AMIR CHAND, son of Misr Ram Kumar of the village of Dalval, in Jehlum district, joined service in Maharaja RanjitSingh`s toshakhana or treasury in 1830, soon becoming superintendent of Bela To shakhana, i.e. the treasury for charitable purposes. In June 1832, he was appointed to collect arrears of land revenue from the zamindars of Jalandhar and Rahon and was assigned to Kashmir on similar duty in 1838. In 1839, he accompanied Kanvar Nau Nihal Singh to Peshawar as custodian of the treasury.
BHAGATU, BHAI, a Chhura Khatri of Burhanpur who, according to Bhai Gurdas, Varan, XI. 30, received instruction at the hands of Guru Hargobind. See BHAGVAN DAS, BHAI
DADU DIAL (1544-1603), ascetic and mystic, was in the line of the saints of medieval India. In his career and teaching he relived the Kablr legend. He was born in AD 1544 in Ahmedabad .in Gujarat to a Muslim couple. He had little formal education and took to his father`s profession of cotton carding. At the age of eighteen he left home and wandered extensively all over northern India. He especially consorted with the Nath yogis whose influence left a permanent mark on him. At the age of twenty-five he renounced the world and migrated to Sambhar and spent the time wandering and preaching in the country around.
DATU, BABA (1537-1628), son of Guru Angad and Mata Khivi, was born in 1537 at Khadur Sahib in present day Amritsar district of the Punjab. Like his elder brother, Dasu, he too was not reconciled to Guru Amar Das succeeding his father as Guru. But whereas Dasu had soon realized his error and acknowledged Guru Amar Das as true inheritor of Guru Nanak`s spiritual legacy, Datu remained hostile. He took to yogic practices to attain supernatural powers and thereby to create a following of his own.
HARSUKH RAI, GENERAL (d. 1867), son of Gurdit Singh served in Maharaja Ranjit Singh`s army and was in the first instance attached to a cavalry unit under Prince Kharak Singh. His next appointment was as Adalatt or judge at Multan under the Sikh governor of the province, Diwan Savan Mall, but he soon returned to the army. In 1836, he secured a ranked position in the Sikh court which he held until 1839, when he was sent again to Multan to take charge of the salt customs.
KARAM CHAND (d. 1621), the son of Chandu Shah and a revenue official under `Abdulla Khan, faujddr of Jalandhar, bore enmity towards Guru Hargobind because of his father`s death at the hands of the Sikhs. He along with Ratan Chand, the son of Bhagvan Das Gherar, Chaudhari of Ruhela, instigated `Abdulla Khan to march troops against Guru Hargobind. A clash occurred at the village of Ruhela in 1621. Karam Ghand lost his life in this action.
KISHAN KANVAR, DIWAN, son of Diwan Hakim Rai, served the Sikh rulers of Lahore in various capacities. He had been the playmate and associate of Prince Nau Nihal Singh who bestowed upon him the title of dlwdn and showed him several other favours. In 1837, Prince Nau Nihal Singh, while at Peshawar, granted him command of four regiments of infantry and one of cavalry with usual proportion of artillery, on a monthly salary of 1,500 rupees.
MUHKAM CHAND, DIWAN (1750-1814), a renowned Sikh army general of the early years of Maharaja Ranjit Singh`s reign, was born around AD 1750. Son of a small shopkeeper, Baisakhi Mall Khatri, of Kunjah, a village in Gujrat district, now in Pakistan, he trained as an accountant and served as a munshi under the chiefs of different misi sarddrs, rising to the position of a diwdn or minister under the Bhangis and the Atarivalas. In 1806, he took up service under Maharaja Ranjit Singh as military and financial adviser and remained until his death in 1814 the de facto commander in chief of his army. He had a major role in organizing the Sikh army on a regular basis and in the early territorial conquests of the young Maharaja.
RADHA KISHAN, PANDIT (d. 1875), son of Pandit Madhusudan, was appointed in 1824 by Maharaja Ranjit Singh to take charge of the education of Hira Singh Dogra, who studied both Sanskrit and Persian. Later, he was appointed tutor to the minor Maharaja Duleep Singh. He also performed the duties of rdjpurohit and served as an almoner.
SAMARTH RAMDAS (1608-1681), Maharashtrian saint remembered as the religious preceptor of the Maratha hero Chhatrapati Shivaji (1627-80), was born, in 1608, the son of Suryaji Pant and Ranubai, a Brahman couple of the village of Jamb, near Aurangabad, in Maharashtra. His original name was Narayana. His father died when he was barely seven years old. Educated in Sanskrit according to the tradition of his caste, Ramdas showed strong mystical proclivities even as a child. He left home during his adolescence to Join the Vaisnava center at Pahchvati, near Nasik, where he stayed for 12 years engaged in study, reflection and devotion to Lord Rama.
