ANGLOSIKH TREATY (AMRITSAR, 1809). Napoleon`s victories in Europe had alarmed the British, who, fearing a French attack on the country through Afghanistan, decided to win the Sikhs over to their side and sent a young officer, Charles Theophilus Met caife, to Maharaja Ranjit Singh`s court with an offer of friendship.

BALDEV SINGH (1902-1961), industrialist, politician and the first Defence Minister of India at Independence was born on 11 July 1902. of a Sikh family of ChokarJatts at the village of Dummna, in Ropar district of the Punjab. His father, Inder Singh, who started life as a government official in

BISHAN SINGH, a general in the Sikh army, was the adopted son of Jamadar Khushal Singh, the royal chamberlain (deorhidar). He received his education at the Ludhiana Mission School across the AngloSikh frontier. In 1848, when stationed at Pind Dadan Khan, Bishan Singh was ordered to move his troops

DULEEP SINGH, MAHARAJA (1838-1893), the last Sikh sovereign of the Punjab, was born at Lahore on 6 September 1838, the youngest son of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. On 18 September 1843, at the age of five, he was, after the murder of Maharaja Sher Singh, proclaimed Maharaja of the Punjab

GURDIT SINGH SANDHANVALJA, the youngest of the four sons of Thakur Singh Sandharivalia, who led the campaign for the restoration of Maharaja Duleep Singh to the throne of the Punjab and who was prime minister of the Maharaja`s emigre government set up in Pondicherry, was barely in his teens

JASVANT SINGH, RAJA (1775-1840), succeeded his father, Raja Hamir Singh, to the throne of Nabha in 1783 at the age of eight, under the guardianship of his stepmother, Mai Deso, a very resourceful and energetic woman. In 1790, after the death of Mal Deso, he assumed the reins of

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,

MARATHASIKH RELATIONS spanning a period of half a century from 1758 to 1806 alternated between friendly cooperation and mistrust born out of rivalry of political and military ambition. Although Shivaji (1627-80), the founder of Maratha power, and Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708), the creator of the Khalsa, both rose against the

PAHAR SINGH, RAJA (d. 1849), son of Charhat Singh, succeeded his nephew, Atar Singh, in 1827 to the throne of Faridkot. His reign lasting twenty-two years was marked by peace and prosperity. He founded many villages and dug wells and extended cultivation. He helped the British in the first

RANJODH SINGH MAJITHIA (d. 1872). military commander and jagirdar of the Sikh Darbar was the son of Desa Singh Majithia and foster brother of Lahina Singh Majithia. Details of his early career under Maharaja Ranjit Singh are scarce. British records, however, locate him as the governor of Hazara and

SIKHS AND THE SIKH WARS : THE RISE, CONQUEST, AND ANNEXATION OF THE PUNJAB STATE, by General Sir Charles Gough and Arthur D. Innes, first published in London in 1897, is in the main a history of the Anglo Sikh wars of 1845-46 and 1848-49. Few accounts of these

UDAI SINGH, BHAI (d. 1843), the last ruler of Kaithal state, was the younger of the two sons of Bhai Lal Singh. After the death of Bhai Lal Singh, his elder son Partap Singh succeeded him, but died soon after without a male heir. Udai Singh therefore became the