sikh

SINGAPORE SIKH MISSIONARY TRACT SOCIETY, renamed Sikh Missionary Tract Society, Malaya, in 1941 and Sikh Missionary Society, Malaya, in 1946, when it was reactivated after having remained dormant during (lie war in the East, was registered on 9 March 1940, with its offices at 175, Queen Street, Singapore. The founder was Bhag Singh, an English teacher, admired among the local community for his mastery of Sikh music.

SRI SATIGURU Jl DE MUHAIN DJAN SAKHIAN, i.e. witnesses or instructions from the lips of the venerable Guru himself, is the title of a manuscript, preserved in Gurdwara Manji Sahib at Kiratpur in the Sivaliks by the granthi, Babu Singh, who claims descent from Bibi Rup Kaur, adopted daughter of Guru Har Rai, NanakVH (1630-1661). The manuscript is said to have been transcribed by Bibi Rup Kaur and given her as a gift by the Guru at the time of her marriage. It has now been edited and published, with five additional sakhis, by a young scholar, Narindar Kaur. Of the thirty-three sakhis in the original manuscript, one is common with MS. No. 1657 (AD 1661) and two witli MS. No. 5660 (n.d.), both preserved in (lie Sikh Reference Library, Amritsar (since destroyed).

SURAT SINGH MAJITHIA, RAJA (d. 1881), son of Atar Singh Majithia, was a soldier, commander and notable sardar of the Sikh Darbar. Details of his early career and of his service under Maharaja Ranjit Singh are scanty. Surat Singh was commandant of the Sikh battalion posted at Peshawar during the first AngloSikh war. After the peace settlement of 1846, he was retained in the Sikh army by British Resident Sir Henry Lawrence, and posted to Lahore. He fell foul of Wazir Lal Singh who became his enemy and ordered the resumption of hisjagir. Surat Singh played a prominent role in events leading to the Sikh national rising against the British in 1848.He commanded 2,000 men in the division sent under Sher Singh Atarivala to Multan to quell Diwan Mul Raj`s revolt.

TARA CHAND, BHAJ, was a masand or a batch leader of the Sikhs in Kabul. He once led a sarigat of those parts to the presence of Guru Hargobind. Travelling through Lahore, Amritsar and Khadur, they reached Kangar, now in Bathinda district of the Punjab, where the Guru then happened to be. Tara Chand was asked by the Guru to relate his experiences of the long journey. While doing so, Bhai Tara Chand especially praised two horses he had seen at Lahore in a royal procession.

THACKWELL, SIR EDWARD JOSEPH (1781-1859), commander of cavalry division of the army of the Sutlej under Lord Hugh Gough in the first Anglo Sikh war was born on 1 February 1781, the son of John Thackwell. A veteran of Peninsula and Waterloo, he assumed command of the army of the Indus in the Afghan campaign of 1838-39. He also commanded the cavalry division of Sir Hugh Gough`s army in the campaign against the Marathas of Gwalior at the close of 1843. In the first Anglo Sikh war, he was in command of the cavalry at Sabhraon on 10 February 1846.

UJJAL SINGH, SARDAR (1895-1983), parliamentarian, expert in finance and governor, was the younger of the two sons of Sujan Singh and Lakshmi Devi, a family that traced their ancestry back to Bhai Sangat Singh, one of the Chamkaur Sahib martyrs dying with two of Guru Gobind Singh`s elder sons in 1705. A tradesman by profession, Sujan Singh turned to real estate. He came by much prosperity this way. In his till then little known village of Hadali, Ujjal Singh was born on 27 December 1895 in Sindh Sagar Doab of the Punjab (now in Pakistan). His education began in the conventional way.

VIDIA SAGAR GRANTH, lit. the book (granth) of the ocean (sagar) of wisdom {vidia), is the title given to a legendary literary corpus created at Anandpur under the patronage of Guru Gobind Singh. The volume, also known as Vidiasar Granth, Vidiadhar Granth and Samund Sagar Granth, was supposed to comprise the writings of die Guru as well as of the fifty-two poets and scholars he kept with him. As the tradition goes, it weighed nine maunds (approximately 320 kilograms) and got lost in the River Sarsa when Guru Gobind Singh and the Sikhs were crossing it after evacuating Anandpur in 1705.

AJAIB, BHAI, a Sangha Jatt who embraced the Sikh faith in the time of Guru Arjan. He belonged to the village of Darauli Bhai, in presentday Faridkot district. Two of his brothers, Umar Shah and Ajab, were the Guru`s masands or vicars. Bhai Ajaib took part in seva, voluntary labour of hands, at the time of digging of the Amritsar pool and construction of the Harimandar. See AJAB, BHAI

AKHBARAT-I-SINGHAN, also known as Twarikhi Sikkhan, is a diary of the day today events of the period from 1895 Bk/AD 1839 to 1903 Bk/AD 1847 based on official reports which General Avitabile (q.v.), military governor of Peshawar during Sikh times, received from various districts under his jurisdiction. It is written in Khatti Shikasta. also called Khatti Diwani; the name of the compiler is not known. The only known manuscript is available, in three volumes, at the Panjab University Library. Lahore, under MS. No. PE III, 30. Volume I, comprising 250 folios, covers the period from 12 Chet 1895 Bk to 3 Jeth, 1896 23 March 1839-May 1839 and contains news from Peshawar.

AMARU, BHAI, a devoted Sikh of the time of Guru Amar Das. He lived at the village of Dalla, in present day Kapurthala district of the Punjab, and was initiated a Sikh at the hands of Guru Amar Das. See RAMU BHAI