SATI DAS, BHAI (d. 1675), the martyr, was the younger brother of Diwan Mati Das. According to Bhatt Vahl Talauda he served Guru Tegh Bahadur as a cook. He was, under imperial warrant, detained along with the Guru at Dhamtan, as the latter was travelling to the eastern parts in 1665. He was again in attendance upon the Guru when, in 1675, the latter lefl Anandpur resolved to court martyrdom. The Guru and his companions were arrested on the way and taken to Delhi. Like his brother Mati Das, Sati Das refused to perjure his faith and was tortured to death. Wrapped up in cotton wool, he was set afire and roasted alive. This happened on 11 November 1675 the day Guru Tegh Bahadur was executed.
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.
SUNDARI, by Bhai Vir Singh, first published in 1898, is commonly acknowledged to be the first novel written in the Punjabi language. The story, set in the eighteenth century, depicts the trials and heroism of an imaginary character, Sundar Kaur (Sundari for short) who, born in a Punjabi Khatri Hindu family, embraces the Sikh faith in unusual circumstances and spends her short, eventful life in prayer and service of the crusading Khalsa. Sundari`s tribulations begin with her catching the local Mughal chief`s attention as the latter, out hunting with a body of retainers one day, passes through her village.
JANGNAMA LAHOW:, by Kahn Singh, is a poem describing the battles fought between the British and the Sikhs during 1845-46. Kahn Singh belonged to Bariga, Jalandhar district, and undertook the work at the instance of the British Deputy Commissioner of the area, Mr Vanistart. Though there is no internal evidence to date the work, we can safely assume it to have been completed sometime before 1853 as one of the several manuscript copies of the work which are extant is dated 1910 Bk/AD 1853 by the scribe. The only printed text available is in the anthology Prdchin Varan te Jangndme, edited by Shamsher Singh Ashok.