SAHERI, originally called Kheri, is a village about 2 km west of Morinda ( 30"47`N, 76"29`E) in Ropar district of the Punjab. The village was destroyed by Banda Singh Bahadur in 1710, and the habitation that reappeared upon its ruins dropped the old name because of its dismal associations

SHAHPUR KALAN, a village 13 km west of Sunam (30"7`N, 75"48`E) in Sangrur district of the Punjab, is sacred to Guru Tegh Bahadur who, during one of his journeys through the Malva country, came and stayed here near the pond north of the village. Gurdwara Mahji Sahib Patshahi IX, which

SWARAN SINGH (1907-1994). Tall and wiry, Sardar Swaran Singh, was born on 19 August 1907 in a farming family of the village of Shankar in Jalandhar district. He was married to Charan Kaur (1925). The family laid much store by education. One of the two sons was sent up to

ZAIL SINGH, GIANI (1916-1994), the first Punjabi to become President of the Republic of India, was born on 5 May 1916, the son of Bhai Kishan Singh and Mata Ind Kaur, a Ramgarhia couple of a small village, Sandhvan, near Kot Kapura, in the princely state of Faridkot. Kishan

ANGAD DEV, GURU, (1504-1552), the second of the ten Gurus or prophet teachers of the Sikh faith was born Lahina on Baisakh vadi 1, Sammat 1561 Bikrami, corresponding with 31 March 1504. His father, Bhai Pheru, was a Trehan Khatri and a trader of humble means, whose ancestral home was

BAHIRVAL, village in Chuniari tahsil (subdivision) of Lahore district of Pakistan, is sacred to Guru Arjan( 1563-1606), who once visited it during his travels in these parts. According to tradition, as the Guru arrived here from Jambar in the north, he met a poor peasant, Hema, at a well

BHAGATU, BHAI (d. 1652), a devoted Sikh who served the Fifth, Sixth and the Seventh Gurus, was the son of Adam (Uddam in some chronicles), a Siddhu Brar of Malva country. Sikh chronicles record that Adam, without a son for a long time and despaired of prayers at the

BIBIPUR KHURD, locally called Bipur, is a small village in Patiala district, 8 km southeast of Ghuram (30° 7`N, 76° 28`E). It has a historical shrine, Gurdwara Patshahi Nauvin, sacred to Guru Tegh Bahadur, who visited the site during one of his travels through Malva and Bangar regions. The Gurdwara,

CHAHAL, 15 km southeast of Lahore, was the ancestral village of Mata Tripta, mother of Guru Nanak. This was the birthplace of Bibi Nanaki, Guru Nanak`s sister. Guru Nanak visited the village on several occasions. Gurdwara Dera Chahal, which marked the house of the Guru`s maternal grandfather, Rama, was under

DAMODARI, MATA (1597-1631), daughter of Narain Das, aJulka Khatri of the village of Dalla, 6 km southeast of Sultanpur Lodhi in Kapurthala district of the Punjab, was married to Guru Hargobind (1595-1644) on 15 February 1605. She gave birth to a son, Baba Gurditta (b. 1613), and a daughter, Bibi

GHULAL, an old village in Ludhiana district, 8 km west of Samrala (30°50`N, 76°ll`E), claims a historical shrine dedicated to Guru Gobind Singh. This Gurdwara is not included in older lists of Sikh historical shrines, but local tradition indicates that Guru Gobind Singh, on his way from Machhivara to the