GAJJA SINGH, MAHANT (c. 1850-1914), maestro of Sikh classical devotional music, was born in a Jatt Sikh family of Vandar, a village in Faridkot district of the Punjab. He had a sensitive ear for music from his early childhood. His father, a pious Sikh himself, apprenticed him for religious

GHARIBDAS IAS, followers of` Sant Gharibdas (1717-78), also known as Satsahibias for their peculiar form of greeting which is `Sat Sahib,` i.e. eternally existent (satya) is the Lord (sahib). The founder of the sect, Gharib Das was born in 1717 in the small village Chhudani, in Rohtak district. He got

GHARU, pronounced ghar, is a term used in the titles of many of the hymns in the Guru Granth Sahib. The final "u" is only of grammatical significance indicating masculine gender and singular number. Gharu appears after the name of the rdga (musical measure) and the indication with regard

GIAN SINGH, BHAI (1883-1953), naqqash or fresco painter, was born in the city of Amritsar in 1883. His father, Taba Singh, a comb maker by profession, supplemented his meagre income by dispensing ayurvedic medicines in his spare time. At the age of five, Gian Singh was sent

GOBINDGARH FORT, raised in the lime of Maharaja Ranjit Singh on the ruins of an old fortress built at Amritsar by Guj[jar Singh (d. 1788) of the Bharigi clan, was named in honour of Guru Gobind Singh. The Fort took four years, 1805-09, to build. According to

GURMAT SANGIT or sacred music of the Sikhs. The founder of the Sikh religion, Guru Nanak (1469-1539), composed his religious verse to settings of Indian ragas mostly from the classical tradition. Successive Gurus followed his example and considered divine worship through music the best means of attaining that state which

GURMUKHI is the name of the script used in writing primarily Punjabi and, secondarily, Sindhi language. The word gurmukhi seems to have gained currency from the use of these letters to record the sayings coming from the mukh (lit. mouth or lips) of the (Sikh) Gurus. The letters no doubt

GUTKA, a small sized missal or breviary containing chosen hymns or barns from Sikh Scriptures. The etymology of the term gutka may be traced back to Sanskrit gud (to guard, preserve) or gunth (to enclose, envelop, surround, cover) through Pali gutii (keeping, guarding). A late eighteenth century scholar of UdasI