VANJARA SIKHS or Banjaras, akin to Labana Sikhs of the Punjab, are found scattered throughout Central and South India as well as in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. Although vanjara, from Sanskrit vanij (a merchant, trader), is now used as a generic term for peddlers in the Punjab, the Vanjaras during

ARJAN DEV, GURU (1563-1606), fifth in the line of ten Gurus or prophet teachers of the Sikh faith, was born on Baisakh vadi 7, 1620 Bk/15 April 1563 at Goindval, in present day Amritsar district, to Bhai Jetha who later occupied the seat of Guruship as Guru Ram Das, fourth

AKAL BUNGA SAHIB GURUDWARA, ANANDPUR This Gurdwara is situated exact opposite to Gurdwara Sis Ganj. Here, Guru Sahib addressed the Sikhs after the cremation of the head of Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib. Guru Sahib asked the Sikhs to bow before the Will of the Almighty. He told them to be

BANI BHAGATAN SATIX (satik = exegesis or commentary) by Pandit Tara Singh Narotam (q.v.) is an exposition of the bani or hymns of the bhaktas or saints (here the word implies contributors to the Guru Granth Sahib other than the Gurus). The work was, according to inner evidence, completed in

BELA SINGH, BHAI (1865-1921), son of Bhai Mayya and Mai Raji, a Saini Sikh couple, was born at Kartarpur in Jalandhar district. The family originally belonged to Faridkot state, from where Bela Singh`s grandfather, Bhai Sobha, had migrated to Kartarpur where he served in Guru ka Larigar run by

BIDAR (17° 55`N, 77° 32`E) is a district town in Karnataka. It is a railway station on the VikarabadParliVaijnath section of the South Central Railway. It is also connected by road with Nanded. GURDWARA SRi NANAK JHiRA SAHIB at Bidar honours the memory of Guru Nanak. At the time

BUR MAJRA, a small village about 8 km east of Chamkaur Sahib (30°53`N, 76°25`E) in Ropar district of the Punjab, claims a historical shrine, Gurdwara Patshahi 10 located near an old well. It is said that Guru Gobind Singh, while proceeding to Chamkaur on 6 December 1705 after evacuating Anandpur

CHABBA, a village 10 km south of Amritsar (31° 38`N, 74° 52`E) along AmritsarTarn Taran road, has a historical shrine called Gurdwara Sangrana Sahib. The Gurdwara itself is so named because, according to local tradition, one of the battles (sangram in Hindi and Punjabi) of Amritsar between Guru Hargobind

Gurudwara Chowbachcha Sahib at Dharampura, Lahore Chowbachcha Sahib bus stop lies between Mughalpura and Dharampura by the canal flowing through Lahore. Chowbachcha Sahib the shrine of Ram Rai Ji is situated in the locality north of this bus stop. It is a spacious building. The main door is very huge.

DHANNA, BHAGAT (b. 1415?), one of the medieval saints whose bani has been incorporated in the Guru Granth Sahib, describes himself in a hymn, in Raga Asa, as an ignorant Jatt and explains how he was attracted to the worship of God by the examples of Namdev (a calicoprinter),

DASAUNDHA SINGH, BHAI (1892-1921). one of the Nankana Sahib martyrs, was born on 28 August 1892, the son of Bhai Hira Singh and Mai Man Kaur of village Haripur, in Jalandhar district. The family later migrated to Chakk No. 91 Dhannuana in the newly developed canal district of Lyallpur,

GHURANI KALAN, an old village in Ludhiana district, was visited by Guru Hargobind in whose memory two gurudwaras have since been constructed. GURDWARA CHOLA SAHIB PATSHAI II CHHEVIN is inside the village and marks the residence of Bhai Surtia, the local masand, leader of the local Sikh group, at