BHAGVANT SINGH HARIJI, BHAI (1892-1968), a lover of game, horticulturist and scholar, was born on 15 February 1892 to the erudition of his celebrated father, Bhai Kahn Singh, of Nabha, the creator of the immortal Gurushabad Ratnakar Mahan Kosh. Unobtrusively, and in his characteristically gentle and self abnegating manner, Bhagvant Singh carried the family learning into the second generation. His home provided the best education then available to a young man, though he did attend formally the Khalsa College at Amritsar, then the premier educational institution of the Sikhs.
BHAROANA or Bhairoana, a small village 16 km southwest of Sultan pur Lodhi (31°13`N, 75°12`E) in the Punjab, is the place where at the close of the fifteenth century lived Bhai Phiranda, a piousminded musician who also manufactured the stringed instrument called rabab or rebeck. Guru Nanak, before setting out from Sultanpur Lodhi on his extensive travels to deliver his message, sent Bhai Mardana to buy a rabab from Phiranda. Phiranda produced the instrument but, on learning as to who had ordered it, refused to accept any money for it.
BIDHI CHAND, BHAI (d. 1640). warrior as well as religious preacher of the time of Guru Hargobind, was a Chhina Jatt of the village of Sursingh, 34 km south of Amritsar (31° 37`N, 74° 52`E). His father`s name was Vassan and his grandfather`s Bhikkhi. His mother was from Sirhali, another village in the same district. As a young man Bidhi Chand had fallen into bad company and taken to banditry. One day, a pious Sikh, Bhai Adali of the village of Chohia, led him into Guru Arjan`s presence.
DESU SINGH, BHAI (d. 1781), was the second of the five sons of Bhai Gurbakhsh Singh of the well known Bhai family, deriving its name from the celebrated Bhai Bhagatu, contemporary of three successor Gurus, Guru Arjan, Guru Hargobind and Guru Har Rai. According to Bhai Santokh Singh, Garb Ganjani Tika, Desu Singh was the fifth in the line of Bhai Bhagatu`s descendants. His father, Bhai Gurbakhsh Singh, was a close associate of Ala Singh of Patiala and had carved for himself some territories around Sirhind and Kaithal besides his ancestral possessions in several villages around Bhuchcho, near Bathinda.
DHIRA, BHAI, a devoted Sikh of the time of Guru Hargobind, was a resident of Uj[jain. He used to visit Amritsar twice a year, to make obeisance to the Guru. Once, records Bhai Mani Singh, Sikhan di Bhagat Mala, he begged Guru Hargobind to enlighten him about the qualities of a true saint. Guru Hargobind recalled Guru Arjan`s sloka (GG, 1357) which, defines a man of God as one who meditates upon the mantra of God`s Name; for whom dukh and sukh, suffering and pleasure, are the same; who, purged of rancour, has compassion for all; who subsists on singing God`s praise and is free from maya or worldly attachment; who treats friend and foe alike and instructs both in the love of God; who is selfless and humble; and who does not lend his ear to slander of others. According to Sri Gur Pratap Suraj Granth, Bhai Dhira, along with his brother, Hira, took part in the battle of Amritsar.
