GULAB SINGH GHOLIA, SANT (1853-1936), Sikh saint and scholar, was born in 1853 to Bhai Dal Singh and Dharam Kaur of Bhattivala, a village 6 km south of Bhavamgarh, in the present Sarigrur district of the Punjab. He received his early education in the village dharamsald, and then spent five years at the derd of Bhai Ram Singh, at Manuke, in Faridkot district, learning kirtan and studying the Sikh texts. Realizing that, to properly comprehend and interpret certain theological terms used in the Scripture, knowledge of Sanskrit was essential, he shifted, in 1873, to the village of Dhapali (now in Sarigrur district), where he apprenticed himself to Giani Anokh Singh. He studied Sanskrit and Vedanta with him for ten long years.
GUNIKE, village 12 km south of Nabha (30°22`N, `76°9`E), in Patiala district, has a historical Gurdwara, dedicated to...
GUNVANTI, lit. a woman of becoming qualities, is the title of one of Guru Arjan`s compositions, in measure Suhi, in the Guru Granth Sahib (GG, 763). It follows Guru Nanak`s Kuchajl (lit. an awkward, illmannered woman) and Suchaji (lit. a woman of good manner). The term gunvanti is figuratively used for a true, meritorious devotee. Like the hymns of Guru Nanak, this one too is uttered in the first person, and by implication, it sums up qualities characteristic of a true and pious Sikh.
GUR KIRAT PRAKASH, by Vir Singh Bal, is a versified account of the lives of the first nine of the ten Gurus or spiritual teachers of the Sikh panth. Written in Braj, Gurmukhi characters, the work was completed in 1891 Bk/ AD 1834. The manuscript, two copies of which are available one each in the Punjab State Archives at Patiala (No. 682) and the Punjabi University at Patiala, has since been published (Punjabi University, 1986). The work is divided into ten chapters, here called hulas, each dealing with the life of one of the nine Gurus. The opening chapter on Guru Nanak comprises 414 chhands or stanzas, followed by one on Guru Angad (135 stanzas).
GUR SEVAK SABHA, a society formed at Amritsar on 29 December 1933 by some Sikh intellectuals and educationists to restate Sikh moral and religious values and have these reinstated in the public life of the Panth,` then severely riven by rivalries and personal ambitions of the leaders. Bava Harkishan Singh, Principal of the Guru Nanak Khalsa College at Gujranwala, Tcja Singh and Niranjan Singh, both professors at the Khalsa College at Amritsar and Narain Singh, a professor at the Khalsa College at Gujranwala, were amongst the sponsors.
GURBACHAN SINGH TALIB (1911-1986), scholar, author and teacher, famous for his command of the English language. He was master equally of the written as well as of the spoken word. He was born in a small town, Munak, in the present Sarigrur district, on 7 April 1911, the son of Sardar Kartar Singh and MataJai Kaur. His father was an employee of the princely state of Sarigrur.