Biographical

K1SHAN CHAND, RAI (d. 1873), news writer and vakil or agent of the Sikh court at Ludhiana, the British post on the Anglo Sikh frontier, was son of Bakhshi Anand Singh. Well versed in diplomacy, he accompanied Colonel Claude Wade on a political mission to Peshawar in 1839. In 1840, Karivar Nan Nihal Singh conferred on him the title of Rai. After the death of Maharaja Sher Singh, he began exercising civil and criminal powers over territories under the protection of the Lahore Darbar, and amassed great wealth. When Raja Hira Singh became the prime minister, he grew jealous of Rai Kishan Chand`s increasing influence and his pro Gulab Singh leanings.

MOTI RAM, DIWAN (1770-1837), was the only son of Diwan Muhkam Chand, one of Maharaja Ranjil Singh`s most trusted army generals. Moll Ram officiated as the governor of the Jalandhar Doab during the absence of bis father on military expeditions. After the death of his father in 1814, he was confirmed as governor of the Jalandhar Doab. In 1818, Moti Ram participated in the successful Multan campaign. He became the first governor of Kashmir when in 1819 the territory was conquered and annexed to the Sikh kingdom, but he became so heartbroken after the death of his son, Ram Dial, killed in the battle of Hazara in 1820, that he resigned his post and retired to Banaras to live the life of a recluse.

All that is known about Pilu is that he was a contemporary of Guru Arjan Dev, the fifth Sikh Guru. Two compositions of a very different kind are attributed to him: one, a collection of songs in a melancholy tone like that of a recluse or a hermit; and the other, the \'var\' or the lay, of the love of Mirza and Sahiban which has no overtones of Platonic intent. Perhaps, Bawa Budh Singh is not altogether wrong in suggesting that there might be two different persons of the name of Pilu. Pilu, the hermit, is said to have gone to Arjan Dev to get his compositions included in the holy Grunth, but Guru Arjan Dev did not oblige him because of his cynical attitude towards this world.

SAIN or SAIN, whose one hymn has been included in the Guru Granth Sahib, is counted among the disciples of Ramanand (1300-1411). Guru Arjan, Nanak V, says in one of his hymns in the Holy Book that the name of Sain was a household word as a bhakta of rare devotion (GC,487). In another, hymn, he refers to him as an example of dedication to the service of holymen. Bhakta Ravidas in a sabda in the Guru Granth Sahib ranks Sain with Namdev, Kabir, Trilochan and Sadhna in piety (GG. 1106). According to Bhai Gurdas, Sain was the disciple of Ramanand and he had adopted him as his preceptor on hearing of the fame of Kabir (1398-1518) who, too, was Ramanand`s disciple.

SUCHET SINGH, RAJA (1801-1844.), the youngest of the Dogra trinity who rose to high positions at the court of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, was born on 18 January 1801, the son of MIari Kishora Singh. He started his career a^ a young age, appointed to the duty of laying public petitions before the Maharaja in the wake of his elder brother, Dhian Singh, assuming, in 1818, the important office of deorhidar or chamberlain to the royal household. He lacked the political and administrative ability of his brothers, Gulab Singh and Dhian Singh, yet he won the favour of the Maharaja by his handsome bearing and engaging manner. In 1822, he was created Raja of Bandralta and Samba.

AMARO, BIBI, elder daughter of Guru Angad and Mata Khivi, is especially remembered in the Sikh tradition for introducing (Guru) Amar Das to Guru Angad whose disciple, and eventually successor in the holy office, he became. She was born in c. 1526 at Khadur Sahib, in present day Amritsar district of the Punjab, and was married to a nephew of Amar Das at Basarke, now called Basarke Gillan, 11 km southwest of Amritsar. She was known for her piety and had memorized several of Guru Nanak`s hymns which she recited every morning, amid her household chores. Once Amar Das happened to listen to a hymn from Bibi Amaro`s lips, and felt deeply moved.

DANI, BIBI, was the elder daughter of Guru Amar Das (1479-1574). Not much is known about her life except that she was married to Bhai Rama and that the couple came to live at Goindval founded by Guru Amar Das.

Hasrat, Sukhpal Vir Singh was born in 1938 at Khanewal (now in Pakistan), in a Sikh family of Bajwas. His father, Harcharn Singh, migrated to India at the time Partition of Punjab in 1947 and settled in village Vasarke (Batala), district Gurdaspur. Hasrat did his M.A. in Punjabi from Punjab University, Chandigarh and joined The Public Relation Department of the Public Government where he is still continuing. For some years he edited the Punjab Government monthly journal, Jagriti, beginning with l971. The first collection of Hasrat\'s poems entitled Sarsabaz patjharhan, was publishdl in 1966.

MANGLAN, a slave girl in the service of Maharani Jind Kaur who gained considerable influence in state affairs during the latter`s regency (1844-46). She was born about 1816 in a village near Kangra. Her father Piru, a water bearer, lived in extremely narrow circumstances. She was sold at the age of ten in 1825 for a paltry sum of Rs 25 to a Dum or minstrel, who brought her up as a courtesan.

RAJ KAUR (d. 1838), also known as Datar Kaur or more popularly Mal Nakain, was the second wife of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. She was the daughter of Ran Singh Nakai, and was married to the Maharaja in 1798. Though Ranjit Singh married several other women, Mal Nakain remained his favourite. She was the mother of the heir apparent, Kharak Singh.