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

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

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

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

AD BHAVANI - \'You are called Ad Bhavani, Where do you hide yourself when you have to grant salvation?\' (Gond Namdev, p. 874) The word Ad means \'from the beginning\' and Bhavani is another name of Durga, the wife of Shiva. Thus Ad Bhavani may connote the Shakti of

BARATH, a village 8 km southwest of Pathankot (32° 15`N, 75° 32`E) in Gurdaspur district of the Punjab, has a historical shrine, Gurdwara Tap Asthan Baba Sri Chand Ji, popularly called Gurdwara Barath Sahib. Baba Sri Chand, the elder son of Guru Nanak, chose for himself the life of

BHAG SINGH, BHAI (1880-1921), one of the Nankana Sahib martyrs, was born in 1880, the son of Bhai Amir Singh and Mai Nihal Kaur of village Nizampur, in Amritsar district. The family later shifted to Chakk No. 38 Deva Singhvala, in the newly developed canal colony of Sheikhupura. Bhag

BISHAN SINGH, GIANI (1875-1966), cleric and exegete, was a granthi or priest at the Khalsa College at Amritsar for 30 years. The Khalsa College was then a premier Sikh college excelling in research and publication in the field of Sikh studies. Four of the foremost Sikh scholars of this

BAD TIRATH SAHIB GURUDWARA, VILLAGE HARIPURA Gurdwara Bad Tirath Sahib is associated with the First Guru, Guru Nanak Dev Ji as well as the Tenth Guru, Guru Gobind Singh Ji. A deep pool of water to the north of the village, was an ancient place of pilgrimage known as Bad

CHANGA ,BHAI, a Bhatra scion of Madhav of Ceylon, became a devotee of Guru Nanak. He converted the residence of Madhav into a dharamsala and started imparting instruction in the teachings of the Sikh faith. His name is mentioned in "Haqiqat Rah Muqam," an apocryphal composition included in Bhai