CHALI MUKTE, lit. forty (chalf) liberated ones (mukte), is how a band of 40 brave Sikhs who laid down their lives fighting near the dhab or lake of Khidrana, also called Isharsar, on 29 December 1705 against a Mughal force in chase of Guru Gobind Singh are remembered in Sikh

CUNNINGHAM, JOSEPH DAVEY (1812-1851), the first British historian of the Sikhs (his A History of the Sikhs was published in London in 1849), was the eldest of the five sons of Allan Cunningham, a noted poet and playwright. Born at Lambeth on 9 June 1812, Joseph had his early education

DELHI, also called Dilli (28° 40`N. 77° 13`E), the capital of India, is also connected with Sikh history. The first, sixth, eighth, ninth and tenth Gurus visited it. Mata Sundari and Mata Sahib Devari, consorts of Guru Gobind Singh, stayed here for a long time before and after the

DIP SINGH SHAHID. BABA (1682-1757). founder of the Shahid misi or principality as well as of the Damdami Taksal or Damdama school of Sikh learning, was born in 1682, the son of Bhai Bhagata and Mai Jiuni. a Sikh couple living in Pahuvind, a village 40 km southwest of

DAYA (usually spelt data in Punjabi), from Skt. Day meaning to sympathize with, to have pity on, stands for compassion, sympathy. It means `suffering in the suffering of all beings.` It is deeper and more positive in sentiment than sympathy. Daya, cognitively, observes alien pain; affectively, it gets touched

FATEH SINGH (d. 1875), son of Nidhan Singh Hathu, was a soldier in the Sikh army and was attached to his father`s contingent wherein he remained until 1827 when he was placed in the Ghorcharha Kalan regiment. In 1834, he accompanied Maharaja Ranjit Singh to Peshawar and, in 1840,

GIAN (Skt.jnana), knowledge, understanding or consciousness, is what differentiates human beings from the animal world and establishes the superiority of homo sapiens over the other species. Nature has not only provided man with a qualitatively superior brain but has also endowed human mind with a dynamic inner stimulus called jagiasa

GULABDASIAS, a sect subscribing to epicurean ethics, were the followers of one Pritam Das, originally an Udasi sddhu. Pritam Das`s principal disciple was Gulab Das after whom the members of the sect came to be known as Gulabdasias. Gulab Das, son of Hamira, was born in 1809 at the

GURMAT MARTAND, by Bhai Kahn Singh, is a glossary in two volumes of terms bearing on different aspects of Sikh religion, theology and belief. The author undertook this work, arranged topically as well as alphabetically, with a view to rectifying some of the misconceptions about certain Sikh theological and conceptual

GURUSAR, village 11 km northwest of Giddarbaha (30°12`N, 74°39`E) in Faridkot district of the Punjab, claims a historical shrine, Gurdwara Mariji Sahib, sacred to Guru Gobind Singh, who visited the place in 1706 on his way from Muktsar to Talvandi Sabo. The Gurdwara, situated on the bank of the village

HAZARA SINGH, GIANI (1828-1908), scholar and educator, was born in Amritsar in 1828. He also used to inscribe his name as Bhai Hazara Singh Giani as well as Hazur Hari. His father, Bhai Savan Singh, was employed in the Golden Temple as a store keeper. The family had migrated from

HUKAM SINGH, SARDAR (1895-1983), politician, parliamentarian and jurist, famous for his ready repartee, was born at Montgomery (Sahiwal) on 30 August 1895, the son of Sham Singh, a businessman of moderate means. Hukam Singh had his preliminary acquaintance with Punjabi letters at the local gurudwara and matriculated in 1913