BAGHEL SINGH (d. 1802), who succeeded in 1765 Karora Singh as leader of the Karor singhia misi or chief ship, is celebrated in Sikh history as the vanquisher of Mughal Delhi. A Dhalival Jatt, Baghel Singh arose from the village of Jhabal, in Amritsar district, to become a formidable

BENGAL AND INDIA SECRET LETTERS, also known as Letters received from India and Bengal or merely Secret Letters to the Secret Committee, preserved at the India Office Library, London. This correspondence is arranged in two series: the first covers the period 1778-1859 and the second 1817-1857. Relevant Enclosures to

BISHAN SINGH, SANT (d. 1973), holy saint most of whose life was spent in works of seva, raising of buildings by labour volunteered by devotees, at different shrine sites, came of a well to do Sindhi family. Nothing is known about his early life except that his parents were

CHIEF KHALSA DIWAN. Until the emergence of more radical platforms such as the Sikh League (1919), Shiromam Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (1920) and Shiromani Akali Dal (1920), the Chief Khalsa Diwan, established on 30 October 1902, was the main council of the Sikhs, controlling their religious and educational affairs and raising

DERA, a word of Persian extraction, has several connotations. The original Persian word derah or dirah means a tent, camp, abode, house or habitation. In current usage in rural Punjab, a farmhouse or a group of farmhouses built away from the village proper is called dera. Even after such an

FIVE SYMBOLS, a set of five distinctive features or elements of personal appearance or apparel that set off Sikhs from the followers of any other religious faith. Any study of religious symbols involves a dual task: first, to explain the meaning of symbols not only in terms of their

GURU NANAK VIDYA BHANDAR TRUST, aiming at promoting education among Sikhs, was founded in 1924 by Sardar Bahadur Dharam Singh. He had the inspiration from Sant Afar Singh of Mastuana, a Sikh saint widely revered for his piety at that time. The Trust was formally registered on 10 May 1932.

HUSAIN KHAN (d. 1696), called Husaim in Guru Gobind Singh`s Bachitra Ndtak, was a slave general of Dilawar Khan, an important officer in the Mughal hierarchy. When Dilawar Khan learnt of the disaster suffered by the imperial expedition led by his son against Guru Gobind Singh, he sent his

JETHA BHAI (d. 1634), a devoted Sikh who successively attended upon Guru Arjan and Guru Hargobind. He took part in sevd for the excavation of the sacred pool at Amritsar and the construction of the Harimandar. He was one of the five Sikhs who accompanied Guru Arjan on his

KAR BHET, from Persian kdr (lit. work, labour, occupation) and Hindi bhent (lit. meeting, offering), denotes voluntary offering made by a devotee to the Guru. It has been a common practice especially in India, for one going to make obeisance to a saint, teacher, the deity, or king to

KHALSA DIWAN MAJHA, an association of reformist Sikhs representing the districts of Lahore, Amritsar and Gurdaspur, was set up in 1904. The Singh Sabha movement had created among the Sikhs a new consciousness for the need to reform their religious and social practices. Early in 1904, Risaldar Basant Singh of

LANG, a village 11 km northwest of Patiala city (30°20`N, `ZG^G`E), claims a historical shrine called Gurdwara Dukh Bhanjan Sahib Patshahi Nauvin. The designation Dukh Bhanjan is only a recent addition, the old name coming down the generations being Gurdwara NauvTri Patshahi. According to local tradition. Guru Tegh Bahadur