KHALSA DIWAN KHARA SAUDA BAR was established in 1912 by Jathedar Kartar Singh of Jhabbar, who became famous in the struggle for the liberation of Gurudwaras. The Diwan`s membership consisted mostly of Jatt Sikhs of the Virk clan who were concentrated in several villages (Jhabbar being one of them) around

SRI GOBINDPUR. or SRI HARGOBINDPUR (30"41`N, 75°29`E), a small town in Gurdaspur district of the Punjab, located on the bank of the River Beas, was originally a ruined mound of a village called Ruhela, which formed part of the estates of Chandu Shah, diwan of the Mughal times. Guru

SINGHPURA, a village 5 km south of Baramula (34"13`N, 74"23`E) in Kashmir valley, claims a historical shrine, Gurdwara Chhevin Patshahl Tharha Sahib, dedicated to Guru Hargobind (1595-1644), whose visit it commemorates. According to local tradition, a Muslim Faqir, Bahlol, served the Guru here and received his blessing. A memorial platform

SADDA SINGH was the son of Hazuri Singh, an Uppal Khatri owing allegiance to the Karorsinghia misi, who lived at Panjgarh in Amritsar district. Sadda Singh, whose father was the first in the family to receive the rites of the Khalsa, took up military service under Raja Amar Singh

RAKHI SYSTEM, the arrangement whereby the Dal Khalsa during the middecades of the eighteenth century established their sway over territories not under their direct occupation. Rakhi, lit. `protection` or `vigilance,` referred to the cess levied by the Dal Khalsa upon villages which sought their protection against aggression or molestation in

PHUL SHAH (1574-1663), Udasi Sikh preacher, was born the son of Bhai Jai Dev and Mat Subhadra, Khatris of Srinagar (Kashmir), on 14 February 1574. Under the influence of his elder brother, Bhai Goind, another well known Udasi Sikh and head of one of the four dhudns or branches

PHIRIA, BHAI, also referred to as Phira and Phera, a Katara Khatri of Mirpur in Jammu and Kashmir, was a devoted Sikh of the lime of Guru Amar Das. The Guru appointed him to a manfi to preach Sikhism in his native country`. Bhai Phiria had a melodious voice

NOHAR (29°12`N, 74°45`E) in Gariganagar district of Rajasthan, was visited by Guru Gobind Singh during hisjourney towards the South in 1706. He encamped near Chhip Talai, a pond southeast of the town. The local inhabitants, mostly followers of Jain and Vaisnava faiths, viewed the armed band of the Guru`s

MANOHAR DAS, a nineteenth century saint of Sangat Sahib Ke sect of the Udasi Sikhs, usually stayed at Kankhal, near Haridvar, where he collaborated with some other sadhus under the leadership of Santokh Das to establish a separate Udasi body called Sri Gur Naya Akhara Udasin, popularly known as

BELA, pronounced bella, means, in Punjabi usage, a jungle of tall grasses, reeds and assorted shrubbery along the banks of rivers and streams. The word also received a different connotation when an Udasi saint and preacher, Banakhandi, established in AD 1818 a preaching centre on an Island in the River

KABIR PANTHIS, followers of Kabir (1398-1448), a saint and reformer some of whose compositions have been included in Sikh Scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib. Kabir did not found any sect during his own lifetime; it was after his death that a math, called Kabir Chaura, was established by Surat