CHET SINGH BAJVA (d. 1839), Maharaja Kharak Singh`s distant relation and old tutor who wielded considerable influence at the Sikh court. The Dogra minister, Dhian Singh, looked upon Chet Singh as a potential rival to his position. The latter aligned himself with the Bhais and the Misrs at the

PATIALA (30°20`N, 76° 26`E), a district town of the Punjab, was formerly the capital of a princely Sikh state until it lapsed in 1948. Though only the fourth largest town of the Punjab with a modest population, 268, 521 (1991), Patiala boasts a wellmarked cultural tradition. Historically, the city

COURT, CAROLINE FEZLI AZAMJOO (1821-1869), born as Fezli Azamjoo in Kashmir on 13 June 1821, married Claude Auguste Court, a general in the Sikh army, by 1836. They had three children by the time they left the Punjab in 1843. On 25 June 1844, Fezli and her children were baptized

POHLO MALL, a goldsmith by caste and resident of Raja Sarisi in present day Amritsar district, was a mukhtdrkdr, i.e. attorney, in the service of Thakur Singh Sandharivalia and later, when the Sardar`s estate was placed under a court of wards, a clerk of the court. He kept in

COURT, CLAUDE AUGUSTE (1793-1880), general in the Sikh army, honorary general of France, Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, recipient of the Auspicious Order of the Punjab, Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society of England, and Member of several continental scientific and learned societies, was born at Saint Cezaire, France,

PUNJAB, A HUNDRED YEARS AGO, THE, translated and edited by H.L.O. Garrett, and first published in 1935 by the Punjab Government Record Office, Lahore, is a compendium of two travelogues. The first part comprises the portion of Victor Jacquemont`s Journal which deals with his travels through the Punjab and Kashmir.

DARBAR, a Perisan word meaning "a house, dwelling; court, area; court or levee of a prince; audience chamber," is commonly used in Punjabi to signify a royal, princely or any high ranking officer`s court (as distinguished from courts of justice) where dignitaries granted audience to the common people, listened to

RAM SINGH, RAJA, son of Mirza Raja Jai Singh of Amber, was a 4 hazdn mansabddrof the Mughal emperor, Aurangzib. During Jai Singh`s absence in the Deccan on campaigns against Shivaji and the Bijapur state in 1664-67 Karivar Ram Singh remained in Delhi in their palace in Raisina and

DEVI DAS, DIWAN (1767-1830), eldest son of Diwan Thakur Das Khatri of Peshawar, was, like his father, in the service of the Afghan rulers prior to joining the court of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. At the time of Shah Zaman`s last invasion of northern India (1798-99), the Maharaja, who had

RANI RAJINDRAMATI CHARITRA by Sahib Singh Mrigind is a versified account (charitra = character; portrayal) in Braj (Gurmukhi characters) of Queen (rdm== queen) Jindan, the wife of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, here referred to as Rajindramati. Sahib Singh Mrigind (c. 1800-1876) who later became the court poet in the princely state

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