AMARNAMA, a Persian work comprising 146 verses composed in AD 1708 by Bhai Natth Mall, a dhadi or balladeer who lived from the time of Guru Hargobind to that of Guru Gobind Singh, Nanak X. The manuscript of the work in Gurmukhi script obtained from Bhai Fatta, ninth in descent

MADDAR, village five kilometre north of Balloke head works in Pakistan, was known to Sikhs in prepartition Punjab for its Gurdwara Sachchi Manji and some relics of the Gurus it claimed to preserve. One of these was a cot (manji, in Punjabi, after which the Gurdwara was named), said to

VIRO, BIBI (b. 1615), daughter of Guru Hargobind (1595-1644) and Mata Damodari, was born at Amritsar on 11 July 1615. She was married to Bhai Sadhu, son of Bhai Dharma, a Khosia Khatri of the village of Malla.The nuptials were performed on 24 May 1629 at Jhabal, 15 km

BHURIA, BHAI, a resident of Chunian now in Pakistan, was a pious Sikh contemporary of Guru Arjan (1563-1606). As the Guru was once touring the Nakka country, southwest of Lahore, succouring people then living through a severe famine, he according to Giani Gian Singh, Twarikh Guru Khalsa, came to

MANI MAJRA is an old town, 2 km east of Chandigarh (30°44`N, 76°47`E). After the death of Baba Ram Rai at Dehra Dun in 1687, one of his wives, Mata Raj Kaur, settled in Mani Majra. The following year, Guru Gobind Singh returning from Paonta Sahib to Anandpur Sahib,

CHHAJJU MALL (d. 1822), son of Keval Narain, belonged to a Brahman family. He and his ancestors had been in the service of the emperors of Delhi. His father, who had shifted to Lahore in Sikh times, died young. Chhajju Mall, entered the service of Sardar Jai Singh of

MATT DAS, BHAI (d. 1675), the martyr, was the son of Bhai Hira Mal, also called Hiranand, a Chhibbar Brahman of Kariala, now in Pakistan. His grandfather, Bhai Paraga, had embraced the Sikh faith in the time of Guru Hargobind and had taken part in battles with the Mughal forces.

DARGAH MALL, DIWAN (d. 1695), son of Dvarka Das Chhibbar, was, according to Shahid Bilas Bhai Mani Singh, and Guru kian Sakhian, a diwan or minister in the time of Guru Hargobind and his successors and managed, as such, their households. He was the great grand father of Kesar

MIHARBAN, (1581-1640), the popular name of Manohar Das, who was the grandson of Guru Ram Das, fourth in spiritual descent from Guru Nanak, and son of Prithi Chand, the elder brother of Guru Arjan, Nanak V. Born on 9 January 1581, Miharban spent his early years in the company

DHADI, one who sings vars or ballads to the accompaniment of a musical instrument called dhad, a drumlet held in the palm of one hand and played with the fingers of the other. A concomitant of dhad is the sarangi, a stringed instrument. Dhadis, patronized by chiefs and princes, eulogized

MUIN ULMULK (d. 1753), shortened to Mir Mannu, was the Mughal governor of the Punjab from April 1748 until his death in November 1753. He took over charge of the province after he had defeated the Afghan invader, Ahmad Shah Durrani, in the battle fought at Manupur, near Sirhind on

DHANPAT RAI, DlWAN (d. 1831), son of Ram Kumar, served Maharaja Ranjit Singh in various capacities. His grandfather Gutu Mall, who belonged to Shahpur district, was employed as diwan to the Bharigi sardars, Gujjar Singh and Sahib Singh, regulating the civil affairs of a large tract of land under