DAKKHANI RAI (d. 1815), a sixth generation descendant of Baba Prithi Chand, the elder brother of Guru Arjan, who had founded an Udasi dera or preaching centre of the Udasi sect at Gharachon, a village in present day Sarigrur district of the Punjab. The rulers of Patiala granted him

DHUAN, Punjabi for smoke, is a term which is particularly used for seats of certain monkish orders where a fire is perennially kept alive. In the Sikh context it is employed for the four branches of Udasi Sikhs established by Baba Gurditta (1613-38), on whom the headship of the sect

ETAWAH (26° 47`N, 78° 58`E), a district town of Uttar Pradesh, 127 km southeast of Agra, has two Udasi Ashrams commemorating the visits of Guru Nanak and Baba Sri Chand. Sikh chronicles have not recorded these visits, but they do mention that Guru Tegh Bahadur while travelling to the

FARIDKOT TIKA, the earliest full scale exegesis or annotated version of the Guru Granth Sahib, was prepared under the patronage of the princely rulers of the state of Faridkot. Hence its popular name Faridkot Vala Tika or, for short, FaridkotTika. Its full title is Adi Sn Guru Granth Sahib

GURDITTA, BABA (1613-1638), the eldest son of Guru Hargobind (1595-1644), was born on 15 November 1613 to Mata Damodari at Darauli Bhai in present day Faridkot district of the Punjab. He had his training in religious lore and in the martial arts under the supervision of his father. He

HEHRAN is a village in Ludhiana district, on the Guru Gobind Singh Marg, 11 km north of Raikot (30°39`N, 75°37`E). Gurdwara Patshahi VI ate X at Hehran commemorates the visits of Guru Hargobind and Guru Gobind Singh. The former visited it during his tour of the Malva at the

ALMAST, BHAI (1553-1643), Sikh preacher and head of a dhuari or branch of the Udasi sect, was born in a Gaur Brahman family of Srinagar (Kashmir) on 26 August 1553. He was the son of Bhai Hardatt and Mai Prabha, and was the elder brother of Balu Hasna, another

MANOHAR DAS, a nineteenth century saint of Sangat Sahib Ke sect of the Udasi Sikhs, usually stayed at Kankhal, near Haridvar, where he collaborated with some other sadhus under the leadership of Santokh Das to establish a separate Udasi body called Sri Gur Naya Akhara Udasin, popularly known as

PARCHIAN SEVA DAS, variously titled as Sdkhidn Sevd Dds Udasi, Mahaldn Dasdn kidn Sdkhidn, Sdkhidn Dasdn Pdtshdhidn Kidn or Parchidn Pdtshdhi 10, is an eighteenth century collection of 50 sdkhis or anecdotes from the lives of the Ten Gurus. Only one sakhl each relates to the first eight Gurus;

BAHILOL, BHAI, a resident of Qadivind, a village near Kasur, now in Pakistan, was a devotee of Guru Amar Das. Once the Guru visited Qadivind at his request and, pleased at his devotion, promised him any boon he might ask of him. Bhai Bahilol spoke humbly : "Nothing is