DELHI SIKH GURDWARAS MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE was a byproduct of the Akali campaign for the reformation of the management of gurdwaras in the Punjab. To wrest control of the holy shrines from the hands of a corrupt and effete priestly order, the Sikhs had set up on 15 November 1920 a body called the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), Amritsar. In 1923, the SGPC took charge of all the historical gurdwaras in Delhi as well, and formed a committee of 11 members known as the Delhi Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (DGPC) to manage them. The SGPC, however, continued to exercise powers of control and supervision over the affairs of DGPC.
DHANNA SINGH, BHAI (d. 1935), an indefatigable Sikh pilgrim, was born about 1893, the son of Sundar Singh, a ChahalJatt of the village Ghanauri in Sarigrur district of the Punjab. His original name was Lal Singh. His father died when he was barely tan years old, and he and his younger brother were brought up in the RajendraDeva Yatimkhana, an orphange in the princely city of Patiala. As he grew up, he trained as a driver and was employed in the state garage of Maharaja Bhupinder Singh (1891-1938).
DHARAM ARTH BOARD, a body representing different sections of the Sikh community constituted in May 1949 by Maharaja Yadavinder Singh, Rajpramukh of the Patiala and East Punjab States Union (PEPSU), to manage the major Sikh shrines within the new state which had come into being in consequence of the amalgamation of the eight princely territories in the Punjab. Before merger some of these states had their own boards or committees for the purpose. Patiala state had, for instance, its Interim Gurdwara Board formed on 8 November 1946; Kapurthala its General Gurdwara Committee; and Jind its Gurdwara Committee.
DIVALI, festival of lights (from Sanskrit dipamala or dipavali meaning row of lamps or nocturnal illumination), is observed all over India on amavasya, the last day of the dark half of the lunar month of Kartika (October-November). Like other seasonal festivals, Divali has been celebrated since time immemorial. In its earliest form, it was regarded as a means to ward off, expel or appease the malignant spirits of darkness and ill luck. The festival is usually linked with the return to Ayodhya of Lord Rama at the end of his fourteen year exile. For the Hindus it is also an occasion for the worship of Laksmi, the goddess of good fortune, beauty and wealth.
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