DEVA SINGH NAROTAM, PANDIT (d. 1924), Nirmala scholar, was the son of Mahitab Singh of the village of Janetpura, 13 km north of Jagraori (30° 47`N, 75° 28`E), in Ludhiana district of the Punjab. He received his early lessons in the Sikh texts at the hands of Bhai Gurdit Singh and then left home to continue his studies under Sant Nattha Singh of Gurdwara Tapiana Sahib at Khadur Sahib, in Amritsar district, and later under Sant Mahna Singh (d. 1890) at the Nirmala dera or monastery at Khandur, near Mullaripur, in Ludhiana district. He accompanied Sant Mahna Singh to Bhai Rupa, a village 18 km north of Rampura Phul in Bathinda district, to join the Nirmala monastery called Dera Khuharivala. Here, Deva Singh, already reputed enough as a scholar to be known as pandit (lit. learned scholar), was put by his mentor through a course of comparative study of gurbani in the light of his knowledge of Sanskrit and Vedanta.
DUSANJH KHURD, village 3 km south of Banga (31° ll`N, 76°E) in Jalandhar district of the Punjab, has a historical shrine called Gurdwara Guru Har Rai Sahib Patshahi Satviri (seventh) dedicated to the Seventh Guru, Guru Har Rai. In 1940, the local sangat raised a new building on the site of the older shrine. The Guru Granth Sahib is seated on a high dais in the centre of the central hall, to which another hall was added later. Residential quarters and Guru ka Langar are on the left of the main building. The Gurdwara is affiliated to the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee.
GHUMAN, village 10 km west of Sri Hargobindpur (30°41`N, 75°29`E) in Gurdaspur district of the Punjab. Namdev (1270-1350), the muchrevered saint of Maharashtra, some of whose hymns are included in the Guru Granth Sahib, lived in this village for a considerable time. Most of his years until the age of 55 were spent at Pandharpur, in Sholapur district of Maharashtra. Then he journeyed extensively through north India and returned to Maharashtra after 18 years. During this period, he also visited the Punjab and, according to tradition, made Ghuman his seat of residence.
