TOSHAKHANA, from Persian toshakhanah (toshah = food or provisions for journey or food articles in general+ khana = house, store) or tosha khana (toshak = bedding, clothing + khana) means in Punjabi a treasury or secured storehouse for valuables. It is now generally used for the

VAR, a verse form in Punjabi popular in folklore as well as in refined poetry. In the old bardic tradition of the Punjab, var meant the poem itself with its typical theme as also the form in which it was cast. The earliest vars were ballads of battles and

AKALI DAL KHARA SAUDA BAR, an organization of Akali reformers working for the liberation of Sikh shrines from the control of conservative Udasi priests or mahants. The organization was originally called Khalsa Diwan Khara Sauda Bar set up in 1912 and comprised volunteers mostly from a cluster of villages

ARJAN SINGH, BHAI (c. 1906-1924), born to Kishan Singh of the village of Kamalia, now in Sahival district of Pakistan, was a zealous worker in the cause of Sikh Gurdwara reform. As a young boy he was deeply affected by events at Nankana Sahib in 1921 (See NANKANA SAHIB MASSACRE).

ARISAR SAHIB GURUDWARA :Gurdwara Arisar Sahib Patshahi Nauvin Village Dhaula Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji came to village of Handiyaya in the year 1665 A.D. As per the local people, it is said that while passing through Handiyaya his horse stopped all of a sudden just outside the boundary of village

BANI BIRDH PRATAP is a collection of religious and devotional poetry in a mixture of Braj and Punjabi, written in Gurmukhi script by Baba Ram Das, a Divana sadhu. The volume is preserved with reverence due to a religious scripture in the dera or monastery of the Divana sect established

BENI, BHAGAT is one of the fifteen saints and sufis some of whose compositions have been incorporated in the Guru Granth Sahib. Very little is known about his personal life except that he spent most of his time in prayer and contemplation. Nabhaji`s Bhagatmal, which includes him in its

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

BUR SINGH, BHAI (1896-1921), son of Bhai Mal Singh Kamboj and Mai As Kaur, of Chakk No. 80 Mula Singhvala, district Sheikhupura, was born on 10 Phagun 1952 Bk/22 February 1896. His parents originally belonged to village Bahoru in Amritsar district and had settled in the newly developed canal

CHAKK FATEH SINGHVALA. 3 km south of Bhuchcho Mandi (30° 13`N, 75° 5`E) in Bathinda district of the Punjab, and one of the cluster of villages known as Bhai ke Chakk because of the association of the family of Bhai Bhagatu with them, was visited by Guru Gobind Singh,

DAKHANE, title of sixty-nine slokas by Guni Arjan, incorporated in his var in the measure Maru, three each with its twenty-three pauris or stanzas. The word dakhne (Skt. daksini) means `southern.` The language of these verses is a dialect of the southern Punjab, now in Pakistan, known as Multani

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