sikh

GULAB SINGH GHOLIA, SANT (1853-1936), Sikh saint and scholar, was born in 1853 to Bhai Dal Singh and Dharam Kaur of Bhattivala, a village 6 km south of Bhavamgarh, in the present Sarigrur district of the Punjab. He received his early education in the village dharamsald, and then spent five years at the derd of Bhai Ram Singh, at Manuke, in Faridkot district, learning kirtan and studying the Sikh texts. Realizing that, to properly comprehend and interpret certain theological terms used in the Scripture, knowledge of Sanskrit was essential, he shifted, in 1873, to the village of Dhapali (now in Sarigrur district), where he apprenticed himself to Giani Anokh Singh. He studied Sanskrit and Vedanta with him for ten long years.

GURMAT SUDHAKAR (lit. Sikh principles explained and illustrated : Sudhdkar= the moon, i.e. the illuminator) is an anthology by Bhai Kahn Singh, of Nabha, of excerpts from old Sikh historical texts and manuals of stipulated conduct. The work, first published in 1899, is divided into sixteen chapters. The opening chapter comprises verses from Guru Gobind Singh, the second from Bhai Gurdas and the third passages from the Janam Sakhi of Bhai Bala. The fourth chapter is culled from Gurbilds Chhevin PdtshdJu. Chapters five is based on Var 1 from Bhai Gurdas.

HAFIZABAD (32°4`N, 73"41`E), a sub divisional town in Gujrariwala district of Pakistan, claimed a historical Sikh shrine commemorating the visit of Guru Hargobind, who stopped here briefly travelling back from Kashmir in 1620. Gurdwara Chhevih Patshahi, as it was known, remained affiliated to the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee until 1947 when it was abandoned in the wake of the partition of the Punjab.

HEST, a Greek national, who, before joing the Sikh army in 1843, was the commandant of Hyderabad artillery. According to Carmichael Smyth, he was killed at Lahore.

ILAHI BAKHSH, an officer in Maharaja Ranjit Singh`s army who commanded the special artillery wing of FaujiK has and a portion of the artillery corps named DerahiIlahi Bakhsh. General Ilalu Bakhsh`s lopkhdnd look part in most of the military campaigns of the Maharaja. It was employed to great effect during the conquest of Multan in 1818, and, two years later, in the pacification of Hazara and Dera Gha/T Khan. The Maharaja often called upon General Ilahl Bakhsh to display, on ceremonial occasions, the skill and effectiveness of his batteries.

JANGNAMA, by Qazi Nur Muhammad, is an eyewitness account in Persian verse of Ahmad Shah Durrani`s seventh invasion of India, 1764-65, for which it is the only major source of information. A copy of the manuscript in the hand of one Khair Muhammad of Gunjaba was preserved at the District Gazetteer Office at Quetta in Baluchistan from where Karam Singh, state historian of Patiala, made a transcript which was utilized by Dr Ganda Singh in producing an edited version of the Persian text, with a preface and a brief summary in English. The work was published by the Sikh Historical Research Department, Khalsa College, Amritsar, in 1939.

KAHN SINGH MAJITHIA (d. 1853), son of Amar Singh Majithia, served as a general in the Sikh army in the second AngloSikh war. During Maharaja Ranjil Singh`s reign, Kahn Singh was a minor military officer when he is said to have killed a lion with his sword while out hunting with the Maharaja in 1831. In 1838 he was an officer in the Ghorchara Khas. He was commandant of the Sikh force at Peshawar in 1848 when his troops marched out of Peshawar to join Chatar Singh and Sher Singh; Kahn Singh fought the British both at Cheliarivala and Gujrat.

KARTAR SINGH, GIANT (1902-1974), Akali leader who was known for his political astuteness and for his single mindedncss of purpose and who dominated Sikh politics during the 40`s and 50`s of the 20th century, was born the son of Bhagat Singh and MaT Jio on 22 February 1902 at Chakk No. 40 Jharig Branch in Lyallpur district (now in Pakistan). The family, Jatts of Khaihra clan, originally belonged to Nagoke village in Amritsar district and had migrated to Lyallpur district when that area, formerly a wasteland known as Sandal Bar, was opened up as a canal colony towards the close of the nineteenth century. Kartar Singh received his early education in the village gurudwara and later joined Khalsa School in the neighbouring Chakk No. 41 from where he matriculated in 1921.

KHALSA DHARAM SHASTAR, the Sikh manual of conduct enunciating Sikhs` social and religious duties was prepared under the patronage of Sodhi Ram Narain Singh, a scion of the Sodhi family of Sri Anandpur Sahib and was published at Sri Gurmat Press, Amritsar, in the year Nanakshahl 445 (AD 1914). The name of the author given in abbreviation may be deciphered as Aviar Singh Vahiria. The book contains 430 pages, excluding the introduction, the table of contents, the Anandpur genealogical table and a corrigendum. It is a manual of Sikh ceremonial and tenets; hence the name Plirab Mimarisa (after Purva Mnnarisa describing the Vcdic ritual).

KIRPAN MORCHA, campaign started by the Sikhs to assert their right to keep and carry kirpan, i.e. sword, religiously obligatory for them, which was denied to them under the Indian Arms Act (XI) of 1878. Under this Act, no person could go armed or carry arms, except under special exemption or by virtue of a licence. Whatever could be used as an instrument of attack or defence fell under the term "Arms." Thus the term included firearms, bayonets, swords, dagger heads and bows and arrows. Under the Act, a kirpan could be bracketed with a sword.