SHAH ZAMAN, son of Taimur Shah and grandson of Ahmad Shah Durrani, became the ruler of Afghanistan in May 1793 at the age of 23. As soon as Shah Zaman came to the throne, he proclaimed his intention of reestablishing the Afghan sway in India. His first attempt to conquer India brought him as far as Hasan Abdal; he had to return to Afghanistan to put down a revolt by his brother, Mahmud. Two years later he was back in the Punjab again and, in addition to retaking Hasan Abdal, he captured Rohtas from the Sukkar chakkias, Ranjit Singh thus being the first Sikh chieftain to suffer aggression at his hands. Once again Shah Zaman had to return home, this time to prevent an invasion of his own country from me west.
AJAB SINGH (d. 1705). son of Bhai Mani Ram, a Rajput Sikh of `Alipur in Multan district, now in Pakistan, came to Anandpur with his father and four brothers, and received the rites of initiation at the inauguration of the Khalsa by Guru Gobind Singh on the Baisakhi day of 1699. He remained in Guru Gobind Singh`s retinue until his death in the battle of Chamkaur on 7 December 1705.
ARJAN SINGH CHAHAL, SARDAR BAHADUR (1839-1908), was only seven when his father, Javala Singh, died in 1846 in the prime of his life. Arjan Singh belonged to the village of Chahal in Amritsar district. He held large jagirs in Tarn Taran tabsil and in Lyallpur district. He was an honorary magistrate and civil judge, an assistant collector and subregistrar of his district, president of the Local Board of Tarn Taran, a Fellow of the Panjab University, and a member of the Aitchison College Committee.
BALBIR SINGH, RAJA (1869-1906), born on 30 August 1869, the son of Raja Bikram Singh, ascended the throne of Faridkot state on 16 December 1898. He ruled for barely eight years, yet his reign was marked by new buildings such as the Victoria Memorial Clock Tower and the Raj Mahal he constructed and the gardens he had laid out in Faridkot.
BHAGVANT SINGH BANGESARI was. according to Sarup Singh Kaushish, Guru kian Sakhian, the naik or leader of a large tanda or trade caravan. In September-October 1708, he with his merchandise was passing through Nanded where he halted to pay homage to Guru Gobind Singh. As the Guru deputed Banda Singh Bahadur with five of his Sikhs to come to the Punjab to chastise the persecutors, they travelled with Bhagvant Singh`s caravan.
BUDDHA SINGH (b. 1891), a Ghadr revolutionary, was son of Ishar Singh of the village of Sursingh, now in Amritsar district. He served in the Mule Battery at Bareilly but deserted and went to Shanghai, where he became a night watchman. He returned to India to take part in the armed revolution planned by the Ghadr Party and arrived in Calcutta aboard the S.S. Namsang on 13 October 1914.
CHET SINGH, military commander, engineer and a kardar, i.e. a revenue officer, under Maharaja Ranjit Singh. In 1831 he became engineer in charge for constructing a bridge over the River Sutlej for the Ropar meeting between Maharaja Ranjit Singh and Governor General William Bentinck. He constructed another bridge at Harike in 1837 to enable the British commanderin chief to cross over the Sutlej for his visit to Lahore. Earlier in 1833 he was appointed kardar of the cisSutlej estates of the Maharaja. In 1835, he was deputed to Anandpur to settle the dispute between the local Sodhi factions.
DHANNA SINGH MALVAI (1775-1843), soldier and jagirdar under Ranjit Singh, belonged to the village of Maur in Nabha territory. Mall Singh, Dhanna Singh`s father, who was the first in the family to be initiated a Sikh, left his village about 1760 and entered the service of Charhat Singh Sukkarchakkia as a sowar. He was killed in a campaign in the northwest. His son, Dhanna Singh, left Maur in 1793 and took up service with Sahib Singh Bharigi of Gujrat. About the year 1800, he enlisted himself in the force of Fateh Singh Kaliarivala as a trooper, and soon rose in his favour, obtaining an independent command.
FATEH SINGH AHLUVALIA (d. 1836), son of Bhag Singh, and a grandnephew of Jassa Singh Ahluvalia, leader of the Ahluvalia misi and of the Dal Khalsa, who in 1758 proclaimed the sovereignty of the Sikhs in the Punjab. Fateh Singh succeeded to the Ahluvalia chiefship in 1801. He was the chosen companion of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, with whom he in 1802 exchanged turbans in a permanent bond of brotherhood. Fateh Singh took part in almost all the early campaigns of Ranjit Singh Kasur (1802-03), Malva (1806-08), Kangra (1809), Multan (1818), Kashmir (1819) and Mankera (1821). He fought in the battle of Haidru (1813) and held command in the Bhimbar, Rajauri and Bahawalpur expeditions.
GULAB SINGH ATARIVALA (d. 1887), the second son of Chatar Singh Atarivala, was appointed, along with his brother Raja Sher Singh, to look after, during his minority, Maharaja Duleep Singh who had been betrothed to their sister, Tej Kaur, and to manage the palace household. In 1848, when Raja Sher Singh had moved out of Multan to join his father against the British, Gulab Singh was at Lahore. As he was suspected of preparing to leave Lahore with a view to joining his father and brother, he was arrested on 17 September 1848 and detained in custody up to the end of the second AngloSikh war.
