BASANT KIVAR, by Guru Arjan, is the shortest of the twenty-two vars, i.e. holy poems composed in the style or tone of odes (vars, in Punjabi) or heroic ballads included in the Guru Granth Sahib. Basant, Punjabi for spring, from which musical measure the Var derives its title is,

BHAGIRATH, BHAI, whose name occurs in the roster of leading Sikhs in Bhai Gurdas, Varan, XI. 18, was a Soini Khatri. He entered the Sikh faith in the time of Guru Arjan. From the Guru himself he received enlightenment and learnt to distinguish a true gurmukh (one with face

LAL CHAND, a confectioner turned warrior, won praise from Guru Gobind Singh for his feats in the battle of Bhangani (1688). Thus does the Guru eulogize him in his Bachitra Natak, "Wrathful became Lal Chand. His face turned red, he humbled the pride of many a lion (i.e. enemy