<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>BEL&#256</TITLE>
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<p class="C1">&#65279BEL&#256, pronounced <i>bell&#257</i>, means, in Punjabi usage, a jungle of tall grasses, reeds and assorted shrubbery along the banks of rivers and streams. The word also received a different connotation when an Ud&#257s&#299 saint and preacher, Banakha&#7751&#7693&#299, established in AD 1818 a preaching centre on an Island in the River Indus near Sakkhar in Sindh (now art Pakistan) and named it Shr&#299 S&#257dhubel&#257 T&#299rath. This created a new vogue and several other Ud&#257s&#299 centres adopted the name S&#257dh&#363 Bel&#257 although they were nowhere near a river. Similarly, a Sikh <i>&#7693er&#257</i> (habitation with a <i>gurdw&#257r&#257</i>) established by a group of Sikh revolutionaries during 1927-33 was christened Si&#7749gh Bel&#257. It was located about 12 km north of B&#257b&#257 Bak&#257l&#257 along the Be&#257s-Ba&#7789&#257l&#257 road in Amritsar district. An innocent-looking place of worship, Si&#7749gh Bel&#257 functioned as the secret headquarters of the revolutionary group who planned and executed (on 8 December 1933) the retaliatory murder of a traitor, Bel&#257 Si&#7749gh, who had earlier shot dead, at the instance of a Canadian Immigration Officer, Bh&#257&#299 Bh&#257g Si&#7749gh Granth&#299 and another Sikh, Bh&#257&#299 Batan Si&#7749gh, during a funeral service in a <i>gurdw&#257r&#257</i> in Canada in 1914.</p>
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BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Amar Si&#7749gh Te<u>gh</u>, <i><u>Gh</u>add&#257r d&#257 Katal</i>, Rajpura, 1966<BR>
<li class="C1"> Jagj&#299t Si&#7749gh, <i><u>Gh</u>adar P&#257r&#7789&#299 Lahir</i>. Delhi, 1979<BR>
<li class="C1"> Sainsar&#257, Gurcharan Si&#7749gh, <i><u>Gh</u>adar P&#257&#7771t&#299 d&#257 Itih&#257s</i>, Jalandhar, 1969<BR>
</ol><p class="CONT">Major Gurmukh Si&#7749gh (Retd.)<br></p><BR>
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