SAMMAN BURJ, also called Musamman Burj, an octagonal tower commanding a wide range of buildings within the Lahore Fort, was built by Emperor Akbar, who made the city his capital for some time. Within the Fort was situated the royal palace which was enlarged by Jahangir and,

UGARU, BHAI, a native of Dalla, a village in present day Kapurthala district of the Punjab, was a devout Sikh of the time of Guru Amar Das. He was among those who waited upon the Guru when he visited Dalla and received initiation at his hands.

VADDA GHAR, village 19 km southwest of Moga (30"48`N, 75"10`E) in the Punjab, is sacred to Guru Hargobind, who arrived here from Darauli in 1634 staying here for five days before setting out on an extensive journey across the Malva region. A memorial platform was later constructed on the site

VAR SRI BHAGAUTlJI Kl, a short anonymous poem describing an unnamed battle in which Guru Gobind Singh emerged a victor. The poem consists of eight stanzas only. It begins with a dohra, followed by six savaiyyas, and ends with another dohra. It panegyrizes Bhagauti (sword) as the source of

VIRO, BIBI (b. 1615), daughter of Guru Hargobind (1595-1644) and Mata Damodari, was born at Amritsar on 11 July 1615. She was married to Bhai Sadhu, son of Bhai Dharma, a Khosia Khatri of the village of Malla.The nuptials were performed on 24 May 1629 at Jhabal, 15 km

YADAVINDER SINGH, LIEUTENANT GENERAL MAHARAJA (1913-1974), Grand Commander of the Indian Empire, Companion of the British Empire, Doctor of Laws from Banaras and Panjab Universities, was the last hereditary ruler of the east while Indian princely state of Patiala. Born on 7 January 1913 during the high noon of

ABDUL RASUL KASHMIRI, a native of Srinagar who was in trade at Amritsar as a shawl merchant, was for a time a close confidant of Maharaja Duleep Singh, the last Sikh King of the Punjab deposed by the British in 1849. Kashmir! acted as the deposed Maharaja`s liaison man with

AHMAD SHAH DURRANI (1722-1772), the first of the Saddozai rulers of Afghanistan and founder of the Durrani empire, belonged to the Saddozai section of the Popalzai clan of the Abdali tribe of Afghans. In the 18th century the Abdalis were to be found chiefly around Herat. Under their leader

AKALI, a term now appropriated by members of the dominant Sikh political party, the Shiromani Akali Dal, founded in 1920, and groups splitting from it from time to time, was earlier used for Nihangs (q.v.), an order of armed religious zealots among the baptized Sikhs. The word Nihang is

AKIL DAS, an eighteenth century head of the Handali sect of Jandiala in Amritsar district of the Punjab, also known as Haribhagat Niranjania, was an inveterate enemy of the Sikhs. Giani Gian Singh, Shamsher Khalsa, describes him as "Akul Das who basked in the name of Haribhagat." He was

AMAR DAS, GURU (1479-1574), the third of the ten Gurus of the Sikh faith, was born into a Bhalla Khatri family on Baisakh sudi 14, 1536 Bk, corresponding to 5 May 1479, at Basarke, a village in present day Amritsar district of the Punjab. His father\'s name was Tej Bhan

AMIR ULIMLA, also known as MUNTAKHAB ULHAQA`IQ, a collection of miscellaneous letters, in Persian script, mostly of Sikh chiefs of the Punjab addressed to one another on subjects relating to private and public affairs. Compiled by Amir Chand in A.H. 1209 (ADi 794-95), the manuscript comprises 127 folios and 247