MAHITAB SINGH, MAHANT (1811-1871), founder Sri Mahant (head) of Sri Nirmal Panchaiti Akhara, at Patiala, was born in 1811 in a Jatt Sikh family of the village of Lehal Kalan, now in Sangrur district in the Punjab. He learnt to read Punjabi in his village and gained fluency in

AMIR SINGH, GIANI (1870-1954), a widely revered Sikh school man, was born in 1870 at the village of Dargahi Shah in Jhang district, now in Pakistan. His parents, Prem Singh and Thakari Devi, a religious minded couple of modest means, admitted him at the age of 15 to Mahant

NIHAL SINGH DAMDAMIAN, 19th century Nirmala saint, a native of Mimsa village of the former princely state of Patiala, received initiation and religious education at the hands of Mahant Dunna Singh, of Uchcha Buriga, a Nirmala sanctuary at Damdama Sahib, Talvandi Sabo, in present day Bathinda district, and became

BHAI PHERU, GURDWARA (also called Gurdwara Sangat Sahib), named after its founder, the well known Udasi Sikh preacher Bhai Pherii (1640-1706), is located at Mien ki Maur, in Chuniari tahsil of Lahore district in Pakistan. During Sikh times, large endowments in land extending to about 2,750 acres were inscribed to

NANAK GARH GURUDWARA,BADAMI BAGH, LAHORE This monument of Jagat Guru Nanaki Dev Ji was once located at. the bank of old River Ravi near Badami Bagh railway station. It is said that it was at this spot that Jagat Guru had delivered (Mukat) the father of Duni Chand from rebirth.

BHAI PHERU MORCHA, one of a series of campaigns in the Sikhs` agitation in the 1920`s for the reformation of their holy places. Gurdwara Sangat Sahib, located in Mien ke Maur in Lahore district, about 15 km from Chhanga Manga railway station, dedicated to the memory of Bhai Pheru (1640-1706),

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

DALIP SINGH (1894-1921), who fell a martyr at Nankana Sahib on the morning of 20 February 1921, was born to Karam Singh and Har Kaur in January 1894 at the village of Sahoval, in Sialkot district, now in Pakistan. Two of his three brothers having died young, Dalip Singh

RAJOANA, village in Ludhiana district, on Guru Gobind Singh Marg, 10 km north of Raikot town (30° 39`N, 75° 37`E), has a shrine, Gurdwara Manji Sahib, commemorating the visit of Guru Gobind Singh in 1705. It is said that as Guru Gobind Singh, accompanied by Mahant Kirpal Das, was

DEVA SINGH NAROTAM, PANDIT (d. 1924), Nirmala scholar, was the son of Mahitab Singh of the village of Janetpura, 13 km north of Jagraori (30° 47`N, 75° 28`E), in Ludhiana district of the Punjab. He received his early lessons in the Sikh texts at the hands of Bhai Gurdit

SADHU SINGH, PANDIT (1840-1907), a school man of the Nirmala order, was born in the village of Saraliari, in Amritsar district, in 1840. From his very childhood, he developed an inclination for the company of holy men. This was cause of concern for his father, Sobha Singh, and mother,

DAUDHAR DERA, a school for training Sikh musicians popularly known as Vadda Dera, was established in 1859 by Sant Suddh Singh (d. 1882) at Daudhar, village 22 km southeast of Moga (30° 48`N, 75° 10`E), in Faridkot district of the Punjab. Suddh Singh was a disciple of Thakur Didar Singh,