NAINA SINGH, AKALI, eighteenth century Nihang warrior esteemed as much for his piety as for his valour. His special title to fame rests on the fact that he was the guardian of the celebrated Akali Phula Singh (1761-1823) whom he trained in the martial arts. Little is known about his

HOLA MAHALLA or simply Hola, a Sikh festival, takes place on the first of the lunar month of Chef which usually falls in March. This follows the Hindu festival of Holi. The name Hola is the masculine form of the feminine sounding Holi. Mahalla, derived from the

ASA, one of the thirty one ragas or musical measures into which compositions comprising the Sikh holy book, Guru Granth Sahib, except the Japu, are cast and in which they are meant to be recited and sung. This raga is important in the Sikh system of music, and is said

MAHALA, traditionally pronounced mahalla, appears in Sikh Scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib, as a special term to credit the authorship of the compositions of the Gurus recorded in it. Mahala here refers to the person of the Guru specified by a numeral following it which signifies his position in the

AKAL BUNGA, lit. the abode of the Timeless One, is the building that houses the Akal Takht in the precincts of the Darbar Sahib at Amritsar. The term is also used sometimes synonymously with Akal Takht. Strictly speaking, while Akal Takht is the institution possessing and exercising

ALAMGIR, a village in Ludhiana district, 13 km to the southwest of the city (30°54\'N, 75°52\'E), is famed for its Gurdwara Manji Sahib Patshahi 10. Guru Gobind Singh made a halt in the village as he was travelling after the battle of Chamkaur in December 1705. Here the Guru

ATAR SINGH, SANT (1867-1927), of Gurdwara Reru Sahib at Rampur, in Ludhiana district in the Punjab, was born in March 1867 at the village of Lopon, now in Faridkot district. He was the son of Lal Singh, the village headman. Atar Singh was married in 1885 to Bishan Kaur

\'Wonderful is the fire which works wonders.\' (Var Asa M. l, p. 464) \'Agni is called Baisantar Devta\' (Var Asa M. l, p. 473). Its other names are Pavak and Tejas. It is an evolute from Air (Paun Devata) and labours hard like him under the Fear of the

BARH, a town in Patna district of Bihar, 56 km east of old Patna city (25° 37`N, 85° 10`E), is sacred to Guru Tegh Bahadur who stayed here during his tour of the eastern districts in 1666. It has one Suthrashahi Sangat and two Udasi Sangats existing of old.

BHAG SINGH, SANT (1766-1839), of Kuri. a holy man widely respected in his time, was born the son of Bhai Hans Rai in 1766 at Qadirabad, a village in Gujrat district (now in Pakistan), where his grandfather, Gurbakhsh Singh, said to have been in the retinue of Guru Gobind

BISHAN SINGH, SANT (d. 1973), holy saint most of whose life was spent in works of seva, raising of buildings by labour volunteered by devotees, at different shrine sites, came of a well to do Sindhi family. Nothing is known about his early life except that his parents were

BAHER SAHIB GURUDWARA, VILLAGE BAHER Guru Tegh Bahadur came to this village from Nandpur-Kalaur and were on his way to Dadu Majra-Bhagrana. It is believed that while Guru ji was resting he saw an old women along with the dead body of her only son. When he inquired as