121. JHANDA RAMDAS

JHANDA RAMDAS. popularly called Ramdas, a village in Amritsar district of the Punjab, celebrates Baba Buddha of revered memory in the Sikh tradition. His son, Bhai Bhana, founded this village and named it after his own grandson, Jhanda, and the family shifted here from their ancestral village ofKatthu Narigal. The longlived Baba Buddha himself had spent most of his time at the feet of the Gurus, from Guru Nanak to Guru Hargobind, but he would occasionally come to visit his family at Jhanda Ramdas. The last few months of his life were spent in this village. As the end came near, he longed to have a glimpse of the Guru. Guru Hargobind did arrive at Jhanda Ramdas before Baba Buddha died, on Maghar sudi4, 1688 Bk/16 November 1631. The Guru himself performed the last rites. Three gurudwaras now commemorate the Guru`s visit and the passing away of Baba Buddha. GURDWARA BUNGA SAHIB, 200 metres east of the village, marks the site where Guru Hargobind had encamped. From here he, according to the local tradition, went barefoot to see Baba Buddha. GURDWARA SAMADIIAN, about one kilometre northeast of Jhanda Ramdas, was built on the site of the cremation of Baba Buddha. Guru Hargobind gave his shoulder to the bier, put the flame to the pyre and collected the ashes on the fourth day after the cremation. GURDWARA TAP ASTIIAN BABA BUDDHA JI, on the southern edge of the village, stands where the venerable family had once lived and where Baba Buddha had died. It is said that the Lahore troops sackedJhanda Ramdas in 1824 and destroyed the house of Baba Buddha`s descendants. When Maharaja Ranjil Singh heard of this, he was filled with remorse. He then had this gurudwara built on the site of the demolished house. The Gurdwara stands on a raised plinth in the middle of a walled compound which is below the street level. It comprises a square sanctum, with a verandah all around. The floor is of white marble and the walls are lined with marble slabs. The interior surface of the wallls as well as the ceiling is decorated with stucco work inset with reflecting glass pieces and painted artistically in gold, red and blue. The Guru Granth Sahib is seated on a canopied throne of white marble. The Gurdwara is managed by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee. It owns 2,200 acres of land. Besides the daily prayers and the usual Sikli anniversaries, largely attended gatherings take place on the fifth day of the dark half of each lunar month.

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122. JHANDA SINGH

JHANDA SINGH (d. 1774) succeeded his father, Hari Singh, to the leadership of the Bharigi principality upon his death in 1765. Under Jhanda Singh, the power and prestige of the Bharigi misi rapidly increased. In 1766, he challenged both Shuja` Khan. Afghan governor of Multan, and Mubarak Khan, the ruler of Bahawalpur. As a result of the battle that followed, the holy town of Pakpattan was declared to be the line of demarcation between the Bharigi territories and those belonging to the Muslim chiefs. In 1772, Jhanda Singh attacked Multan once again, and drove out the Nawab. Multan became a Khalsa territory and the city was parcelled out between Jhanda Singh and his commander, Lahina Singh.Jhanda Singh then went on to sack Jharig, Khushab, Mankcra and Kala Bagh. He also attacked the stronghold of Chattha Jatts at Rasulnagar, later known as Ramnagar.

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123. JHANDA SINGH BUTAUA

JHANDA SINGH BUTAUA (d. 1883), son of Sham Singh, was a jdgirddr and military commander under Maharaja Ranjil Singh. He saw military service in Purichh where Diwan Dhanpat Rai and Mir Baz Khan had been giving trouble, and was then ordered to Hazara. He accompanied the Maharaja in the campaign of 1821-22 when Mankera and Dera Ismail Khan were taken, and received for his gallantry valuable presents. He remained mostly on the frontier, in Chhachh, Peshawar and Hazara. He was a man of energy and ability, and the Maharaja gave him charge, under Sardar Hari Singh Nalva, of this most unruly part of the country.

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124. JHANDA, BHAI

JHANDA, BHAI, of the village of Dalla, now in Kapurthala district of the Punjab, was a devoted Sikh of the time of Guru Amar Das. He was among those who waited on the Guru when he visited Dalla. Among the visitors was also a learned Pandit. He undertook to serve the Sikhs by reciting to them the holy texts and ask for nothing in return. The Guru ended the assembly by adjuring the Sikhs faithfully to observe the Gurus` festivals. See Bhai Gurdas, Varan, XI. 16. BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Mani Singh, Bhai, Siklun`i di Bfiagnt Maid.

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125. JHANJHU, BHAI

JHANJHU, BHAI, was a talented musician of the time of Guru Arjan. Once he, accompanied by Bhai Kidara and Bhai Mukanda, who were also musicians by profession, wait ed on the Guru and prayed for instruction. Bhai Jhanjhu and his companions took the Guru`s precept and were content to spend their days thereafter performing kirlan in his presence. They had no other worldly desire left. They lived on what they were offered and never aspired for more. In this way, tells Bhai Man! Singh, Sikhdn di Bhagai Maid, they attained liberation.

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126. JHATKA

JHATKA, the Sikh mode of killing an animal for food, also stands for the meal of an animal or bird so killed. Derived, etymologically, from jhat, an adverb meaning instantly, immediately or at once, jhatka signifies a Jerk, snap, jolt or a swift blow. For Sikhs jhatka karna or jhatkaund means to slaughter the animal instantaneously, severing the head with a single stroke of any weapon or killing with gunshot or electrocution. The underlying idea is to kill the animal with the minimum of torture to it.Jhatka is opposed to kuttha that is meat of an animal slaughtered by a slow process in the Muslim way known as halal (lit. legal, legitimate, lawful).

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127. JHIVAR HERI

JHIVAR HERI, a village in Yamunanagar district of Haryana 23 km southwest of Jagadhri (30°10`N, 77"18`E), has a Sikh shrine, Gurdwara Naviri Patshahi, dedicated to Guru Tegh Bahadur. According to local tradition. Guru Tcgh Bahadur converted here a sddhu named Bhikhan Das who was proud of his ritualistic piety. Lakklu Shah Vanjara, a Sikh who owned a transport caravan, is said to have constructed a memorial platform and donated a small piece of land for a garden. In 1764, Sardar Desu Singh of Dallevali misi occupied Mustafabad and its surrounding villages. He had the platform enlarged. Sardar Ajit Singh of Ladva is said to have made a further land endowment. Since 1851 (the date of the earliest revenue records) the Gurdwara and its landed properties had been under the possession of a Sikh goldsmith family. A case for the transference of possession of the Gurdwara to the ShiromanT Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee was brought before the Gurdwara Tribunal in 1926, but it dragged on until 1937 when it was decided in favour of the Committee. Reconstruction of the building was begun in 1954. The present Gurdwara has a large hall, including the original platform, now the scat for the Guru Granth Sahib. A separate compound houses the Guru ka Larigar. The shrine is administered by a local committee. Devotees from the neighbouring villages and towns congregate on every amdvasyd, the last day of the dark half of the month, when kirtan, sermons and community meal take place. An annual fair is held on 9 and 10 Phagun (third week of February).

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128. JHORAR

JHORAR, a village still flanked on two sides by arid mounds of shifting sands, 6 km northeast of Bara Gudha railway station (29"43`N, 75"1`E), in Sirsa district of Haryana, is sacred to Guru Gobind Singh, who made a brief halt here while travelling from Talvandi Sabo towards Sirsa in the winter of 1706. Gurdwara Patshahi X, constructed in the 1950`s, is a flat roofed hall, within a lowwallcd compound. It is maintained by the village sanga.l.

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129. JIND

JIND (29"18`N, 76"19`E), a district town in Haryana, was once the capital of a Sikh slate of this name. Even after the capital had been shifted to Sarigrur in 1827, the coronation ceremony of the rulers continued to be performed at Jind. GURDWARA MANJI SAHIB SRI GURU TEGH BAHADUR SAHIB, commemorating the visit of Guru Tegh Bahadur, was constructed by Raja Gajpat Singh, the first Sikh ruler of Jind state. Of the original building only the three storeyed gateway now remains.

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130. JIND KAUR, MAHARANI

JIND KAUR, MAHARANI (1817-1863), popularly known as Jindari, was wife of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and mother of Maharaja Duleep Singh, the last Sikh sovereign of the Punjab. She was daughter of Manna Singh, an Aulakh Jail of Gujrariwala, who held an humble position at the court as an overseer of the royal kennels. Scant notice of Maharam Jind Kaur is taken either by the official Lahore diarist, Sohan Lal Suri, or the British records until 1838, when according to the former, a munshi brought the blessed tidings of the birth of a son to her. It appears that she and her son lived a life of obscurity under the care of Raja Dhian Singh at Jammu.

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