BALMIKA (VALMIKI) Balmika, the Iow-caste person (Chandala) attained emancipation..... (Maru M. 5, p. 999) The sage Valmiki was the author of Ramayana. His place of residence was Chitra-kuta, a hill in the district of Banda in Bundelkund. When Sita was about to become a mother, she was left near the hermitage of Valmiki by Lakshmana. The sage kept her under the charge of his wife and female servants.
CHAR SAHIBZADE, (char = four + sahibzade = scions, young men of genteel birth) is a term endearingly used for the four sons of Guru Gobind Singh, Nanak X, all of whom died as martyrs while still very young. Their names are reverently preserved in Sikh memory and are recalled every time Sikh ardas or prayer of supplication is recited at a congregation or privately by an individual. See AJIT SINGH. SAHIBZADA; FATEH SINGH, SAHIBZADA; JUJHAR SINGH, SAHIBZADA; and ZORAWAR SINGH, SAHIBZADA
DALIP SINGH (1907-1926), the youngest of the Babar Akali martyrs was born in 1907 at Dhamiari Kalari, a village in Hoshiarpur district. Dalip Singh was barely 14, when a group of peaceful Akali reformers was massacred in the Sikh shrine at Nankana Sahib by the men of the local mahant or custodian. Dalip Singh`s young mind was filled with anger against the British who, he thought, were really responsible for the tragedy. He started attending the Babar Akali divans at which violence was preached. A meeting with one of the Babar leaders, Babu Santa Singh, led to his enlisting in the party in April 1923.
DEVA SINGH, SARDAR BAHADUR(d. 1872), son of Fateh Singh and a great grandson of Savan Singh, cousin of Sarigat Singh, the leader of the Nishanavali misi, came of a Shergil Jatt family of Mansurval, in Firozpur district. Deva Singh joined service under Maharaja Ranjit Singh in 1816 at a very young age. After some time, he was put under Lahina Singh Majithia who made him commandant of the regiment of his brother, Gujjar Singh. In 1834, he accompanied the young Sardar to Calcutta on a mission half complimentary, half political. In 1842, he was transferred to the Gurkha regiment to serve in Hazara.
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