RAM TIRATH, SVAMI (1897-1977), also known as Dandi Sannyasi (different from Rama Tirtha, Svami), was a recluse who after a prolonged spiritual quest turned to the Guru Granth Sahib. Born on 31 August 1897 to Pandit Balak Ram and Hari Devi, a Gaur Brahman family of the village of

SRIJASSA SINGH BINOD, manuscript dealing with the career of Sardar Jassa Singh Ahluvalia (1718-83), a prominent Sikh warrior of the eighteenth century and founder of the erstwhile state of Kapurthala in the Punjab, was written by Ram Sukh Rao at the instance of Sardar Fateh Singh, ruler of Kapurthala from

ANANDPUR SAHIB RESOLUTION, a frequently invoked document of modern Sikhism pronouncing its religious rule as well as its political goal. After having enjoyed power under chief ministers, Gurnam Singh and Parkash Singh Badal in the Punjab, newly demarcated in 1966, Sikhs as represented by their premier political party, the Shiromani

DECCAN KHALSA DIWAN, a philanthropic organization of the Sikhs, now nonexistent, was formed in Bombay on the eve of Indian Independence (August 1947), with Partap Singh as president and Hari Singh Shergill as general secretary. The DIwan`s main object was to provide help for the rehabilitation of persons uprooted from

JIVANMUKTA, in Sikhism the ideal and aim or objective of man`s spiritual life. The term is derived from jivanmukti {j`tvan=`ife; mukli=recasc, liberation, emancipation, freedom from bondage), and means one who has attained liberation from human bondage or one who has attained to the highest spiritual slate of being in tune

NANU MALL (d. 1791), minister and army general in Patiala state, was born at Sunam, in Sarigrur district. He came of a mercantile Aggarval family and became known as a highly capable administrator and a brave general. He acquired proficiency in classical languages Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian, and served in

RANA SURAT SINGH, an epiclike poem by Bhai Vir Singh published in 1905. This poem of more than fourteen thousand lines is written in blank verse, tried for the first time in Punjabi. With all its protracted search and pang, it is ultimately a poem of complete spiritual certitude, of

SULTAN SINGH (d. 1842), a Suri Khatri of Ghotala, in Jehlum district, joined Maharaja Ranjit Singh`s ghorcharas at the young age of thirteen. He saw active service in several expeditions beyond the Indus, and participated in the Multan and Kashmir campaigns. In one such campaign on the northwest frontier,

ANGLOSIKH TREATY (BHYROWAL/ BHAROVAL, December 1846), signed on 16 December 1846 between the East India Company and the minor Maharaja Duleep Singh, provided for a Britishcontrolled regency till the Maharaja came of age. Maharani Jind Kaur, who was acting as regent other son, Duleep Singh, had believed that, as stipulated

DEVA SINGH, SIR (1834-1890), a highranking Patiala state administrator, was born in 1834 into an Arora Sikh family, the son of Colonel Khushal Singh, a brave soldier who had once killed a tiger (sher, in Punjabi) near one of the city gates conferring upon it the name Sheranvala which lasts

KAHN SINGH BHIKKHIVINDIA, from his native village Bhikkhivind, in present day Amritsar district of the Punjab. He was with Bhai Maharaj Singh during the second AngloSikh war. After the war he, like Bhai Maharaj Singh, escaped to theJammu hills. He played an important role in establishing con tact with

NUR UDDIN, FAQIR (d. 1852), third son of Ghulam Mohy udDin and the youngest brother of Faqir `Aziz udDin, was one of the prominent Muslim courtiers serving the Sikh sovereign Maharaja Ranjit Singh and his successors. In 1801, when Ranjit Singh assumed the title of Maharaja, Nur udDin was