PRITAM DAS, MAHANT (1752-1831), an Udasi saint, was born in 1752, according to some sources in 1722, in a Sarsvat Brahman family of Hoshiarpur district of the Punjab. His original name was Karam Chand. His early education was limited to preliminary Urdu. He left his home at the age

BIHAGRE KI VAR, by Guru Ram Das, is one of the twenty-two vars included in the Guru Granth Sahib. The Var, originally comprised pauris which were prefaced with slokas, or couplets, by Guru Arjan at the time of the compilation of the Guru Granth Sahib. All the twenty-one pauris

HEMA, BHAI, a devout Sikh of Khanpur, a village now known as Khan Chhapn, 8 km west of Goindval (30°22`N, 75"9`E) in Amritsar district of the Punjab, who would extend the hospitality of his humble thatched hut, chhapn`m Punjabi, to any Sikh or holy man. Once, during the winter

PEHLI PATSHAHI GURUDWARA, LAHORE : This historical place is situated just inside Delhi Darwaza near old Kotwali Chowk in Sirianwala Bazaar (Lahore). All the gates of the city lead to this historic place. In 1510 A.D. (1567 B.K.), Guru Nanak, while redeeming the world from sins, reached the house of

BIHANGAM, from Sanskrit vihang which means a bird, is a term applied to wandering ascetics who lead a life of complete detachment. A Biharigam is a celebate who lives in poverty renouncing all worldly ties and follows the path of holiness. In the Hindu tradition, he, abjuring religious dogma,

HUKAM SINGH, BHAI (d. 1921), son of Bhai Ghanaiya Singh Dhillon and Mat Har Kaur of the village of Dirigariari in Jalandhar district, was born at his mother`s house in Hazara village in the same district and spent his early childhood there under the care of his maternal grandfather,

PATSHAHI CHHEVIN LAHORE, GURUDWARA This place, that was hallowed by the holy touch of the feet of the Sixth Guru Hargobind Sahib, is situated inside Bhatti Darwaza in the Chumalah Muhalla. The Guru accepted the request of the Lahore Sangat and stayed for three days at the house of Bhai

BIKRAM SINGH, RAJA (1842-1898). born in January 1842, succeeded his father, Wazir Singh, to the throne of Faridkot state in 1874. A dominant figure in Faridkot history, Raja Bikram Singh modernized the state administration. He employed retired British officials of experience and in 1875 set up offices and courts

KANRE KI VAR, by Guru Ram Das, is one of the twenty-two compositions entered in the Guru Granth Sahib under the rubric of vdr. Like oilier vdrs it is assigned to a specific musical measure Kanra, in this instance. At the head of the Vdr is recorded by Guru

RAGMAIA, lit. a rosary of ragas or musical measures, is the title of a composition of twelve verses, running into sixty lines, appended to the Guru Granth Sahib after the Munddvam, i.e. the epilogue, as a table or index of ragas. In the course of the evolution of Indian music,

BIR SINGH, BABA (1768-1844), soldier become religious preacher and saint, was born in July 1768 at the village of Gaggobua, in Amritsar district of the Punjab, the son of Seva Singh and Dharam Kaur. After the death of his father in one of the campaigns against the Afghan rulers

KATHA is the noun form of the Sanskrit word kath, meaning to speak, describe, narrate or interpret. In religious terminology, kathd stands for exposition, analysis and discussion of a passage from a scripture. It involves a full length discourse on a given text, with a proper enunciation of it and