ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>GUL&#256BD&#256S&#298&#256S</TITLE> <style type="text/css"> .BODY { background-color: #EAF1F7; background-image: url('images/gtbh.jpg'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; background-position: center; color: #0066CC;} .C1{text-align: justify;color: #0066CC;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .BIB{text-align: center;color: #000099;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .CONT{text-align: right;color: #FF0000;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} </style><META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="GULBDS*S"> <META http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></HEAD> <BODY class="BODY" oncontextmenu="return false" ondragstart="return false" onselectstart="return false"> <FONT ALIGN="JUSTIFY" FACE="Tahoma"> <p class="C1">&#65279GUL&#256BD&#256S&#298&#256S, a sect subscribing to epicurean ethics, were the followers of one Pr&#299tam D&#257s, originally an Ud&#257s&#299 <i>s&#257dh&#363</i>. Pr&#299tam D&#257s's principal disciple was Gul&#257b D&#257s after whom the members of the sect came to be known as Gul&#257bd&#257s&#299&#257s. Gul&#257b D&#257s, son of Ham&#299r&#257, was born in 1809 at the village of Ra&#7789aul, near Tarn T&#257ran, in Amritsar district. He had served as a trooper in the army of Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Sher Si&#7749gh. On the abrogation of the Sikh rule, he became a follower of Pr&#299tam D&#257s, succeeding him on his death as the head of the sect. He gave the sect its peculiar character and philosophy. Among his several Punjabi compositions <i>Updes Bil&#257s</i> and <i>Poth&#299 Gul&#257b Chaman D&#299</i> contain his principal tenets. According to Gul&#257b D&#257s, man is essentially of the same substance as the Deity, into whom he will eventually be absorbed. He discountenanced the veneration of saints and prophets and forbade all religious customs and ceremonies, claiming pleasure and gratification of the senses the only desirable ends. His followers wore costly dresses and freely indulged in all kinds of excesses, though they are said to have great abhorrence for lying. They dressed themselves in several different styles. Some wore white, others preserved the Ud&#257s&#299 garb; some clad themselves like Nirmal&#257s, while some went shaven. The sect had only a very small following and this also began dwindling when their entry into Pa&#7789i&#257l&#257 state was banned by the Sikh Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 owing to their licentious ways. According to the 1891 census figures, they numbered 763 (464 Hindus and 299 Sikhs). Before the partition of the Punjab in 1947, the sect had its headquarters at the village of Cha&#7789&#7789he, near Kas&#363r, now in Pakistan.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Crooke, W., <i>The Tribes and Castes of the North Western India</i>. Delhi, 1974<BR> <li class="C1"> Ibbetson, Denzil, <i>A Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province</i>. Patiala, 1970<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Jagj&#299t Si&#7749gh <br></p><BR> </font> <img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""> </HTML></BODY>