DERA, a word of Persian extraction, has several connotations. The original Persian word derah or dirah means a tent, camp, abode, house or habitation. In current usage in rural Punjab, a farmhouse or a group of farmhouses built away from the village proper is called dera. Even after such an

DURGA, PANDIT, or Durgo Bhambi, a Sarsvat Brahman of Bhambi clan living in the village of Mihra or Mahera (location obscure), predicted great name and fame for (Guru) Amar Das when the latter even had not yet met Guru Ahgad. According to Sarup Das Bhalla, Mahima Prakash, Amar Das,

GHURANI KALAN, an old village in Ludhiana district, was visited by Guru Hargobind in whose memory two gurudwaras have since been constructed. GURDWARA CHOLA SAHIB PATSHAI II CHHEVIN is inside the village and marks the residence of Bhai Surtia, the local masand, leader of the local Sikh group, at

HARI SINGH KAHARPURI, SANT (1888-1973), Sikh saint and preacher, was born in 1888 in a Liddar Jatt family of the village of Jian, in Hoshiarpur district of the Punjab. He was the youngest of the three sons of Avtar Singh and Atar Kaur. He received instruction in religious texts from

JAI SINGH (d. 1784), a Jatt Sikh of Majha living near the village of Atari in Amritsar district, joined hands with the Nishanavali misi in its invasion of the cis Sutlej tracts, fighting in the battle of Sirhind (1764) and assisting in the seizure of Ambaia, Shahabad, Lidhrari, Amioh

JOGA, village 19 km north of Mansa (29°59`N, `75°23`E), in Mansa district of the Punjab, has a historical shrine dedicated to Guru Tegh Bahadur. According to local tradition, the village was not in existence when the Guru visited these parts. He encamped at the site now marked by Gurdwara

KARAM SINGH (d.1923), Babar revolutionary, was born Narain Singh at the village of Daulatpur, in Jalandhar district. Narain Singh attended the village school and in 1912 left home to seek his fortune in Canada. In Canada he came under the influence of Asa Singh alias Mahlab Singh, who had been

LAMMAN, also known as Lammah Jatpura, in Ludhiana district, is 14 km from Raikot (30°39°N.`75°37°E) on the Guru Gobind Sihgh Marg. Guru Gobind Sihgh stayed in the village for a few days in December 1705 on his way from Chamkaur to Dina and Kahgar. While Rai Kalha had despatched

MANAK TABRA, a village about 3 km north of Raipur Rani in Naraingarh subdivision of Ambala district, is sacred to Guru Gobind Singh, who visited it as he was travelling from Paonta to Anandpur in 1688. It was here that the Rani of Raipur came to see him. Gurdwara

PARTAP SINGH KAIRON (1901-1965). political leader of wide influence and chief minister of the Punjab from 1956 to 1964, was born on 1 October 1901 in the village of Kairon, in Amritsar district of the Punjab, in a farming family of modest means. His father Nihal Singh, who had

RAMEANA, village 10 km west of Jaito (30° 26`N, 74° 53`E) in Faridkot district of the Punjab, is sacred to Guru Gobind Singh, who visited here in December 1705 on his way to Khidrana, now Muktsar. As the Guru reached the village, he, according to Malva Desh Ratan di