BHIVA, BHAI, and his brother, Rup Chand, businessmen of Sirhind, were devout Sikhs of the time of Guru Arjan. They lived honestly, celebrated the Sikh festivals, and entertained their brethren faith on such occasions. Once a Mughal came to deposit with them gold mohars hid in a hollow piece of bamboo. They put away the bamboopiece for safe custody, but forgot to make an entry of the deposit in their books. The Mughal returned after five years to claim the deposit.
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, out in the fields, is a single rectangular room, with a 4metre wide verandah in front, built in 1964. It is managed by a village committee. Special divans take place on the first of every Bikrami month, and an annual festival is held on the occasion of Hola Mohalla, recalling the Festival of Procession at Anandpur Sahib in the month of March.
BINOD SINGH, a Trehan Khatri in direct descent from Guru Angad, Nanak II, was a devoted disciple of Guru Gobind Singh and was among the few Sikhs who accompanied him to the South in 1708. He was chosen to be one of the five companions of Banda Singh (1670-1716) sent by the Guru in 1708 from Nanded to the Punjab to chastise the persecutors of the Sikhs. Binod Singh was Banda Singh`s ally in the campaign he launched upon arrival in the Punjab. In the battle of Sirhind fought in May 1710. Binod Singh commanded the left wing of Banda Singh`s army.
BODAL, village 4 km south of Dasuya (31°49`N. 75°39`E) in Hoshiarpur district of the Punjab, is sacred to Guru Hargobind (1595-1644) who once visited here during a hunting expedition and rested under a garna tree (Capparis horrida) for some time. Bhai Chuhar, a Muslim bard of the village, entertained him by playing on his rebeck. The Guru advised him to learn to perform kirtan, i.e. the singing of sacred hymns. The tree about 200 metres southwest of the village under which Guru Hargobind had sat came to be known as Gama Sahib.
BUDDHA. BABA (1506-1631), a most venerated primal figure of early Sikhism, was born on 6 October 1506 at the village of Katthu Narigal, 18 km northeast of Amritsar (31° 36\'N, 74° 50\'E). Bura, as he was originally named, was the only son of Bhai Suggha, a Jatt of Randhava clan, and Man Gauran, born into a Sandhu family. As a small boy, he was one day grazing cattle outside the village when Guru Nanak happened to pass by. According to Bhai Mani Singh, Sikhan di Bhagat Mala, Bura went up to him and, making obeisance with a bowl of milk as his offering, prayed to him in this manner: "0 sustainer of the poor! I am fortunate to have had a sight of you today.
BULAKI DAS was the masand or head of the Sikh sangat, at Dhaka, now capital of Bangladesh, during the third quarter of the seventeenth century. Dhaka had been visited by Guru Nanak at the beginning of the sixteenth century when a sangat had emerged in the town. During the time of Guru Hargobind, a Sikh, Bhai Mohan, had kept the Guru`s message alive there. Bhai Nattha, third in succession to Almast, the Udasi saint, who had been sent by Guru Hargobind to preach in the eastern parts, had been deputed to supervise the sangats or Sikh fellowships or communities in Bengal.
BAANA: Literally: dress. In Sikh cultural terminology it means all the five Kakaars (articles of faith) plus a Chola (a long shirt), a tight fitting trousers, a Kamarkassa (a belt to tighten Gaatra and like a sash around the waist) which make one very active. This was actually a dress for the battlefield. A Sikh is expected to be ever ready in Baana at every moment because for a Sikh the world is like a battle field and he/she has to act in every situation in the discipline of a soldier in a battle field.
S.S. Wanjara Bedi was born at Sialkot, now in Pakistan. He did his M.A. in Punjabi from the Punjabi University and Ph.D. from the University of Delhi. He worked in a bank early in his career and senior lecturer of Dayal Singh college, Delhi. He edited Fateh a weekly and Pritam a monthly magazine from 1949-1952. Bedi has written some eighty books, which includes three collections of poems, five books on literary criticism and some books on folklore on Punjab.
