WAZIRABAD (32"26`N, 74"7`E), a sub divisional town in Gujranwala district of Pakistan, is sacred to Guru Hargobind (1595-1644), who halted here briefly while returning from his visit to Kashmir in 1620. Bhai Khem Chand, a local Sikh, placed at the Guru`s disposal his own house (kotha, in Punjabi) which was

AHMAD SHAH DURRANI (1722-1772), the first of the Saddozai rulers of Afghanistan and founder of the Durrani empire, belonged to the Saddozai section of the Popalzai clan of the Abdali tribe of Afghans. In the 18th century the Abdalis were to be found chiefly around Herat. Under their leader

BAJ SINGH (d. 1716), a Bal Jatt, was a native of Mirpur Patti, a village in Amritsar district of the Punjab. A devoted Sikh, Baj Singh had received the rites of initiation at the hands of Guru Gobind Singh himself. He accompanied the Guru to the Deccan in 1708

DILAWAR KHAN, a Mughal chief, who during the closing years of seventeenth century sent his son, referred to as Khanzada in Guru Gobind Singh`s Bachitra Natak, as head of an imperial expedition to exact tribute from the Guru. The young commander, marching with alacrity, reached the vicinity of Anandpur

GHANAULA, an old village 10 km north of Ropar (30°58`N, 76°3rE) in the Punjab, used to be the headquarters of a parganuh in Mughal times. It claims a historical shrine which commemorates the visit of Guru Gobind Singh in 1688 while he was returning from Paonta to Anandpur. He again

JANGNAMA, by Qazi Nur Muhammad, is an eyewitness account in Persian verse of Ahmad Shah Durrani`s seventh invasion of India, 1764-65, for which it is the only major source of information. A copy of the manuscript in the hand of one Khair Muhammad of Gunjaba was preserved at the District

KOTLA NIHANG KHAN, about two and a half kilometres south of Ropar (30"58`N, 76°31`E), owes its prominence to Gurdwara Bhattha Sahib. The village is named after (lie local chief, Niharig Khan, a godfearing Afghan contemporary of Guru Gobind Singh. Guru Gobind Singh first visited Kotia Niharig Khan while on

MUNTAKHAB ULLUBAB, lit. selected (records) of the wise and pure, is a history of India written in Persian with an Arabic title by Muhammad Hashim or Hashim `Ali Khan, better known as Khafi Khan. Completed in 1722, the work was edited and printed by Maulawi KahTr ud Din in

RATTRAY alias LESLIE, an English soldier of fortune who served in Lahore during 1834-36 as one of the commandants of a battalion of the Sikh army. In 1836, he deserted the Sikh army to join the forces of Dost Muhammad Khan, Amir of Kabul. He fought on the side

SULTAN MAHMUD KHAN (d. 1859) , son of General Ghaus Khan, was a commander of a section of heavy artillery during the regime of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. His derah of artillery was designated as Topkhanai Sultan Mahmud. After the death of General Ghaus Khan in 1814, although the chief command

WAZIRKHAN, NAWAB (d. 1710), a resident of Kuhjpura, near Karnal, now in Haryana, was the faujdar of Sirhind under the Mughals in the opening years of the eighteenth century. The hill chiefs who held territories in the Sivalik ranges often sought his help against Guru Gobind Singh, then living in

AHMAD YAR KHAN TIWANA (d. 1829), second son of Khan Muhammad Khan, the Tiwana chief of Mittha Tiwana, in Shahpur district, measured swords with Sikhs more than once during Maharaja Ranjit Singh`s time. Ahmad Yar Khan revolted against his father and, having succeeded in attracting most of the tribe to