sikh

HAR RAI, GURU (1630-1661), the seventh Guru of the Sikh faith, was the son of Baba Gurditta and grandson of Guru Hargobind, Nanak VI. He was born on 16 January 1630 at Kiratpur, in present day Ropar district of the Punjab. In 1640, he was married to Sulakkhani, daughter of Daya Ram of Anupshahr, in Bulandshahr district ofUttar Pradesh. He was gentle by nature and had a devout temperament. He was Guru Hargobind`s favourite grandchild, and he had been given the name of Har Rai by the Guru himself. Once, record old texts, Har Rai was returning home after his riding exercise. From a distance he saw Guru Hargobind sitting in the garden.

HOLMES, JOHN (d. 1848), a Eurasian soldier of fortune, who started his career as a trumpeter in tlic Bengal Horse Artillery. In September 1829, lie left the British, and joined Maharaja Ranjit Singh`s army as a gunner, eventually rising to the rank of colonel. He took part in the battle of Peshawar (1834) and the battle ofJamrud (1837). He accompanied General Vcntura on his hill campaign of 1840-41, and helped the British in forcing their way through the Khaibar Pass in 1842. He had also served in a civilian capacity as kdrddr (revenue officer) of Gujrat for two years (1835-36).

JAGIASI, also Jagiasu orJijnasu is a religious sect cognate with the UdasT section of the NanakpanthTs of Sindh. The word jagidsd is derived from Sanskrit jijndsd (desire to know), jagidsi denoting one desirous of knowledge, of spiritual insight. T`.ic members of the Jagiasi sect are mostly sahajdhdns i.e. gradualists, believing in the Gurus and following generally the Sikh tenets but not yet sworn as full members of the community. There arc however some who accept the rites of Khalsa initiation and wear long hair while some others add the suffix `Singh` to their names. Following the example of the founder of the sect, Baba Sri Chand, the elder son of Guru Nanak, the Udasts do not marry.

JATTU, BHAI, a learned Tivan Brahman, who accepted Sikh faith at the hands of Guru Arjan. The Guru taught him to have belief in Guru Nanak, who had revealed the Divine Truth to mankind. See Bhai Gurdas, Varan, XI.19 JATTU, BHAI (d. 1621), a devoted Sikh of the time of Guru Hargobind known for his fighting skill. In the battle of Ruhela he was despatched at the head of two hundred warriors to meet the attacking Mughal force from Jalandhar. Towards the end of the action that ensued, Bhai Jattu challenged the commander of the enemy vanguard, Muhammad Khan, to a duel.

JOGENDRA SINGH, SIR (1877-1946). scholar and statesman of old Sikh lineage, and counted among the politest and most accomplished men of his day, was born the second son of Javala Singh on 25 May 1877 at Aira Estate, in Kheri district of what then used to be the United Provinces. His ancestors belonged to the village of Rasulpur in Amritsar district of the Punjab. In old family records he was usually referred to as Jogcndra Singh Rasulpuria. His grandfather, Panjab Singh was a soldier in Maharaja Ranjit Singh`s ghorcharhds, irregular cavalry. He was awarded a jdgir in Oudh in recognition of military service rendered by him after the annexation of the Punjab to the British dominions.

KAPUR SINGH, NAWAB (1697-1753), eighteenth century Sikh hero and founder of the Dal Khalsa. He was born in 1697 in a peasant family of Virks of the village of Kaloke, now in Shcikhupura district of Pakistan. His father`s name was DalTp Singh. When Kapur Singh was of the age to bear arms, he seized the village of Faizullapur, near Amritsar, renamed it Singhpura and started living there. For this reason he is also known to history as Kapur Singh Faixullapuria and the principality he founded as Faizullapuria`s or Singhpuria`s misi or chieftaincy. Kapur Singh was eleven years old at the time of Guru Gobind Singh`s death and nineteen when Banda Singh Bahadur and his companions were tortured to death in Delhi.

KHALSA, from Arabic khalis (lit. pure, unsullied) and Perso Arabic khalisah (lit. pure; office of revenue department; lands directly under government management), is used collectively for the community of baptized Sikhs. The term khalisah was used during the Muslim rule in India for crown lands administered directly by the king without the mediation of jdgirddrs or mansabddrs. In the Sikh tradition, the term appears for the first time in one of the hukamndmds (lit. written order or epistle) of Guru Hargobind (1595-1644) where a sangat of the eastern region has been described as Guru kd Khalsd (Guru`s own or Guru`s special charge).

KHEM SINGH BEDI, BABA SIR (1832-1905), one of the founders of the Singh Sabha movement, was born on 21 February 1832 at Kallar, a small town in Rawalpindi district, now in Pakistan. He was a direct descendant, in the thirteenth place, of Guru Nanak. He received the rites of awn/at the hands of the celebrated Baba Bir Singh of Naurarigabad. His father Baba Afar Singh was killed in a family feud on 25 November 1839. Khcm Singh and his elder brother Sampuran Singh inherited jd^`irs in the Jalandhar Doab along with 41 villages in Dipalpur /rt/?..s`?/ofGugera, later Montgomery (Sahlval), district.

LAHORE (31°35`N, 74°20`E), pronounced Lahaur, provincial capital of West Punjab in Pakistan, lies on the left bank of the River Ravi. Hindu tradition attributes its founding to Lava, son of Lord Rama, but it is neither mentioned in the Greek accounts of Alexander`s invasion (326 BC) nor described by Strabo (63 BC AD 23?) or Pliny (AD 23-79). The earliest recorded mention is by the Chinese traveller, Hiuen Tsang, who visited it in AD 630. He describes it as a large Brahmanical city.

MAGGHAR SINGH, SANT (1890-1924). Sikh divine who attracted a local following, came of a Bhullar Jatt family of Ramgarh village, near Jagraon, in Ludhiana district of the Punjab. His grandfather had died fighting against the British in the battle of \'Alival (28 January 1846) during the first Anglo-Sikh war. Magghar Singh was born on 13 December 1890 to Sobha Singh and Nand Kaur, a simple peasant couple with a religious bent of mind. He himself grew up a devoted Sikh of pious habits under the influence of Sant Atar Singh of Mastuana.