sikh

YADAVINDER SINGH, LIEUTENANT GENERAL MAHARAJA (1913-1974), Grand Commander of the Indian Empire, Companion of the British Empire, Doctor of Laws from Banaras and Panjab Universities, was the last hereditary ruler of the east while Indian princely state of Patiala. Born on 7 January 1913 during the high noon of the British raj, he lived to see India become an independent democratic republic. He was the premier ruling prince in the Punjab. Prominent in sports, courageous in war, persuasive in diplomacy, knowledgeable in botany and agriculture, he was perhaps modern India\'s nearest, equivalent to the ideal renaissance man.

AGRA (27°10\'N, 78°\'E), became the seat of a Sikh sangat following a visit by Guru Nanak during the first of his four long preaching journeys. Later, Guru Ram Das, in his early career as Bhai Jetha, was in Agra when he attended Akbar\'s court on behalf of Guru Amar Das, Nanak III. Guru Tegh Bahadur, Nanak IX, passed through the city on his way to the eastern parts in 1665-66. Guru Gobind Singh, the last of the Gurus, also visited Agra when he met Emperor Bahadur Shah in 1707-08.

AKALI MOVEMENT, variously known as Gurdwara Reform Movement or Gurdwara Agitation is how Sikh\'s long drawn campaign in the early twenties of the twentieth century for the liberation of their gurdwaras or holy shrines is described. The campaign which elicited enthusiastic support, especially, from the rural masses, took the form of a peaceful agitation marches, divans or religious gatherings, and demonstrations for Sikhs to assert their right to manage their places of worship.

AMAR NATH, DIWAN (1822-1867), bakhshi or paymaster of the irregular forces of the Sikh army who distinguished himself also as a historian, was born in 1822 the son of Raja Dina Nath, finance minister of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. During the prime ministership of Hira Singh, Amar Nath was assigned to the task of settling the accounts of government studs and stables. The town duties of Lahore and Amritsar were also leased out through him. Hira Singh reposed great trust in Amar Nath who became an intermediary between him and his uncle. Raja Gulab Singh, when the two had fallen out.

ANDREWS, CHARLES FREER (1871-1940). Anglican missionary, scholar and educationist, was born to John Edwin Andrews on 12 February 1871 in NewcastleonTyne in Great Britain. His father was a minister of the Evangelical Anglican Church. Andrews grew up in an intense and emotional religious environment. A nearly fatal attack of rheumatic fever in childhood drew him to his mother with an intense affection and her love created in his mind the first conscious thoughts of God and Christ, and by the time he entered Cambridge, at the age of 19, he had already had "a wonderful conversion of my heart to God." In 1893, Andrews graduated first class in Classics and Theology from Pembroke College, Cambridge.

ARUR SINGH, SARDAR BAHADUR SIR (1865-1926), sarbarah (manager) of the principal Sikh shrines at Amritsar and Tarn Taran from 1907 to 1920, much maligned for his role during the popular movement for reform in the managment of Sikh shrines, came of a well known Shergil family of Naushahra in Amritsar district, also called Naushahra Narigli, to distinguish it from another village sharing the same name, Naushahra Pannuan, in the same district. His grandfather, Jassa Singh, had been for two years in charge of the Golden Temple under Lahina Singh Majithia. Arur Singh was hardly four years old when his father, Harnam Singh, a deputy superintendent of police, died in 1868.

AKHAND PATH: Aakhand Path is nonstop recitation of Guru Granth Sahib. It is completed in approximately 48 hours. Several readers perform this recitation in a relay system. The reading goes, in a relay manner, continuously, day and night. At given intervals (usually two hours per turn) the next reciter picks the line of hymn from the lips of the retiring reciter.

BALA, BHAI (1466-1544), who, according to popular belief, was a lifelong companion of Guru Nanak, was the son of Chandar Bhan, a Sandhu Jatt of Talvandi Rai Bhoi, now Nankana Sahib in Pakistan. Three years senior in age to Guru Nanak, he was his childhood playmate in Talvandi. From Talvandi, he accompanied Guru Nanak to Sultanpur where he stayed with him a considerable period of time before returning to his village. According to BalaJanam Sakhi, Bhai Bala at the instance of Rai Bular set out from Talvandi to join Guru Nanak who had already left Sultanpur on his travels abroad and met him in Bhai Lalo`s home at Saidpur.

BEDAVA, lit. disclaimer (be=without + dava = claim). The term came to be used by Sikh chroniclers in reference to an episode Kelating to the last days of Guru Gobind Singh *s battle at Anandpur during the winter of 1705. As, in consequence of the protracted siege of Anandpur, hardships of the besieged Sikh garrison increased, a few of the Sikhs wavered in their resolution and asked the Guru`s permission to leave the Fort.

BHANA, lit. liking, pleasure, will, wish or approval, is one of the key concepts in Sikh thought. In Sikhism, it refers specifically to God`s will and pleasure. Raza , an Arabic term popular in the context of various schools of Sufi thought, also appears frequently in the Sikh texts to express the concept of UMArSA bhana. According to this concept, the Divine Will is at the base of the entire cosmic existence. It was His bhana, His sweet will which was instrumental in the world`s coming into being: "Whenever He pleases He creates the expanse (of the world of time and space) and whenever He desires He (again) becomes the Formless One (all by Himself)" (GG, 294).