Alphabetical Index

Whose Praises are sung by Brahma (Birancha) alongwith the hymns of the Vedas and for whom Shiva (the ascetic) holds fast on the Kahlasa (Kailasa) mountain and does not leave it... (Swayye Mahle Chauthe Ke, p. 1404) Kailasa is a mountain situated like Meru to the north of Himalayas. The beautiful Manasarovar lake lies towards its south. Shiva\'s paradise (Shivapuri) is said to be a Mount Kailasa. Kuvera\'s abode is also there. It is also called Ganaparvata.

KABUL VALI MAI. or the Lady from Kabul, is the name chroniclers have given to a woman who rendered devoted service during the digging of the bdoH at Goindval under the supervision of Guru Amar Das. Day after day, says Sarup Das Bhalla, Mahimd Prakdsh, she toiled away at the site, without anyone knowing who she was, and where she had come from.One day Guru Amar Das told the Sikhs that the lady was from Kabul and that she had by her love of the Almighty and duty towards her husband attained spiritual insight.An old manuscript, Mahimd Prakdsh Sri Guru Amar Dev, and an inscription in Gurdwara Haveli Sahib at Goindval mention a lady being in charge of the manji or Sikh centre at Kabul, though they name her differently the former calling her Bibi Bhago and the latter Mat Sevan. It is likely that the Kabul Vali Mat was that lady, later appointed by Guru Amar Das a preacher in her own country.

KACHHA (KURAMA)(Tortoise Incarnation) Machh (Matsya incarnation), Kachh, Kurama (names of Tortoise incarnation) took birth according to the \'will of the Lord. (Maru M. 5, p. 1082) The ten incarntions were created under the Will of the Lord. (Maru M. l, p. 1037) Both the words Kachh and Kurama are applied to the Tortoise incarnation of Vishnu. Vishnu assumed the form of a tortoise at the bottom of the milk-ocean, making his back, the pivot of the mountain Mandara, which was churned by twisting the great serpent Vasuki as the rope. In this way fourteen objects (jewels) were recovered from the ocean. See : Das Avataras.

KAFI (Arabic Qafi), literally stands for the leader, the enlightener, one who fulfils the need. In poetics it denotes the refrain in a song or hymn, and is also the title given to a poetic form in Arabic as well as in Indian literature. Guru Nanak was the first to use this poetic form in Punjabi literature, and this he was followed by several Sufi poets and others. Kafi has also been called a ragim and a metre (tatank), though opinion differs on this count.In the Sikh Scripture, Guru Granth Sahib, Kafis have not been collected under any one raga; they occur under ragas Asa, Tilang, Suhi and Maru.

KAHN CHAND, son of Amir Chand, served under Maharaja Ranjit Singh and his successors in various capacities. His family originally belonged to Multan. His father had served as a revenue officer under Misr Divan Chand at the Lahore court and afterwards as a commander under Hari Singh Nalva. Kahn Chand joined service as a scribe in 1823 and was promoted to the position of murdsaldnavis or dispatch writer in 1834. This was an office of trust.

KAHN SINGH, son of Baba Binod Singh, a Trehan Khatri, was with Guru Gobind Singh at Nanded during his last days. He, along with his father, was among the five Sikhs chosen to accompany Banda Singh Bahadur to the Punjab in 1708. He took part in Banda Singh`s campaigns against the Mughal rulers. After the capture of Sirhind by the Sikhs in May 1710, Kahn Singh was made deputy to his father who was given charge of the border district of Karnal. He fought battles against the Mughal commander Firoz Khan Mcvati at Arnin, Taraori, Thancsar and Shahabad to check the latter`s advance towards the Punjab. Later, he had differences with Banda Singh during the siege at Gurdas Narigal and left his camp. He was captured and taken to Delhi along with other Sikh prisoners for execution.

KAHN SINGH was, like his father Mirxa Singh, in the service of Jai Singh Kanhaiya before joining Ranjit Singh`s army. He was made an officer in the irregular cavalry. He fought along with his regiment at Kasur and in the Karigra campaign of 1809. Kahn Singh was placed under Desa Singh Majithia when the latter was made governor of the hill districts between the rivers Bcas and Sutlej.

KAHN SINGH (d. 1846), son of Panjab Singh of Gharjakh, in Gujranwala district, joined Maharaja Ranjit Singh`s army and was sent to Pindi Gheb in command of 500 horse. He remained there for nine years when he was recalled and placed under General Hari Singh Nalva. Kahn Singh accompanied Hari Singh on his numerous expeditions. He fought in the campaign against the Yusafzai tribes on the northwest frontier in 1831. In 1834, he accompanied General Mihari Singh, the newly appointed governor of Kashmir. Kahn Singh returned after three years to Lahore with a considerable fortune.

KAHN SINGH (d. 1876), son of Dula Singh, belonged to the village of KaIasvala, in Sialkot district. He began his career in Maharaja Ranjit Singh`s army under General Avkabile and was present in the Khaibar Pass actions and throughout the Yusafzai campaign. He served in the Sher Dil Paltan in the first AngloSikh war. After the annexation of the Punjab, he joined the 30th Punjab infantry. He rose to the rank of SubahdarMajor and rendered service in the Bhutan campaign of 1864-65 shortly after which he retired. He died in 1876.

KAHN SINGH, a Kuka leader, was born in 1840 at the village of Hazro in Rawalpindi district, now in Pakistan. His father`s name was Bhai Manna Singh. He was a nephew of Baba Balak Singh, founder of the Kuka faith, after whose death he came to be acknowledged as the head of the group known as Hazro Kukas. M.L.A.

KAHN SINGH, of Fatehabad in Kapurthala district of the Punjab, was an associate of Bhai Maharaj Singh, leader of the revolt against the British in 1848-49. He joined him at Amritsar early in 1848 and took part in the second AngloSikh war. He was captured, with Maharaj Singh near Sham Chaurasi, in Hoshiarpur district, on the night of 28-29 December 1849.

KAHN SINGH, of Nabha (1861-1938), celebrated scholar and encyclopaedist, was born on Bhadori vadi 10, 1918 Bk/30 August 1861, in a Dhillon Jatt family at the village of Sabaz Banera, in what then used to be the territory of the princely ruler of Patiala. His father, Narain Singh (mother: Har Kaur), was a man of saintly character and he succeeded to the charge of Gurdwara Dera BabaAjapal Singh, at Nabha, upon the death in 1861 of his grandfather, Sarup Singh. Kahn Singh, the eldest of three brothers and one sister, did not attend any school or college for formal education, yet he mastered several branches of learning by private effort.

KAHN SINGH ATARIVALA (d. 1873), soldier and jdgirddr, was the second son of Sham Singh Alarivala, the celebrated general of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. He inherited only a small part of the jdgir of his father, subject to the maintenance of 97 horse, 25 foot and 10 zamburds. His contingent was assigned in 1848 to serving Raja Sher Singh Atarivala at Multan in 1848, but it left the Raja when the latter moved northwards to join his father, Chatar Singh, against the British.

KAHN SINGH BHIKKHIVINDIA, from his native village Bhikkhivind, in present day Amritsar district of the Punjab. He was with Bhai Maharaj Singh during the second AngloSikh war. After the war he, like Bhai Maharaj Singh, escaped to theJammu hills. He played an important role in establishing con tact with Ram Das, a Dogra official of Jammu, with whose help it was planned to capture the Fort of Ramnagar belonging to the widow of Raja Suchet Singh.

KAHN SINGH MAJITHIA (d. 1853), son of Amar Singh Majithia, served as a general in the Sikh army in the second AngloSikh war. During Maharaja Ranjil Singh`s reign, Kahn Singh was a minor military officer when he is said to have killed a lion with his sword while out hunting with the Maharaja in 1831. In 1838 he was an officer in the Ghorchara Khas. He was commandant of the Sikh force at Peshawar in 1848 when his troops marched out of Peshawar to join Chatar Singh and Sher Singh; Kahn Singh fought the British both at Cheliarivala and Gujrat.

KAHN SINGH MAN (d. 1848), son of Hukam Singh, was appointed commandant of Maharaja Ranjit Singh`s bodyguard at a comparatively young age. He took part in several campaigns under the Maharaja, rising to the rank of general in 1836, commanding four regiments of infantry and a 10gun derd of artillery. In 1846, after the first AngloSikh war, Kahn Singh was sent at the head of an expedition against Shaikh Imam udDin, the rebellions governor of Kashmir. He succeeded in bringing Imam udDin a prisoner to Lahore without having to fire a shot. Next year, he was appointed by the Lahore Darbar, on the recommendation of the Resident, Henry Lawrence, to the judgeship of Lahore as successor to Ranjodh Singh Majithia.