ALLAYAR, a wealthy Muslim horse dealer of Delhi, who turned a preacher of Sikhism, first came to Guru Amar Das at Goindval escorted by Bhai Paro, a prominent Sikh of Dalla, a village in present day Kapurthala district of the Punjab. It is said that returning from Kabul once with 500 newly purchased horses, he was held up near Goindval owing to the River Beas being in spate. He had not been there long before he saw someone tearing across the swollen river on horseback from the opposite bank. This was Bhai Paro coming to make his daily obeisance to Guru Amar Das.
ANABHI, a Jain hierarch, who, according to Puratan Janam Sakhi, met Guru Nanak during his journey to the South. Anabhi addressed the Guru thus: "Eatest thou corn, old or new, consumest thou parched gram, and drinkest thou cold water without filtering to ensure absence of living organisms; yet thou art called a Guru. What merit dost thou possess if thou art constantly killing living beings?" Guru Nanak, according to Puratan Janam Sakhi, recited verses saying: "By the Master`s grace is faith fulfilled," and not by "having the hair of one`s head plucked, drinking befouled water and begging others for leftovers to eat. "Anabhi, says the Janam Sakhi, took the precept and became a disciple.
ARDAS, supplication and recollection, is the ritual prayer which Sikhs, individually or in congregation, recite morning and evening and in fact whenever they perform a religious service and at the beginning and conclusion of family, public or religious functions. The word ardas seems to have been derived from Persian `arzdasht, meaning a petition, a memorial or an address to a superior authority. The Sikh ardas is rendered to God Almighty in a supplicatory mood standing in front of the Guru Granth Sahib or, where the Guru Granth Sahib is not present, standing in a similarly reverential posture.
ABHICH,According to Indian astrology \'Abhich\' is the name of a certain conjunction of planets which is regarded as auspicious by the Hindus. On this day, Hindus take a bath in one of the holy rivers. On this festive day. which fell on January 14. 1553 Guru Amardas visited Kurukshetra to enlighten the people on spiritual matters, as a lot of pilgrims had gathered there. There is a reference to the Abhich festival in a hymn of Guru Ramdas on page 1116 of the Guru Granth Sahib.He wrote that the sight of the Guru is more blessed and blissful than a bath on this festival, which is also called \'Abhijit\'.
AKRURA Oodho, Akrura (of the Dwapara age) and Trilochan, Namdev and Kabir (of Iron age) got their sins effaced by remembering the Name of the Lord and the same undeceivable Name, which ferries the saints across the world-ocean, came into the mind of Guru Amar Das. (Swayye Mahle Teeje Ke, p. 1393) Akrura was an uncle of Sri Krishna and also his faithful ally and well-wisher. When Kansa planned to kili Krishna and Balabhadra, he conducted a festival. Akrura was sent by Kansa to bring the two brothers for the festival. He understood the plot and informed Krishna about it. He also advised Krishna to kili Kansa.
for
BACHCHHOANA, village 7 km northeast of Budhlada Mandi (29°55\'N, 75°33\'E), is sacred to Guru Tegh Bahadur, who, according to Sakhi Pothi, came here from Barhe and stayed for seven days under a pipal tree on the bank of a pond. The Guru was accompanied by a large sangat and the Ranghar in habitants of Bachchhoana served them ample quantities of milk and curds. Guru Tegh Bahadur expressed delight at the extensive green pastures around the village and blessed the villagers for their good milch cattle.
for
BAJAK, village 30 km southwest of Bathinda (30°14`N, 74°59`E), is sacred to Guru Gobind Singh, who visited it in 1706. The villagers turned out with pitchers full of milk to serve him as he arrived. However, Sukkhu and Buddhu, two sadhus of the Divana sect, came intent upon reprisal for the death of one of their group fatally wounded in an encounter with a Sikh. But as soon as their eyes fell on the Guru, anger was gone out of their hearts. They, says the SakhiPothf, made obeisance before him and carried him in a palanquin for some distance as he departed.
BANDAI, name given to the followers of the Sikh hero, Banda Singh Bahadur (1670-1716), who regarded him not only as a military leader but also as Guru next to Guru Gobind Singh in spiritual succession. They were opposed and ultimately expelled in 1721 by the mainstream of the Sikhs, the Tatt Khalsa. A small number of Bandai Sikhs still survive. They reverence the Guru Granfh Sahib as their Scripture and most of them also undergo the Khalsa initiatory rites, but Banda Singh Bahadur is for them their eleventh Guru against the common Sikh belief of the spiritual line having ended with Guru Gobind Singh, the Tenth Master.
for
BARNA, village in Kurukshetra district of Haryana, about 20 km southwest of Kurukshetra (29° 58`N, 76° 50`E), is sacred to Guru Tegh Bahadur who once stopped here while journeying from Kaithal to Kurukshetra. Local tradition recalls the story of a peasant who waited upon him and to survey whose land a revenue official arrived in the village the same day. The Sikh asked the Guru`s permission to go and have his land measured.
BEGA, BHAI, or Bhai Vega. a Pasi Khatri of the village of Dalla, now in Kapurthala district of the Punjab. His name appears among pious and devoted Sikhs of the time of Guru Amar Das in Bhai Gurdas, Varan, XI. 16. He was among the Sikhs who waited upon the Guru when he visited Dalla and received initiation at his hands. See KHANU, BHAI
