LAILI or LAILA, a famous horse of superb beauty and grace, was originally owned by Yar Muhammad Khan Barakzai, the Sikh tributary governor of Peshawar. It was much coveted by Maharaja Ranjit Singh, whose love for horses was proverbial. With the romantic name given it, Laili was known throughout Central

DINA NATH, DIWAN (1795-1857), civil administrator and counsellor of considerable influence at the Sikh court for well over three decades, was the son of a Kashmir! Pandit, Bakht Mall, who had migrated to Delhi during the oppressive rule of the Afghan governors of the valley. He was also closely

RANJIT SINGH (1780-1839), Maharaja of the Punjab, popularly called Sheri Punjab, i.e. the Lion of the Punjab, was the most colourful, the most powerful and yet the most endearing figure in the history of the Sikhs. He ruled over a domain extending from the Khaibar Pass in the west

DIVALI, festival of lights (from Sanskrit dipamala or dipavali meaning row of lamps or nocturnal illumination), is observed all over India on amavasya, the last day of the dark half of the lunar month of Kartika (October-November). Like other seasonal festivals, Divali has been celebrated since time immemorial. In its

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

EVENTS AT THE COURT OF RANJIT SINGH, 1810-1817, edited by H.L.O. Garrett and G.I.. Ghopra, is a rendition in English of Persian newsletters comprising 193 loose sheets and forming only a small part of a large collection preserved in the Alienation Office, Pune. This material was brought to the notice

SANKARNATH, PANDIT (1789-1858), astrologer and diplomat, belonging to the village of Karivallur, in north Kerala, was a celebrated scholar of ancient lore. His reputation especially as an astrologer spread far beyond the confines of his native Kerala and he was in 1816 invited by Raja Sansar Chand of Kangra

GOBIND RAM, BHAI (d. 1845), son of Bhai Harbhaj and a grandson of Bhai Vasti Ram, had, like his brother Bhai Ram Singh, an honoured position at the court of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. A good scholar of Sanskrit and Persian, Gobind Ram, was of a retiring nature and more

SINGH SAGAR, by Vir Singh Bal, is a versified account of the life of Guru Gobind Singh. The author, not many details of whose career are known, was born to Bhai Bakht Singh towards the end of eighteenth century. He was a poet at the court of Maharaja Karam Singh

JAI SINGH, MIRZA RAJA (1605-1667), Kachhvaha Rajput prince and one of the senior generals under the Mughal emperors ShahJahari (1628-58) and Aurangzib (1658-1707), succeeded to the feudal chieftainship of Amber (Jaipur) in 1617 when he also got his first appointment in the Mughal army. "Since then," writes Sir Jadunath

THIRTYFIVE YEARS IN. THE EAST, with its long subtitle, "Adventures, Discoveries, Experiments, and Historical Sketches, relating to the Punjab and Cashmere ; in connection with Medicine, Botany, Pharmacy, & C., together with an original Materia Medica; and a Medical Vocabulary, in four European and five Eastern Languages," by John

KHUSRAU, PRINCE (1587-1622), the eldest son of Prince Salim (later Emperor Jahanglr) from Man Bai (later Shah Bcgam), daughter of Raja Bhagvan Das of Amber, was born at Lahore on 6 August 1587. His grandfather, Emperor Akbar, had him brought up in the liberal tradition, entrusting his education to teachers,