SIKHS` RELATIONS WITH MUGHAL EMPERORS. The Janam sakhis, traditional, accounts of the life of Guru Nanak (1469-1539), describe a meeting between him and Babar (1483-1530), founder of the Mughal dynasty, who was impressed by the former`s spiritual manner. Four of the Guru`s sabdas included in the Guru Granth Sahib allude

TWARIKHIAHMADI, or Tarikhi Ahmad, is a book written by Abdul Karim Alavi and published by Mustafai Press, Lucknow, in 1850. Alavi was a prolific writer and his works include besides many translations from Arabic into Persian, the Tarikhi Ahmad which became the most popular of his works and was

BHAVANI DAS, DlWAN (1770-1834), was the son of Diwan Thakur Das, revenue and finance minister of the Afghan king, Ahmad Shah Durrani. Bhavani Das succeeded to the position after the death of his father and served successively Shah Zaman, Shah Mahmud and Shah Shuja` until 1808 when Maharaja Ranjit

GUJRAT (32°34`N, 7405`E). a district town in Pakistan, is sacred to Guru Hargobind, who stayed here for some time on his way back from Kashmir in 1620. Here he was met by the famous Muslim divine Shah Daula, well known to a local Sikh, Bhai Garhia, who also served

RANJIT SINGH (1780-1839), Maharaja of the Punjab, popularly called Sheri Punjab, i.e. the Lion of the Punjab, was the most colourful, the most powerful and yet the most endearing figure in the history of the Sikhs. He ruled over a domain extending from the Khaibar Pass in the west

SIRHIND (30°37`N, 7623E), pronounced Sarhind, an ancient town lying along the Grand Trunk Road (now renamed Sher Shah Suri Marg) midway between Ludhiana and Ambala, derives its name probably from Sairindhas, a tribe that according to Varahamihira (AD 50587), Brihat Samhita, once inhabited this part of the country. According

TWARIKHIHIND, subtitled Bayan i Ahwal iMulki Hind wa Maluki An az Zamani Qadim ta 1233 A.M., by Ahmad Shah of Batala, a manuscript preserved in Dyal Singh Trust Library, Lahore, is a history of India from earliest times to AD 1818 according to the subtitle, although it also records

BHIKHAN KHAN (d. 1688) was a Pathan who had served in the Mughal army before joining Guru Gobind Singh at Paonta Sahib on the recommendation of Pir Buddhu Shah of Sadhaura. He had one hundred soldiers under his command, but he crossed over to the hill rajas on the eve

GURDITTA BHATHIARA was, according to tradition, engaged by Chandu Shah to torture Guru Arjan to death. Death by torture had been ordered by Emperor Jaharigir himself and Chandu Shah had, out of personal rancour, taken upon himself the responsibility of carrying out the imperial fiat. Gurditta, a poor bhathidrd

LAKHPAT RAI (d. 1748), diwan or revenue minister at Lahore under two successive Mughal viceroys, Zakariya Khan (1726-45) and Yahiya Khan (1745-47). He came of a Hindu Khatri family of Kalanaur, in Gurdaspur district of the Punjab. In 1736 when Zakariya Khan organized a mobile column of 10,000 to scour

RISALAINANAK SHAH, a Persian manuscript by Buddh Singh Arora of Lahore, who was employed in the court of the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II (1759-1806) at Delhi, written in 1783 in collaboration with Lala Ajaib Singh Suri of Malerkotla. The work deals with the history of the Sikhs from the

SOMA, BHAI, a native of Jhang, now in Pakistan, was a devout Sikh of the time of Guru Arjan. He laboured with devotion during the digging.of the sacred pool at Amritsar. One day, as Guru Arjan was supervising the work, a mendicant came to him for alms. The Guru