RAM CHAND, DIWAN (1819-1888), son of Ratan Chand and grandson of Nanak Chand, the brother of Diwan Savan Mall, Governor of Multan under Ranjit Singh, was only twelve when he succeeded, in 1831, his grandfather as revenue collector of Multan and Kashmir. Soon Maharaja Ranjit Singh appointed him chancellor,

SADDA SINGH, PANDIT, was a Nirmala scholar, who read Sanskrit with Pandit Chet Singh of Kashi. He attained such mastery of Sanskrit learning that his teacher made over to him his school before he died. The Pandits of Kashi honored him with the highest scholarly rank of Dandipad, after

VARANASI (25°20`N, 82°58`E), the holiest place of Hindu pilgrimage, has since ancient times, been one of the most important centres of Sanskrit learning. Guru Gobind Singh sent five of his Sikhs to Varanasi to study Sanskrit, and following them several centres for the study of Sanskrit and theology were

BRAHAM GIAN (Knowledge of the Divine), by a Sevapanthi saint Gopal Das, is a treatise in Punjabi on theology. The work is unpublished and the only extant copy of the manuscript is preserved in the private collection of Dr Tarlochan Singh Bedi at Patiala. It contains 219 folios and was

CHARAN SINGH, DR (1853-1908), poet and musicologist, was born at Amritsar in 1853 (father: Kahn Singh ; mother Rup Kaur) and was seventh in descent from Diwan Kaura Mail, an influential eighteenth century Sahajdhari Sikh. Kahn Singh (1788-1878) who was of a retiring disposition had spent some years in the

GATHA, title of Guru Arjan`s composition comprising twenty-four verses included in the Guru Granth Sahib. In Sanskrit writings, gdthd stands for a religious verse of non Vedic origin, a stanza or a song. In Prakrit and Buddhist traditions, the term signifies averse, a line of poetry, song, stanza or aphorism.

GHARU, pronounced ghar, is a term used in the titles of many of the hymns in the Guru Granth Sahib. The final "u" is only of grammatical significance indicating masculine gender and singular number. Gharu appears after the name of the rdga (musical measure) and the indication with regard

GOD, a term used to denote any object, of worship or evocation, signifies the belief of most modern religions in the existence of a Supreme Being who is the source and support of the spatio temporal material world. Theologians remember Him by the name of God. The fundamental belief of

GULAB SINGH, PANDIT, was a Nirmala scholar, the prefix pandit denoting his preeminence in Sanskrit letters rather than his caste. He was born in a peasant family in 1789 Bk/AD 1732 in the village of Sekham, in Lahore district, now in Pakistan. He was initialed into Sanskrit studies by

GURU GIRARATH KOS is a dictionary of the Guru Granth Sahib compiled by the Nirmala scholar Pandit Tara Singh Narotam. The kos, completed in AD 1889, is in two volumes printed at Rajendra Press, Patiala the first (pp. 702) in 1895 and the second (pp. 706) in 1898. The first

ISA, ISARA, ISHARA (ISHWARA) Isara (Ishara) Brahma and goddess sing Thy Praises, O Lord !... (Japu, p. 6) I am a sacrince to my Lord Isa (Ishara). (Maru Solhe M. 5, p. 1072) Isa Mahesur (Shiva) serves the Lord, but does not know His Limits. (Var Malar M. l,