DHARAM SINGH, SARDAR BAHADUR (1881-1933), Sikh philanthropist, was born at the village of Kopra, in Sialkot district, now in Pakistan, on 18 January 1881. His father, Bhai Nattha Ram, was a sahajdhari Sikh who became Nattha Singh after receiving the rites of amrit. Dharam Singh learned Gurmukhi characters at

RAM SINGH, SARDAR BAHADUR (d. 1916), eminent architect, was born in a Ramgarhia family and started working in a woodcarver`s shop in Amritsar where he attracted the notice of Mr Kipling, the first principal of the Mayo School of Industrial Arts, Lahore. The Mayo School of Industrial

ELECTRIFICATION OF THE GOLDEN TEMPLE, Whether or not electricity be inducted into the Golden Temple premises was a raging polemic in the closing years of the nineteenth century. There were views pro and con, and the debate was joined by both sides vehemently and unyieldingly. As was then the style

SARDAR, in Persian amalgam of sar (head) and dar (a suffix derived from the verb dash tan, i.e. to hold) meaning holder of headship, is an honorific signifying an officer of rank, a general or chief of a tribe or organization. Sikhs among whom, during the time of the Guru

GIAN SINGH RAREVALA (1901-1979), administrator and politician, was born on 16 December 1901 at his mother`s village Bhari in Ludhiana district. His own ancestral village was Rara, also in Ludhiana district, where his father Ratan Singh was a bisveddr (fiefholder) of the former princely state of Patiala. Gian Singh

SUNDAR SINGH MAJITHIA, SARDAR BAHADUR SIR (1872-1941), statesman and reformer, was the younger son of Raja Surat Singh (d. 1881). He was born on 17 February 1872 at Majitha (31038`N, 74052`E), a village 18 km northeast of Amritsar (hence the surname Majithia). He was educated at Government School, Amritsar,

HARIMANDAR (lit. the House of God; hari = Visnu, or God; mandar = temple, house), Golden Temple to the English speaking world, is the Sikhs` most famous sacred shrine. Also called Sri Darbar Sahib (the Exalted Holy Court), it lies in the heart of the city of

TARUNA DAL, army of the youth, was one of the two main divisions of Dal Khalsa, the confederated army of the Sikhs during the eighteenth century, the other one being the Buddha Dal (army of the elders). These Dais came into existence in 1734 when, during a truce with Zakariya

HARSA SINGH, GENERAL (d. 1887), son of Sham Singh, was a soldier in the Khalsa army, and commanded one of the regiments of the French brigade. He had the rank of general under Maharaja Sher Singh. In 1848, he fought on the side of Diwan Mul Raj at Multan.

THAKAR SINGH ATARTVALA (d. 1842) was the eldest son of Sham Singh Atarivala, the celebrated general of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. During the expeditions against Bannu and Peshawar in the time of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, he served as a commandant of artillery. He died in 1842 during the lifetime of

HUKAM SINGH, SARDAR (1895-1983), politician, parliamentarian and jurist, famous for his ready repartee, was born at Montgomery (Sahiwal) on 30 August 1895, the son of Sham Singh, a businessman of moderate means. Hukam Singh had his preliminary acquaintance with Punjabi letters at the local gurudwara and matriculated in 1913

TITLES AND ORDERS OF MERIT, instituted at his court by Maharaja Ranjit Singh, broadly followed the Mughal pattern, though there did not exist among the Sikh nobility a specific classification or hierarchy which marked the mansabdan system of the Mughals. Tides and awards were granted to princes of the royal