VIESKENAWITCH, a Russian adventurer, who, after several years of brigandage, escaped to Persia and took up service under Shah Abbas Mirza. He had attained the rank of colonel when he resigned and travelling through Central Asia, reached Peshawar in January 1829. Here he was employed by Pir Muhammad Khan

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

GUJJAR, BHAI, a blacksmith by profession, was a devoted Sikh of the time of GuruArigad. Once he came to see the Guru and said, "Lord, I am a workman, always busy with my trade. How shall I be liberated?" The Guru advised him to recite the Japu (fi) early

MEVIUS, also recorded as Frank Ernest Mevins, was a Prussian who came to the Punjab in March 1827 and was employed in the Sikh army in the rank of a colonel. According to the Khalsa Darbar records, Mevius had to sign a pledge that he would, "during his period

BROWN, JOHN, alias RICHARD POTTER, an Englishman, who, deserting the East Indian Company`s service in the Bengal artillery, came to Lahore and joined the Sikh artillery in 1826. He was later promoted colonel and placed in charge of the artillery depot at Lahore. During the first Anglo Sikh war, he

GURBACHAN SINGH SANDHANVAUA (b. 1855), the eldest of the four sons of Thakur Singh Sandharivalia, the prime minister of the emigre government of Maharaja Duleep Singh at Pondicherry, was born in 1855 and was adopted by his uncle Partap Singh Sandharivalia. Gurbachan Singh was nominated to the Statutory Civil

MIAN MITTHA, a Muslim holyman living in a village which came to be called Kotia Miari Mittha in the present Sialkot district of Pakistan Punjab, met Guru Nanak as the latter was passing through his village. The two held a discourse. According to Purdtan Janam Sdkhi, Miari Mittha observed

CHELLARAM, BHAl (1904-1964), a well known Sahajdhari Sikh of modern times who sang and preached gurbani, the Guru`s inspired word, with a rare love and devotion, was born in a Sindhi family of Hyderabad (Sindh) on 3 May 1904, the son of Dr Tekchand Rachumal Mansukhani and Chettbai. Chellaram`s

GURU KA LANGAR (lit., langar or refectory of the Guru) is a community kitchen run in the name of the Guru. It is usually attached to a gurdwara. Langar, a Persian word, means \'an ahnshouse\', \'an asylum for the poor and the destitute\', \'a public kitchen kept by a

NAND LAL, BHAI (c. 1633-1713), poet famous in the Sikh tradition and favourite disciple of Guru Gobind Singh. His poetry, all in Persian except for Joti Bigds, which is in Punjabi, forms part of the approved Sikh canon and can be recited along with scriptural verse at Sikh religious

CHARHAT SINGH, son of Jai Singh, a Sandhu Jatt of Kot Sayyid Mahmud, a small village near Amritsar, held a service jagir under Maharaja Ranjit Singh. His father had served as a trooper under Gulab Singh Bhangi. Charhat Singh`s sister Rup Kaur married Maharaja Ranjit Singh in 1809. Charhat Singh

IMAM SHAH (d. 1846), who rose to be a colonel in Ranjit Singh`s army entered the service of Jodh Singh of Wazirabad in 1809 as an artillery Jamadar. He was of Persian descent and a grandson of Qamar udDin, an officer in the army of Nadir Shah. In 1810,