FORD, MATTHEW WILLIAM (d. 1841), an Englishman who started his career in 1804 as an ensign in a West India regiment. He successively served with the 7th Foot, the 70th Foot, the 1st Royal Scots and the 22nd Light Dragoons. In 1823, he was appointed paymaster to the 16th Foot. While stationed at Karnal in 1837, he embezzled large sums of money and deserted the British troops. He came to Lahore towards the end of the year and joined the Sikh army as a battalion commander on Rs 800 per month, later commuted for jagir of three villages near Rawalpindi.
GONDPUR, village 22 km south of Hoshiarpur (31°32`N, 75°55`E), in the Punjab, claims a historical shrine, Gurdwara Tahli Sahib, dedicated to Guru Hargobind, who came here from Pur Hi ran on his way to Kiratpur and stayed in a grove of tdhfi trees. A platform was raised on the site amid the grove as a memorial which came to be called Guru kian Tahlian. The platform was later replaced by a gurudwara. The present building, constructed in 1930, is a rectangular hall, with a sanctum at the northern end. A square room with a lotus dome above it tops the sanctum. In the adjoining compound are the Guru ka Langar and rooms for the grantht.
BIBIPUR KHURD, locally called Bipur, is a small village in Patiala district, 8 km southeast of Ghuram (30° 7`N, 76° 28`E). It has a historical shrine, Gurdwara Patshahi Nauvin, sacred to Guru Tegh Bahadur, who visited the site during one of his travels through Malva and Bangar regions. The Gurdwara, out in the fields, is a single rectangular room, with a 4metre wide verandah in front, built in 1964. It is managed by a village committee. Special divans take place on the first of every Bikrami month, and an annual festival is held on the occasion of Hola Mohalla, recalling the Festival of Procession at Anandpur Sahib in the month of March.
- 1
- 2