GOSHTAN MIHARVAN JI KIAN, by Sodhi Hariji (d. 1696), is a biography of the author`s father, Sodhi Miharban, written in anecdotal style of the janam sdkhis. Biographical details, however, are sparse; the work mainly contains theological discourses of Sodhi Miharban and his interpretations of gurbdm, the sacred utterances of the

MANSUKH was, according to Puratan Janam Sakhi, a merchant of Lahore who, learning about Guru Nanak from one of his customers Bhai Bhagirath, travelled with him to Sultanpur. There he remained in attendance on the Guru for three years and learnt, as says the Janam Sakhi, to recite bdni,

SHIV RAM (b. 1418), grandfather of Guru Nanak, was the son of Ram Narain, a Bedi Khatri. He and his wife, Banarasi, lived in a village called Patthevind, now the site of Gurdwara Dera Sahib, 10 km east of Naushahra Pannuan in present day Amritsar district of the Punjab. Two

HAFIZABAD (32°4`N, 73"41`E), a sub divisional town in Gujrariwala district of Pakistan, claimed a historical Sikh shrine commemorating the visit of Guru Hargobind, who stopped here briefly travelling back from Kashmir in 1620. Gurdwara Chhevih Patshahi, as it was known, remained affiliated to the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee until 1947

MARDANA, BHAI (1459-1534), Guru Nanak`s longtime Muslim companion throughout his extensive journeys across the country and abroad, was born the son of a Mirasi (a caste of hereditary minstrels and genealogists) couple, Badra and Lakkho, of Talvandi Rai Bhoe, now Nankana Sahib, in Shcikhupura district of Pakistan. Guru Nanak

SHIVNABH, RAJA, was, according to the Janam Sakhi tradition, a Ceylonese king who became a devotee of Guru Nanak. It was a merchant of Lahore, Bhai Mansukh, who during a visit to Ceylon, then known as Sinhaldvip, had impressed the king with his conduct as well as with the

HARIJI, SODHI (d. 1696), a great grandson of Guru Ram Das (1534-81) and head of the schismatic Mma sect from 1640 to 1696, was the second son of Baba Manohar Das, better known as Sodhl Miharban (1581-1640), the author of Sachkhand Polhi, janam. sakhi or life story of Guru

MIAN MITTHA, a Muslim holyman living in a village which came to be called Kotia Miari Mittha in the present Sialkot district of Pakistan Punjab, met Guru Nanak as the latter was passing through his village. The two held a discourse. According to Purdtan Janam Sdkhi, Miari Mittha observed

SIALKOT (32030`N, 74°32`N), an ancient town now in Pakistan, was visited by Guru Nanak more than once during his travels across the country. According to Gian Ratanavali, better known as Janam SakhiBhai Mani Singh, supported by local tradition, as he once arrived here travelling from his native Talvandi, via Saidpur,

HASSU, BHAI, a blacksmith, was a devotee of Guru Nanak. According to Purdtan Janam Sdkhi, he and Bhai Sihari, a washerman, accompanied the Guru during his travel through Kashmir. They reduced to writing hymns uttered by Guru Nanak during this journey.

MIHARBAN JANAM SAKHI takes its name from Sodhi Miharban, nephew of Guru Arjan and leader of the schismatic Mma sect. Miharban`s father, Prithi Chand, was the eldest son of Guru Ram Das and as such had greatly resented being passed over as his father`s successor in favour of a

SIKH TRADITION (HISTORIOGRAPHY) begins with Janam Sakhis, the life stories of Guru Nanak (1469-1539). There is hardly any evidence of the tradition of history writing in ancient India, though in modern times attempts have been made at different levels to show the existence of somewhat vague historio graphic elements particularly