DAKKHANI SIKHS or Sikhs of the Deccan, a distinctive ethnic community scattered in parts of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka, are the descendants of Punjabi Sikhs who went to the South during the eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries and permanently settled in what was then the princely state of Hyderabad. The first Punjabi Sikhs to travel to the South comprised the 300strong contingent which arrived at Nanded in 1708 in the train of Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708).
BADDON, village 10 km southeast of Mahilpur in Hoshiarpur district of the Punjab, has a historical shrine, Gurdwara Baba Ajit Singh, commemorating the visit in March 1703 of Sahibzada Ajit Singh (1687-1705), the eldest son of Guru Gobind Singh. Sahibzada Ajit Singh, on his way back from Bassi Kalan where he had gone to rescue a young Brahman bride from the clutches of the local Pathan chieftain, halted here to cremate one of his warriors, Bhai Karam Singh, who had been wounded in the skirmish at Bassi and had since succumbed to his injuries.
DHAND, village 15 km southwest of Amritsar (31° 38`N, 74° 52`E) along the ChhehartaJhabal road, is sacred to Guru Hargobind (1595-1644), who once came here to fulfil the wish of an old Sikh, Bhai Langaha. Gurdwara Patshahi Chhevin commemorating the visit stands on the southern outs kirts of the village. Its present building was constructed by Sant Gurmukh Singh Sevavale in 1929. The Guru Granth Sahib is seated on a canopied seat of white marble in the doublestoreyed sanctum in the middle of the divan hall.
