AKBAR KHAN MUHAMMAD (d. 1848), son of Dost Muhammad Khan, the ruler of Afghanistan. He was a Hery young man of great dash and daring. Like his father, he was keen to regain the Afghan possessions in India Multan, Kashmir, Attock and Peshawar. In 1837, Dost Muhammad Khan declared

BASAWAN, SHAIKH, a ranked Muslim officer at Maharaja Ranjit Singh`s court, started his career as an assistant to Misr Beli Ram, who had entered the Maharaja`s service in 1809 and who in 1816 had become superintendent of the to shakhana or treasury. Basawan by dint of hard work gradually rose

GHAUS KHAN (d. 1814) was an artillery officer under Mahari Singh Sukkarchakkia, and after his death, under his son, Ranjit Singh. He knew something about casting guns, was skilful in his profession, and was rewarded with jdgirs at Van and Bharoval in Amritsar district, with a large house in Lahore

JANI, a Sayyid Muslim, who, according to Bhai Santokh Singh, Sn Gur Pratdp Suraj Granlh, had long wandered in search of a true spiritual guide, was directed by one, Khwaja, a Kashmir! Musalman, to meet Guru Hargobind whom he himself reverenced. Sayyid Jani visited Guru Hargobind, received instruction from

NAJABAT KHAN (d. 1688), a Pathan belonging to Kurijpura, who joined the service of Guru Gobind Singh at Paonta Sahib. He however deserted the Guru on the eve of the battle of Bharigani (1688) and joined hands with the hill rajas. During the battle he came face to face

SAIF UDDIN MAHMUD, also called Saif Khan (d.1685), a high ranking noble in the reign of Aurangzib, was a man of religious disposition which, earned him the popular title of Faqirullah, meaning a holy man of God. His father, Tarbiat Khan, had been a Bakhshi or paymaster under Emperor Shah

YAHIYA KHAN, the eldest son of Nawab Zakariya Khan, became governor of Lahore under the Mughals in 1745 after the death of his father. He continued his father\'s policy of repression against the Sikhs. During his regime, a fracas between a band of Sikh horsemen and the State constabulary resulted

ALIF KHAN, who is mentioned in Guru Gobind Singh\'s Bachitra Natak, was an officer in the Mughal army of Aurangzib. In 1691, he was despatched by Mian Khan, the viceroy of Jammu, to Kangra for collecting arrears of tribute from the hill chiefs. Raja Kirpal Chand Katoch of Kangra

BHIKHAN KHAN (d. 1688) was a Pathan who had served in the Mughal army before joining Guru Gobind Singh at Paonta Sahib on the recommendation of Pir Buddhu Shah of Sadhaura. He had one hundred soldiers under his command, but he crossed over to the hill rajas on the eve

GHULAM MOHIY UDDIN, SHAIKH (d. 1845), who rose to be governor of Kashmir in Sikh times, was the son of Shaikh Ujala, a munshi or accountant in the service of Sardar Bhup Singh of Hoshiarpur. At a young age, Ghulam Mohiy udDin took up service under Diwan Moti Ram, the

JAN MUHAMMAD CHATTHA (d. 1798), son of Ghulam Muhammad Chattha, fled to Kabul on the eve of the conquest of the tort of Manchar in 1790 by Mahari Singh Sukkarchakkia. He accompanied Shah Zaman to India in 1797 and recovered his possessions on the River Chenab in Gujranwala district

NIHANG KHAN, Muslim chief of Kotia Nihang Khan, near Ropar, in the Punjab, was a devotee of Guru Gobind Singh. According to Sarup Singh Kaushish, Guru kidn Sakhtan, he with his wife and sons attended Baisakhi festivity at Anandpur in 1694 and rendered homage to the Guru. At his