LAL SINGH NAROTAM (1840-1926), also known as Sant Lal Singh Hare Ram, a Nirmala scholar, was born the son of Bhai Kirpal Singh and Raj Karni Devi on 14 September 1840 at Bhera,Jehlum district, now in Pakistan. The family claimed descent from Bhai Manna Singh, one of Guru Gobind

SHAHBAZ SINGH (d. 1745) was the son of Subeg Singh, the kotwal of Lahore under the Mughal governor, Zakariya Khan. He went to a Muhammadan school to read Persian and Arabic. He made good progress in his studies and caught the notice of the maulawi for his highly intelligent

LAMMAN, also known as Lammah Jatpura, in Ludhiana district, is 14 km from Raikot (30°39°N.`75°37°E) on the Guru Gobind Sihgh Marg. Guru Gobind Sihgh stayed in the village for a few days in December 1705 on his way from Chamkaur to Dina and Kahgar. While Rai Kalha had despatched

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

LOHARIPA, a Gorakhpanthi yogi, whose name occurs in Guru Nanak`s Sidh Gosti in the Guru Granth Sahib. The Sidh Gosti is a versified account of the Guru`s discourse with a group of Natha ascetics. Among them is mentioned Loharipa which is taken to be the Punjabi form of Luipa,

SRI GUR PRATAP SURAJ GRANTH, Bhai Santokh Singh`s monumental work in Braj verse portraying in comprehensive detail the lives of the Ten Gurus of the Sikh faith and the career of Banda Singh Bahadur. Besides being an historical narrative of great significance, it is an outstanding creation in the style

MAHESHA, BHAI, or Bhai Mahesa, a rich and influential Dhir Khatri of Sultanpur Lodhi, in present day Kapurthala district of the Punjab, once waited upon Guru Amar Das and begged to be initiated a Sikh, The Guru, says Sarup Das Bhalla, Mahima Prakash, pointed out to him that to

SRI GURU PANTH PRAKASH, popularly Panth Prakash, by Giani Gian Singh (1822-1921), is a history of the Sikhs in verse. As the title suggests, it is an account of the rise and development of the Guru Panth, i.e. the Klialsa or the Sikh community. The author, a theologian and preacher

ALAM SINGH NACHNA (d. 1705), a warrior in the retinue of Guru Gobind Singh, was the son of Bhai Durgu, a Rajput Sikh of Sialkot. He earned the popular epithet Nachna (lit. dancer) because of his uncommon agility. Sarup Das Bhalla, Mahima Prakash, describes him as one of Guru

MAHIMA PRAKASH, known as Mahima Prakash Vartak (prose) to distinguish it from another work, in verse, bearing the same title, Sarup Das Bhalla\'s Mahima Prakash, is an unpublished manuscript containing anecdotes from the lives of the Gurus. The manuscript, copies of which are now available in the Khalsa College at

SUKHDEV, a Kanyakubja Brahman from Uttar Pradesh, was one of the scholars and poets attached to Guru Gobind Singh. According to his own evidence, he was born at Kapilnagar and educated at Varanasi. He had been at the courts of several chieftains and officials, Hindu and Muslim, before joining

ALI SINGH (d. 1716), a native of the village of Salaudi, near Sirhind, was in the service of Wazir Khan, the Mughal faujdar of Sirhind. According to Ratan Singh Bharigu, Prachin Panth Prakash, Wazir Khan, on learning of Banda Singh\'s advance from the South towards the Punjab under the