropar Nangal road near Kotia power house, is sacred to Guru Har Rai (1630-61), who came here on visits several times. Gurdwara Guru Har Rai Sahib marking the site of the Guru`s camp is also known as Gurdwara Nira Sahib (from nira, i.e. fodder for the Guru`s horses). The present three storeyed domed building raised in 1950 has the sanctum on the ground floor. The Gurdwara is affiliated to the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, but is managed by the local sangat.

CHHOTA GHALLUGHARA, lit. minor holocaust or carnage, as distinguished from Vadda Ghallughara (q.v.) or major massacre, is how Sikh chronicles refer to a bloody action during the severe campaign of persecution launched by the Mughal government at Lahore against the Sikhs in 1746. Early in that year, Jaspat Rai, the faiydar of Eminabad, 55 km north of Lahore, was killed in an encounter with a roving band of Sikhs. Jaspat Rai\'s brother, Lakhpat Rai, who was a diwan or revenue minister at Lahore, vowed revenge declaring that he would not put on his head dress nor claim himself to be a Khatri, to which caste he belonged, until he had scourged the entire Sikh Panth out of existence.

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.