BHIKHA(pronounced as Bhikkha), BHATT. a Brahman bard of Sultanpur Lodhi in present day Kapurthala district of the Punjab, became a Sikh receiving the rites of initiation at the hands of Guru Amar Das. He lived up to the time of Guru Arjan to whom he introduced sixteen other Brahman minstrels from his community. They sang in his presence praises to God and the Gurus. Some of their compositions were included by Guru Arjan in the Guru Granth Sahib. One of the two stanzas by Bhikha recounts his wanderings in search of a true saint ending with his ultimate success by the grace of God. "Lord," sang the bard, "hath caused me to meet the Guru; as thou wiliest for me so must I receive 0 God !"
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BRAHMAN MAJRA, an old village, about 11 km southeast of Ropar (30° 58`N, 76° 31`E), is sacred to Guru Hagobind and Guru Gobind Singh. Gurdwara Guru Garh Sahib commemorates the visit of Guru Gobind Singh on 6 December 1705 when he, with his two elder sons and 40 Sikhs, was on his way from Kotia Nihang Khan to Chamkaur. The Gurdwara about 50 metres outside the village, constructed during the 1970`s, consists of a square divan hall with a verandah in front.
DHESI, BHAI, and Bhai Jodh, both Brahmans converted to Sikhism, once came to Guru Arjan and complained, "0 True King ! other Brahmans treat us as out castes, for they tell us that by taking a Khatri as a guru, by discarding Sanskrit, the language of the gods, and singing hymns of gurbani composed in the common dialect, and by the nonobservance of fasts and other rituals and prayers, we are no longer fit to sit and dine with them. They are especially sore because in preference to the traditional places of pilgrimage like the Gariga and Kashi, we come to Amritsar. Pray, tell us how should we answer them." "Caste," said Guru Arjan, "has no meaning.
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