ALIM, a Muslim poet, enjoyed the patronage of Guru Gobind Singh. Formerly in the employ of Prince Mu\'azzam (later Emperor Bahadur Shah), he probably came to Guru Gobind Singh sometime during the period 1687-94 when the prince, having fallen from the favour of his father, Aurangzib, was under internment.

ALO HARAKH, village in Sangrur district, has a historical shrine called Gurdwara Sahib Alo Harakh Patshahi Naumi. A low domed Manji Sahib, under an old banyan tree marks the site where Guru Tegh Bahadur once sat arriving from the neighbouring village of Gunike. The congregation hall has a vaulting

ALMAST, BHAI (1553-1643), Sikh preacher and head of a dhuari or branch of the Udasi sect, was born in a Gaur Brahman family of Srinagar (Kashmir) on 26 August 1553. He was the son of Bhai Hardatt and Mai Prabha, and was the elder brother of Balu Hasna, another

ALL-PARTIES CONFERENCES (more aptly, ALL-PARTY CONFERENCES), a series of conventions which took place in 1928 bringing together representatives of various political parties and communities in India with a view to working out a mutually agreed formula for the country\'s constitutional advance in response to the invitation of the British government.

ALLAYAR, a wealthy Muslim horse dealer of Delhi, who turned a preacher of Sikhism, first came to Guru Amar Das at Goindval escorted by Bhai Paro, a prominent Sikh of Dalla, a village in present day Kapurthala district of the Punjab. It is said that returning from Kabul once

ALLARD, JEAN FRANCOIS (1785-1839), Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, an order instituted in 1802 by Napoleon I, was born at Saint Tropez, France, on 8 March 1785. In 1803, he joined the French army and served in it fighting in the Imperial Cavalry in far flung fields in Italy,

ALLARD, BENJAMIN (1796-1877), step-brother of General Allard, born at Saint Tropez in 1796, was sent to Lahore in 1829 in order to replace his brother as the military adviser of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, but the two brothers failed to win the confidence of the Maharaja, who would not release General

ALLARD, BANNOU PAN DEI (1814-1884), born of Raja Menga Ram of Chamba and Banni Panje Dei at Chamba on 25 January 1814, married Jean Francois Allard, one of Maharaja Ranjit Singh\'s French generals, in March 1826, and bore him seven children, two of whom died in infancy and are

ALLARD, ACHILLE, a young Muslim boy whose parents had been killed in one of the battles of Multan, and who was saved by Maharaja Ranjit Singh, had been born at Sayyidpur in the then province of Multan. General Allard noticed his intelligence and asked the Maharaja\'s permission to adopt

ALLAHDAD KHAN (d. 184.9) was the last ruler of Khattekhel family of Tonk, situated in Bannu district, on the northwest frontier. When Maharaja Ranjit Singh conquered this region in 1821, Allahdad Khan became a tributary of the Sikh government. As the tribute had fallen in arrears, an expedition was

ALLAHABAD (25°28\'N, 81°50\'E). Prayag before the reign of Emperor Akbar, was visited by Guru Nanak in the course of Ills first preaching journey to the east in the first quarter of the sixteenth century. In 1666, Guru Tegh Bahadur visited the town and stayed in the house of a

ALI SINGH (d. 1716), a native of the village of Salaudi, near Sirhind, was in the service of Wazir Khan, the Mughal faujdar of Sirhind. According to Ratan Singh Bharigu, Prachin Panth Prakash, Wazir Khan, on learning of Banda Singh\'s advance from the South towards the Punjab under the