Alphabetical Index

JAND SAHIB, GURDWARA, dedicated to Guru Gobind Singh, is situated within the revenue limits of Virevala Kalari village, 25 km west of Faridkot (30°40`N, 74°45`E) in the Punjab. This is believed to be the place where, according to Mdlvd Desk Ratan di Sdkhi Potht, Guru Gobind Singh, during his travels through the Malva country, rested awhile in the forest under a ber tree. The name Jand Sahib was given it later, probably because of the abundance of jand trees (Prosopis spicigera) in the forest.

JAND SAHIB, GURDWARA, 5 km west of Chamkaur Sahib (SOS`N. 76°25`E) in Ropar district of the Punjab, stands at the fringe of a vast expanse of marshy grassland. It is sacred to Guru Gobind Singh, who after leaving Chamkaur on the night of 78 December 1705, took a westerly direction passing through a desolate wasteland which even now, during these days of expanding population and intensive cultivation, is no better than a treeless pasture. Here, where Gurdwara Jand Sahib now stands, the Guru stayed awhile under a jand tree to rest his weary limbs.

JAND SAHIB. GURDWARA, 3 km northwest of Gumti Kalari, a village in Bathinda district of the Punjab, marks the site where Bhai Rupa (1614-1709) served Guru Hargobind with cold water out of a leather bag hung from a jand tree {Prosopis spicigera) and received the Guru`s blessings. Tuklani village, where according to Sikh chronicles Bhai Rupa then lived, no longer exists. The Jand Sahib Gurdwara stands 8 km due west of Bhai Rupa, the village founded later by the Bhai.

JANDALI, village 3 km south of Dhamot (30°42`N, 76°2`E) in Ludhiana district, has a historical shrine sacred to Guru Hargobind. It is known as Gurdwara Sri Guru Hargobind Sahib Patshahi Chheviri and is situated in a grove to the southeast of the village. The present building, a domed hall, with a few ancillary rooms, was constructed in 1967. A village committee manages the shrine.

JANDU SINGHA, village 9 km northeast of Jalandhar (31″20`N, 75°35`E) along the JalandharHoshiarpur road, claims a historic shrine,...

JANG SINGHAN TEFIRANGIAN, by Matak, is a versified account, in Punjabi, of the first Anglo Sikh war (1845-46) by a contemporary or near contemporary poet about whom no biographical details are available. The poem, in its present incomplete form, is included in Panjabdian Varan (Amritsar, 1946) edited by Dr Ganda Singh who got the manuscript of this poem from Naurarig Singh Tarighi of Amritsar. It was first published in the Phulvdn (1938). Since the two opening stanzas and the concluding parts of the poem are missing, it has not been possible to date the work though it can be presumed to have been written soon after the war.

JANGNAMA, by Qazi Nur Muhammad, is an eyewitness account in Persian verse of Ahmad Shah Durrani`s seventh invasion of India, 1764-65, for which it is the only major source of information. A copy of the manuscript in the hand of one Khair Muhammad of Gunjaba was preserved at the District Gazetteer Office at Quetta in Baluchistan from where Karam Singh, state historian of Patiala, made a transcript which was utilized by Dr Ganda Singh in producing an edited version of the Persian text, with a preface and a brief summary in English. The work was published by the Sikh Historical Research Department, Khalsa College, Amritsar, in 1939.

JANGNAMA GURU GOBIND SINGH is a Punjabi ballad by Bir Singh Bal of the village of Sathiala in Amritsar district of the Punjab. Bir Singh was the author of a number of works in Braj Bhasa and. Punjabi which he wrote in the third and fourth decades of the nineteenth century. His theme is primarily Sikh history, though he has also composed Qissd Hir Rdnjhd incorporating the romance of Punjab`s famous lovers, Hir and Ranjha. The Jangndmd, in Punjabi verse, is in the form of a Barah Maha for which reason it is also known as Bdrdn Mdnh Guru Gobind Singh.

JANGNAMA LAHOW:, by Kahn Singh, is a poem describing the battles fought between the British and the Sikhs during 1845-46. Kahn Singh belonged to Bariga, Jalandhar district, and undertook the work at the instance of the British Deputy Commissioner of the area, Mr Vanistart. Though there is no internal evidence to date the work, we can safely assume it to have been completed sometime before 1853 as one of the several manuscript copies of the work which are extant is dated 1910 Bk/AD 1853 by the scribe. The only printed text available is in the anthology Prdchin Varan te Jangndme, edited by Shamsher Singh Ashok.

JANGNAMA SARDAR HARJ SINGH, by Ram Dial Anad, is a versified account, in Punjabi, of Hari Singh Nalva`s last crusade against the Afghans in which he won the field but lost his life. The poet, about whom not much biographical information is available is a Hindu (Anad) Khatri of Navari Shahar. The poem begins with an invocation to the various Hindu gods (16) and goes on to describe the Afghans` capture of Peshawar (8). Hari Singh is the only Sikh general who accepts the frontier assignment willingly and happily (10).

Shah Mohmmad is rightly acclaimed as the national poet of the Punjab in the nineteenth century at least. Though he is said to have composed a kissa, i.e. a narrative poem of love as well, he is best known for his celebrated composition: Jangnama Singhan te Frangian. With the subject-matter drawn from the first Anglo-Sikh War (1845-1846) its past significance lies in the multiple treatment given to the decline of the polity after Maharaja Ranjit Singh\'s death in 1839. Its present meaning accrues from its treatment of the uncertainty gripping the sovereign identity of the Punjab.

JANGNAMA SIU GURU GOBIND SINGHJIKA, a vdr or stanzas by Am Rai describing Guru Gobind Singh`s battle with a Mughal force at Anandpur. Am Rai was one of the fifty-two poets who enjoyed the Guru`s patronage. The welcome he received on his arrival in Anandpur and the conferment through a hukamndmd of costly presents including gold and jewels upon him find mention in the opening stanzas of Jangndmd. The conjecture is that lie came to Anandpur after AD 1699, the year of the promulgation of the Khalsa, for he makes no mention of the battles of Bharigani and Nadaun which took place prior to that event and he throughout refers to the Guru as Gobind Singh, which name he took only after receiving initiation at the hands of the Parij Piare.

JANI, a Sayyid Muslim, who, according to Bhai Santokh Singh, Sn Gur Pratdp Suraj Granlh, had long wandered in search of a true spiritual guide, was directed by one, Khwaja, a Kashmir! Musalman, to meet Guru Hargobind whom he himself reverenced. Sayyid Jani visited Guru Hargobind, received instruction from him and found the consolation he had been seeking.

JANMEJA (JANAMEJAYA) Janamejaya could not comprehend the Word of the Guru. Having strayed in illusion, how could he attain peace. He erred a little (and afterwards repented). (Gauri M. l, p. 225) The king Janamejaya was being advised by Vyasa (not to ride the horse, not to bring home the Apasaras and not to do any-thing at her bidding), but the king did the same and accepted the proposal of the Apasaras regarding the performance of a Yajna. He invited eighteen Brahmins.

JAPA, BHAI, a Khatri of the Khullar clan, was a devoted Sikli of the time of Guru Ram Das. His name figures in the roster of prominent Sikhs in Bhai Gurdas` Varan, XI. 17.

JAPU, with the Punjabi complimentary ji commonly suffixed to it as ah honorific, is the opening composition of Sikh Scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib. At the head of the table of contents of the volume, this composition is recorded as Japu Nisdnu, meaning the `flag composition Japu` or, according to some other excgeis `authcnticated/a/m`. The title Japu is from the verb japand (lit. to repeat orally) or what is meant for meditating or repeating, usually silently, with or without the help of a rosary, of the name of a deity or of a mantra (lit. spell, incantation).