Manna (Hebrew: מָ‏ן‎) or Manna wa Salwa (Arabic: مَنّ‎, Kurdish: gezo, Persian: ترنجبين‎), sometimes or archaically spelled mana, is an edible substance that God provided for the Israelites during their travels in the desert according to the Bible and the Qur'an.

In the description in the Book of Exodus, manna is described as being "a fine, flake-like thing" like the frost on the ground. It is described in the Book of Numbers as arriving with the dew during the night; Exodus adds that manna was comparable to hoarfrost in size, similarly had to be collected before it was melted by the heat of the sun, and was white like coriander seed in color. Numbers describes it as having the appearance of bdellium, adding that the Israelites ground it and pounded it into cakes, which were then baked, resulting in something that tasted like cakes baked with oil. Exodus states that raw manna tasted like wafers that had been made with honey. The Israelites were instructed to eat only the manna they had gathered for each day. Leftovers or manna stored up for the following day "bred worms and stank": the exception being the day before Shabbat (Preparation Day), when twice the amount of manna was gathered, which did not spoil overnight; because, Exodus 16:23-24 [states] "This is what the LORD commanded: 'Tomorrow is to be a day of rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning.' " 24 So they saved it until morning, as Moses commanded, and it did not stink or get maggots in it."

Prabodh Chandra Dey (born 1 May 1919), better known by his nickname Manna Dey (Bengali: মান্না দে), is a playback singer in Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Malayalam, Kanada, Assamese films. Along with Mohammed Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Mukesh he was a part of Indian film playback music industry. He is rated best classical singer among all singers of Hindi film music though he sang all types of songs from Pop to folk. He has recorded more than 3500 songs over the course of his career. The Government of India honoured him with the Padma Shri in 1971, the Padma Bhushan in 2005 and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2007.

Dey was born to Purna Chandra (father) and Mahamaya Dey (mother) on 1 May 1919. Besides his parents, his youngest paternal uncle Sangeetacharya (meaning "Venerable Teacher of Music" in Sanskrit), K. C. Dey highly inspired and influenced him. Dey received his early education in a small pre-primary school named Indu Babur Pathshala. Thereafter he attended Scottish Church Collegiate School and Scottish Church College, followed by Vidyasagar College where he received his graduate education.

Balraj Sahni (Punjabi:ਬਲਰਾਜ ਸਾਹਨੀ Hindi: बलराज साहनी) (1 May 1913 – 13 April 1973), born Yudhishthir Sahni (Hindi: युधिष्ठिर साहनी), was a famous Hindi film actor. He belonged to a Punjabi Khatri family^{[citation needed]} from Bhera now in Punjab, Pakistan. He was the brother of Bhisham Sahni, noted Hindi writer, playwright, and actor.

Sahni went from his native Rawalpindi to study at Lahore. He completed his Masters degree in English Literature from Lahore and then went back to Rawalpindi and joined his family business. He also held a Bachelor's degree in Hindi, followed by a Masters in English from Punjab University. Soon after, he married Damayanti Sahni.

In the late 1930s, Sahni and his wife left Rawalpindi to join Tagore's Visva-Bharati University in Shantiniketan in Bengal as an English and Hindi teacher. It is here that their son, Parikshit Sahni was born, when his wife Damayanti was doing her Bachelors degree. He also went to work with Mahatma Gandhi for a year in 1938. The next year, Sahni, with Gandhi's blessings, went to England to join the BBC-London's Hindi service as a radio announcer. He returned to India in 1943.

Usha Kiran (22 April 1929 – 9 March 2000) was a Hindi and Marathi film actress. In a career spanning of over four decades she has acted in over 300 Hindi and Marathi films, notably Daag (1952), Patita (1953), Baadbaan (1954), Chupke Chupke (1975), Mili (1975) and Bawarchi (1972). She was also a former Sheriff of Mumbai (1996–97).

She began her acting career on stage with M. G. Rangnekar's Marathi play Ashirwad. She enter Hindi film industry with a small role in Uday Shankar's dance-drama film, Kalpana (1948). She went on to act in numerous popular Hindi films are Nazrana (1961), Daag (1952), and Baadbaan (1954), for which she won the very first Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1955 Kabuliwala (1961), Patita (1953), Mili, Bawarchi (1972) and Chupke Chupke (1975).

Her famous Marathi films include, "Shikleli Bayko," "Kanyadaan” (for which she received the Maharashtra Government’s award for best actress) "Gariba Gharchi Lek," and "Kanchanganga" .

She starred opposite Hindi film actors like Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand, Ashok Kumar, Dilip Kumar, Rajendra Kumar, Rajesh Khanna, Dharmendra and Amitabh Bachchan.

Lata Mangeshkar (born September 28, 1929) is a singer from India. She is one of the best-known and most respected playback singers in India. Mangeshkar's career started in 1942 and has spanned over six and a half decades. She has recorded songs for over a thousand Hindi films and has sung songs in over thirty-six regional Indian languages and foreign languages, though primarily in Hindi. She is the elder sister of singer Asha Bhosle, Hridayanath Mangeshkar, Usha Mangeshkar and Meena Mangeshkar. She is the second vocalist to have ever been awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour.

Mangeshkar was featured in the Guinness Book of World Records from 1974 to 1991 for having made the most recordings in the world. The claim was that she had recorded approximately 25,000 solo, duet, and chorus-backed songs in 20 Indian languages between 1948 to 1974. Over the years, while several sources have supported this claim, others have raised concerns over its veracity, claiming that this number was highly exaggerated and that Mangeshkar's younger sister, Asha Bhosle, had more song recordings than she had. In 2011 Guinness officially acknowledged Bhosle as the most recorded artist in music history.