ANANDPUR DI VAR is a versified account in Punjabi, by one Ram Singh, of a battle fought in 1812 between Sodhi Surjan Singh of Anandpur and Raja Maha Chand of Kahlur. Sodhi Surjan Singh was a lineal descendant of Suraj Mall, a son of Guru Hargobind. His father, Nahar Singh,

ARJAN SINGH, BHAI (c. 1906-1924), born to Kishan Singh of the village of Kamalia, now in Sahival district of Pakistan, was a zealous worker in the cause of Sikh Gurdwara reform. As a young boy he was deeply affected by events at Nankana Sahib in 1921 (See NANKANA SAHIB MASSACRE).

ATAR SINGH ATLEVALE, SANT (d. 1937), Sikh holy man and preacher, born in early fifties of the nineteenth century, was the eldest son of Bhai Kishan Singh and Mai Naraini, a devoted couple of Mirpur, in Jammu and Kashmir state. Atar Singh, originally known as Hari Singh, was adopted by

AVITABILE, PAOLO CRESCENZO MARTINO (1791-1850), a Neapolitan soldier of fortune who, starting life as a private gunner, succeeded in obtaining high ranks in two widely separated Asiatic armies of Persia and Punjab, was born at Agerola, Naples, Italy, on 25 October 1791. From 1807 onwards he successively served in the

AHLUWALIA, JASBIR SINGH Jasbir Singh Ahluwalia,(1935 - ) born in 1935, is a leading radical Punjabi poet. He had a post-graduate degree in English and got his doctorate for his thesis on New conception of Reality, and got into the Punjab Civil Service. He came on deputation to Punjabi

BAGGA SINGH, BHAI (1893-1921), was born during Assu 1950 Bk/September-October 1893, the son of Bhai Ganga Singh and Mai Mallan, a peasant couple of Chakk No. 38 Deva Singhvala in Sheikhupura district, in the newly developed canal area in western Punjab by the British. He learnt reading and writing

BALA, BHAI (1466-1544), who, according to popular belief, was a lifelong companion of Guru Nanak, was the son of Chandar Bhan, a Sandhu Jatt of Talvandi Rai Bhoi, now Nankana Sahib in Pakistan. Three years senior in age to Guru Nanak, he was his childhood playmate in Talvandi. From

BANARASI, MATA, grandmother of Guru Nanak and mother of Baba Kalu or Kalian Rai, was the wife of Shiv Ram, resident of Talvandi Rai Bhoi Ki, now called Nankana Sahib. She was the mother of two sons, Kalu and Lalu. See SHIV RAM, BABA

BARHE, village 6 km southwest of Budhlada Mandi (29° 55`N, 75° 33`E) in Bathinda district of the Punjab, is sacred to Guru Tegh Bahadur, who, according to the Sakhi Pothi, spent a rainy season here, while travelling through the Malva country. Gurdwara Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib commemorating the visit

BAZIGARS or acrobats, a counterpart of nats outside the Punjab, are a nomadic people travelling from one place to the other, using camels and donkeys as pack animals. Earlier they had been an occupational group performing bazi, i.e. acrobatic feats, in the form of various types of jumps and other

BHAGAT MAL, subtitled SakhiBhai Gurdas Ji ki Var Varvfri Sikhan di Bhagatmala, is an anonymous manuscript (Kirpal Singh, A Catalogue of Punjabi and Urdu Manuscripts, attributes it to one Kirpa Ram, though in the work itself no reference to this name exists) held in the Khalsa College, Amritsar, under MS.

BHAG SINGH, RAI (d. 1884) was son of Rai Kishan Chand Bhandari who worked as a vakil or agent under the Sikh government. In the beginning of 1838 when Rai Kishan Chand accompanied Colonel Wade to Peshawar, Bhag Singh officiated in his place as agent at Ludhiana, in the