sikh

DUGAR DAS, BHAI, Sarin Khatri of Takiar clan, received instruction from Guru Ram, Das and became a devoted Sikh. "Takiar the virtuous" is how Bhai Gurdas describes him in his Varan, XI. 17. See DHARAM DAS, BHAI

ELLENBOROUGH, LORD EDWARD LAW (1790-1871), Governor General of India (1842-44), son of Edward Law, Baron Ellen borough, Lord Chief Justice of England, was born on 8 September 1790. He was educated at Eton and at St John`s College, Cambridge. He became a member of the House of Lords in 1818. He was appointed Lord Privy Seal in 1828 and president of the Board of Control (1828-30) whence began his connection with Indian affairs. He succeeded Lord Auckland as Governor General of India in February 1842. On his arrival in India, Lord Ellenborough found himself confronted with an alarming situation in Afghanistan and northwest frontier.

FOULKES, R. (d. 1841), an Englishman, who joined Maharaja Ranjit Sihgh`s cavalry in February 1836. He remained attached to General Ventura as aide-de-camp, and accompanied him on his expedition to Mandi in 1840. On file conclusion of the campaign, he was left in charge of the Sikh troops stationed at Mandi. However, his troops mutineed in March 1841, and assassinated him.

GOIND, BHAI, a Ghei Khatri of Sultanpur Lodhi, embraced the Sikh faith in the time of Guru Amar Das. He took part in sevd for the digging of the sacred pool at Amritsar under Guru Arjan. Bhai Gurdas describes Bhai Goind in his Varan, XI.20, as one of the leading disciples of the Guru. GOIND, BHAI, also known as Bhai Gonda (1569-1649), head of a dhudn, seat or branch of Udasi Sikh preachers, was born on 27 July 1569 in a Khatri family of Srinagar in Kashmir.

GURBACHAN SINGH TALIB (1911-1986), scholar, author and teacher, famous for his command of the English language. He was master equally of the written as well as of the spoken word. He was born in a small town, Munak, in the present Sarigrur district, on 7 April 1911, the son of Sardar Kartar Singh and MataJai Kaur. His father was an employee of the princely state of Sarigrur.

GURMUKH SINGH, BABA (1888-1977), a Ghadr revolutionary, was born in 1888 to a poor peasant, Hoshnak Singh , of the village of Laltori Khurd, in Ludhiana district. Second of three brothers, he was sent to school at Ludhiana. His ambition was to join the army, but he could not be enlisted owing to medical reasons. In 1914, he boarded the ship Komagata Maru, hired from a Japanese firm by Baba Gurdit Singh , to go to Canada. But events stalled Gurmukh Singh `s plans. The ship was not allowed to land at the Canadian port and was obliged to return to India. At the Indian port of Budge Budge, however, a worse fate lay in store for the ship`s passengers.

HARI SINGH, a native of Pandori, one of a number of villages of that name, 8 km northwest of Tarn Taran in Amritsar district of the Punjab. He joined Bhai Maharaj Singh after the first AngloSikh war and helped him in his campaign in the Majha region against the British. He was with Maharaj Singh throughout the second Sikh war. From Sujoval, in the latter half of 1849, he was sent to Ambala to prepare the people of that area for a fresh revolt.

HIRA SINGH DOGRA (1816-1844), prime minister of the Sikh kingdom of Lahore from 17 September 1843 to 21 December 1844, was born the eldest son of Raja Dhian Singh in 1816 at Ramgarh, about 25 km from Jammu. Dhian Singh, an influential courtier, introduced his son to his patron Maharaja Ranjit Singh who took very favourably to the young boy. He treated him with great generosity from the very beginning, bestowing upon him the title of Raja in 1828 and, then, proclaiming him FarzandiKhas, i.e. the favoured son. He granted him numerous jdgirs which totally amounted to nearly five lakh of rupees annually. When after the assassination of Maharaja Sher Singh and Raja Dhian Singh, Ranjit Singh`s five year old son, Duleep Singh, was proclaimed Maharaja of the Punjab on 17 September 1843, Hira Singh assumed the office of prime minister.

INDIA SECRET PROCEEDINGS (1834-1856), a manuscript series of Indian records at the India Office Library, London, succeeding Bengal Secret and Political Consultations (1800-34). It includes the entire range of despatches and correspondence of the North-West Frontier Agency from the heyday of Sikh political power in the Punjab down to the annexation of the Punjab in 1849.

JAPU, with the Punjabi complimentary ji commonly suffixed to it as ah honorific, is the opening composition of Sikh Scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib. At the head of the table of contents of the volume, this composition is recorded as Japu Nisdnu, meaning the `flag composition Japu` or, according to some other excgeis `authcnticated/a/m`. The title Japu is from the verb japand (lit. to repeat orally) or what is meant for meditating or repeating, usually silently, with or without the help of a rosary, of the name of a deity or of a mantra (lit. spell, incantation).