GANGA, BHAI, a Sahigal Khatri of Agra, was a soldier in the Mughal army. He once called on Guru Arjan. The Guru, as says Bhai Man! Singh, Sikhan di Bhagat Maid, told him that it ill became him to serve the oppressive Mughal regime. When Ganga pleaded the need

JAITSAIILMAHALA 5 VARSLOKANNALI, by GuruArjan, is one of the twenty-two Vdrs, i.e. compositions in this folk form but moulded to a spiritual theme, included in the Guru Granth Sahib. It has been named Jaitsari because of the musical measure it belongs to. While the philosophical standpoint in the entire

MEHRA, BHAI, a hillman, was a devotee of Guru Arjan. The name also figures in Bhai Gurdas, Varan, XI. 23

PIRANA, (PIRANA) BHAI, a resident of Chakk Ramdas, now in Gujrariwala district of Pakistan Punjab, was a worshipper of Sultan Sakhi Sarwar. As he once visited Amritsar, he had himself initiated a Sikh. According to Bhai Santokh Singh, Sri Gur Pratap Suraj Granth, the first duty he was assigned

SHABAD (SABAD) HAJARE, also called Hajare de Sabad, is a collection of seven hymns taken from the Guru Granth Sahib and grouped together for the purpose of daily recitation. The title Shabad Hajare occurs nowhere in the Guru Granth Sahib, though it has found its way into breviaries (gutkas)

ARJAN SINGH THAPA was the son of the Gurkha general, Amar Singh Thapa, who had advanced his conquests up to Kangra in the early years of the nineteenth century. Maharaja Ranjit Singh expelled him from the Kangra hills, but the Gurkhas had fought so bravely that he decided to

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

GARU, BHAI, a Vij Khatri, received the rites of initiation at the hands of Guru Arjan. Once he, accompanied by Bhai Haru, also a Vij, and Bhai Chatur Das and Bhai Mula, both Kapur Khatris, waited upon the Guru and raised a question. They said, "While the advice of

JETHA BHAI (d. 1634), a devoted Sikh who successively attended upon Guru Arjan and Guru Hargobind. He took part in sevd for the excavation of the sacred pool at Amritsar and the construction of the Harimandar. He was one of the five Sikhs who accompanied Guru Arjan on his

MIHARBAN, (1581-1640), the popular name of Manohar Das, who was the grandson of Guru Ram Das, fourth in spiritual descent from Guru Nanak, and son of Prithi Chand, the elder brother of Guru Arjan, Nanak V. Born on 9 January 1581, Miharban spent his early years in the company

POTHI, popular Punjabi form of the Sanskrit pustaka (book), derived from the root pust (to bind) via the Pali potlhaka and Prakrit puttha. Besides Punjabi, the word poihi meaning a book is current in Maithili, Bhojpuri and Marathi languages as well. Among the Sikhs, however, polhi signifies a sacred book,

SOHILA or KIRTAN SOHILA is, in sequence, the fourth barn or composition entered in the Guru Granth Sahib. Sohila is the caption given in the scripture, though it is popularly known as Kntan Sohila, and is also sometimes so captioned in the gutkas or breviaries. The Sohila comprises five