DAMODARI, MATA (1597-1631), daughter of Narain Das, aJulka Khatri of the village of Dalla, 6 km southeast of Sultanpur Lodhi in Kapurthala district of the Punjab, was married to Guru Hargobind (1595-1644) on 15 February 1605. She gave birth to a son, Baba Gurditta (b. 1613), and a daughter, Bibi

SADHARAN, SANT, was the name given by Guru Amar Das to one of his devoted Sikhs, a carpenter of Goindval, who had made a long wooden ladder for use in the baoli, or open well, then under construction. Pleased with his devotion and industry, Guru Amar Das called him

DIRHBA, an old town 30 km southeast of Sangrur (30° 14`N, 75°50`E) in the Punjab, has a historical shrine commemorating the visit of Guru Tegh Bahadur during the third quarter of the seventeenth century. It is known as Gurdwara Sahib Patshahi IX and is situated on the bank of a

SARAGARHI, BATTLE OF, a heroic action fought by a small detachment of Sikh soldiers against heavy odds, took place on 12 September 1897 in the Tirah region of North-West Frontier Province (now in Pakistan). The heroes of Saragarhi, barely 22 in number, belonged to the 36th Sikhs, since re-designated as

DAS, BHATT. See BHATT BANI DAS GRANTHI, a pothi, i.e. a small book, containing selected barns or texts from the Dasam Granth. Das, meaning `ten`, here stands for `tenth`, or the Tenth Master`s granth or book to distinguish it from the older Adi Granth, i.e. the first or primary

SIKHS AND AFGHANS, THE, by Munshi Shahamat `All, the Journal of an expedition to Kabul through the Punjab and die Khaibar Pass in 1838-39 kept by the author, who accompanied Colonel Wade and Shahzada Taimur, Shah Shuja`s eldest son, with an auxiliary force under a treaty made in 1838 between

SUDAMA The Lord met Sudama after removing his poverty. He was emancipated through the devotion of love. Waru M. 4, p. 995) Sudama had been a class fellow of Krishna and studied under the same teacher in the early years of their lives. When Krishna was the king of

KHEM KARAN (31°8`N, 74°3`E), a small border town in Ainritsar district of the Punjab, has two historical shrines dedicated one each to Guru Amar Das and Guru Tegh Bahadur. GURDWARA THAMM SAHIB, near the Kasur Gate, marks the site of a manjior preaching centre established by Guru Amar Das (1479-1574)

SITALA (SHITALA) He who runs towards Bhairava, Bhuta (Ghost) or Sitala, he can only be recipient of the reward of the vehicle of an ass, who rolls up in the dust. (Gond Namdev, p. 874) Sitala is the name of the deity, who is supposed to have the charge

TAHILPURA, a small village in the interior of Fatehgarh Sahib district was visited by Guru Tegh Bahadur in the course of one of his journeys through the Malva region. A small raised platform marked the spot where he had put up. Later some Nirmala sadhus established a place of worship