RAM SINGH BEDI, BABA (d. 1797), a Nihang warrior, was the son of Bhai Faqir Chand, of the village of Kotia Faqir Chand, in Sialkot district, now in Pakistan. The family claimed direct descent from Guru Nanak. Ram Singh took khande di pahul or vows by the double edged sword,

KAUL, SODHI, or Sodhi Karival Nain (1638-1706), son of Baba Hariji and a great grandson of Baba Prithi Chand, the elder brother of Guru Arjan (1563-1606), was born at Muhammadipur village in Lahore district of the Punjab (now in Pakistan). He was educated under eminent men of letters at Amritsar

SARASVATI Shiva, the destroyer of many sins and the master of three worlds, wandered in several pilgrim-stations, but could not be successful in his mission. The sin of severing the fifth head of Brahma could not be washed off from him. Because of his action, the skull of Brahma

SHANKAR DAS (d. 1832) was introduced at the Sikh court by his father, Shiv Dial, himself an employee of Maharaja Ranjit Singh who had appointed him manager of the Dhanni country. Shankar Das was placed under Prince Kharak Singh, the heir apparent, to manage his Jagirs. When Diwan Moti

PRARTHANATITADAN, poem in Bengali by Rabindranath Tagore on the Sikh martyr Bhai Taru Singh. Written on 2 Agrahayan, 1306 BS/1819 November 1899 and included in Kathd, a collection of Tagore`s poems published in October-November 1899, the poem refers to Bhai Taru Singh`s arrest along with some other Sikhs "who had

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

LAKKHU, BHAI, a pious Sikh of the time of Guru Hargobind (1595-1644) was also a brave warrior. He commanded a troop in the battle of Kartarpur fought against the imperial army under Qutab Khan,faujdar of Jalandhar and a cousin of Painda Khan. Painda Khan, the Pathan who had been

KIRPAL DAS, MAHANT, an Udasi prelate, was putting up with Guru Gobind Singh at Paonta Sahib at the time of the commencement of the battle of Bharigam, fought between the troops of hill chiefs and those of Guru Gobind Singh, in 1688. As his followers, not given to fighting

KESHO GOPAL, PANDIT, a learned Brahman, became a devotee of Guru Amar Das. According to Sarup Das Bhalla, Mahimd Prakdsfi, he used to give discourses at the afternoon gatherings called by the Guru at Goindval. The words keso gopal pandit, appearing in the Guru Granth Sahib in the composition

KESADHARI, a term defining a Sikli as one who carries on his head ihc full growth of his kes (hair) whicli he never trims or cuts for any reason. Anyone, Sikh or non Sikh, may keep the hair unshorn, but for a Sikh kes, unshorn hair, is an article

AKIL DAS, an eighteenth century head of the Handali sect of Jandiala in Amritsar district of the Punjab, also known as Haribhagat Niranjania, was an inveterate enemy of the Sikhs. Giani Gian Singh, Shamsher Khalsa, describes him as "Akul Das who basked in the name of Haribhagat." He was

KAHN SINGH, a Kuka leader, was born in 1840 at the village of Hazro in Rawalpindi district, now in Pakistan. His father`s name was Bhai Manna Singh. He was a nephew of Baba Balak Singh, founder of the Kuka faith, after whose death he came to be acknowledged as