sikh

KAUR SINGH NIHANG, AKALI (1886-1953), scholar and religious preacher, was the eldest son of Bhai Mahari Singh and Mal Karam Kaur of Paddhar, a small village near Chakar in that part of Jammu and Kashmir which is now under Pakistan`s occupation. Tlic family traced its descent from one TrilokT Nath, who was among the group of Kashmir! Brahmans who had travelled to Chakk Nanaki (Anandpur) in 1675 to tell Guru Tegh Bahadur how they suffered pcrsccuiion at the hands of the Mughal satrap. Trilokt Nath`s son, Amolak Nath, wlio was Akali Kaur Singh`s great grandfather, received the riles o fKhalsa baptism and became Amolak Singli. Kaur Sirigli, whose original name was Puran Singh, was born on 28 June 1886.

KHALSA PRACHARAK VIDYALA, TARN TARAN, an institution established in 1906 by the Khalsa Diwan Majha. From its inception in 1904, the setting up of centres in the rural areas to conduct worship services and reform programmes among villagers had constituted a vital part of the DTwan`s mission. The new organizational structure in turn required preparation of specialists who, well versed in Sikh theology, history and Iwian, could meet the needs of the masses.

Giani Kartar Singh famous for having selected Sikh history as his subject matter for presenting in narrative poetry, was born in the village Kalaswalia, district Sialkot (now in Pakistan). He was popularly known as Kalaswalia, after the name of his native place. His father, Jagat Singh, who was a pensioner, passed away in 1892 when Kartar Singh was hardly a lad of ten. He was brought up by one Dasondha Singh, who imparted to him the knowledge of Gurmat and Gurmat philosophy. Kartar Singh Kalaswalia had to start working for his livelihood at a very tender age.

LITTLER, SIRJOHN HUNTER (1783-1856), garrison commander at Firozpur, the concentration point of British forward movement preparatory to the first Anglo Sikh war, was born on 6 January 1783 at Tarvin, Cheshire, England. He joined the 10th Bengal Native Infantry in August 1800 and served in the campaigns under Lord Lake in 1804-05, and at the reduction ofJava in 1811. In 1841, he was promoted major general. At the outbreak of the First Anglo Sikh war in 1845 lie was in command of the Firozpur division.

MANAK CHAND JIVARA, a Patharia Khatri of the village of Vairoval, now in Amritsar district of the Punjab, was a devoted Sikh of the time of Guru Amar Das. He lovingly contributed the labour of his hands to digging the Baoli, or open well with steps going down to water level, at Goindval. In the course of digging, Sikhs came across a stratum of hard rock. As the last layer was in the end pierced, water suddenly gushed forth drowning Manak Chand who had struck the final blow. There was great commotion among the Sikhs standing around the well.

MELA SINGH, SANT (1784-1854), holy saint and preacher of the Sikh faith, was born in 1784 at Kotchari, a village in Bagh tahsil of the present Punchh district of Jammu and Kashmir. He was only eleven years of age when his father, BhaT Makkhan Singh, a pious Sikh convert from a Brahman family, died. Soon after, his elder brother, Fateh Singh left on a pilgrimage to Nanded, sacred to Guru Gobind Singh, and never returned home. He made Amritsar his permanent abode, dedicating himself to a life of prayer and service. 

MUL MANTRA. This is the title commonly given to the opening lines of the Guru Granth Sahib, Sikh scripture, or to these lines when they or a portion of them are repeated at the beginning of each new raga section as contained in the Holy text. This is the primary or fundamental formula of the Sikh faith. Transliterated into Roman script it would read: (ik) oankar satinam karta purakhu nirbhau nirvairu akal murati ajum saibhan gurprasd di. The English paraphrase, given the inherent inadequacies of the genre translation, would read, "God is one; call Him Eternal truth; He is the Supreme creator; He knows no fear and is at enmity with none.

NANKANA SAHIB (31°28`N, 73035`E), named after Guru Nanak (1469-1539), who was born here on Baisakh sudi 3, 1526 Bk/ 15 April 1469, is a subdivisional town in Sheikhupura district in Pakistan. Its old name was Talvandi Rai Bhoe Ki or Talvandi of Rai Bhoe, a Muslim Rajput of Bhatti clan and retainer of the Delhi rulers of early fifteenth century. His descendant, Rai Bular, the chief of Talvandi, was contemporary of Guru Nanak. The first 15 or 16 years of Guru Nanak`s life were spent at Talvandi.

NISHAN SAHIB is the name for the tall Sikh flag which marks all gurudwaras and other religious premises of the Sikhs. Nishdn is a Persian word with multiple meanings, one of these being a flag or standard. Sahib, an Arabic word with the applied meaning of lord or master, is here used as an honorific. Thus Nishan Sahib in the Sikh tradition means the holy flag or exalted ensign. A synonymous term is Jhanda Sahib (jhandd also meaning a flag or banner). The Sikh pennant, made out of saffron coloured, occasionally out of blue coloured, mainly in the case of Nihangs, cloth is triangular in shape, normally each of the two equal sides being double of the shorter one.

PANJA SAHIB, GURDWARA, at Hasan Abdal (33° 48`N, 72° 44`E) in Attock (or Campbellpore) district of Pakistan Punjab, is sacred to Guru Nanak, who briefly stopped here on his way back to the Punjab from his western uddsi or journey which took him as far West as Mecca and Baghdad. According to tradition popularized by Bhai Santokh Singh, Sri Guru Ndnak Prakdsh, Guru Nanak and his Muslim companion of long travels, Mardana, halted at the foot of a hill. On the top of the hill lived a Muslim recluse known in those parts as Wall Kandhari.