GANDA SINGH MASHARIQI (1857-1909), Urdu poet, scholar and religious guide in the line of family preceptors to the chiefs of Ropar in the Punjab. His grandfather, Bhai Bagh Singh (1757-1822), and his father, Bhai Bishan Singh (1809-90), had served the Ropar family as priests and counsellors. When the British

SUDDH SINGH, one of the twenty-two subas, lit. governors or deputies, appointed by the Kuka leader, Baba Ram Singh, to look after missionary work in different parts, was born in Ambala district in 1830. His father`s name was Ram Singh. Suddh Singh was initiated into the Kuka faith by

GANDA SINGH (d. 1845), of Butala, in Gujranwala district of undivided Punjab, was a soldier in the Sikh army. Early in his career, he was assigned by Maharaja Ranjit Singh to Prince Sher Singh`s troops. Ganda Singh`s father, Dharam Singh, had also served in the army and taken part

THAKAR SINGH ATARTVALA (d. 1842) was the eldest son of Sham Singh Atarivala, the celebrated general of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. During the expeditions against Bannu and Peshawar in the time of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, he served as a commandant of artillery. He died in 1842 during the lifetime of

JANG SINGHAN TEFIRANGIAN, by Matak, is a versified account, in Punjabi, of the first Anglo Sikh war (1845-46) by a contemporary or near contemporary poet about whom no biographical details are available. The poem, in its present incomplete form, is included in Panjabdian Varan (Amritsar, 1946) edited by Dr

KAHN SINGH ATARIVALA (d. 1873), soldier and jdgirddr, was the second son of Sham Singh Alarivala, the celebrated general of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. He inherited only a small part of the jdgir of his father, subject to the maintenance of 97 horse, 25 foot and 10 zamburds. His contingent

LAL CHAND, a confectioner turned warrior, won praise from Guru Gobind Singh for his feats in the battle of Bhangani (1688). Thus does the Guru eulogize him in his Bachitra Natak, "Wrathful became Lal Chand. His face turned red, he humbled the pride of many a lion (i.e. enemy

MAHITAB DEVI (d. 1839), known as Rani Katochan or Rani Gaddan, was daughter of Raja Sansar Chand Katoch of Kangra. She was married to Maharaja Ranjit Singh in 1829 and had great influence over him. At Lahore she introduced the art of Phulkari embriodery, arranged marriages of orphan girls

MALUK SINGH converted to the Kuka or Namdhari faith in 1864. With a band of 50 of his companions, he set up what he called a Kuka government in his village, Tharajvala, in Firozpur district, by declaring British rule as having ended. He was arrested and imprisoned for this.

MANGAL SINGH, a Risaldar in the erstwhile princely state of Patiala, was born in 1842, the son of jagirdar Hira Singh. He was arrested in 1872 for his alleged involvement in the attack by the Kukas on the butchers of Malerkotia, and was imprisoned at Allahabad.

MIAN KHIMA, Maharaja Duleep Singh`s favorite Muhammadan attendant who had served him since his childhood. He came with the Maharaja to Fatehgarh after the latter was dethroned and exiled from Lahore by the British in 1849. At Fatehgarh he was replaced by Bhajan Lal, an English educated young Brahman

MULTANA SINGH, KANVAR (1819-1846), son of Ranjit Singh, was born in 1819 to Ratan Kaur whom the Maharaja had married in 1811 after the conquest of Gujrat. He was given a small jagir in Amritsar district. He was married to Chand Kaur from whom he had three sons, Kishan