GURBAKHSH SINGH, BHAI (d. 1764), founder of the Bhai family of Kaithal, was great grandson of Bhai Bhagatu of revered memory. His grandfather, Bhai Bhagatu`s elder son, Gaura, was a brave warrior who became the chief of Virijhu, near Bathinda. His father, Dial Das, on the other hand was

HIRA SINGH DOGRA (1816-1844), prime minister of the Sikh kingdom of Lahore from 17 September 1843 to 21 December 1844, was born the eldest son of Raja Dhian Singh in 1816 at Ramgarh, about 25 km from Jammu. Dhian Singh, an influential courtier, introduced his son to his patron

JAI SINGH ATARIVALA (d. 1838), son of Wazir Singh, was a soldier and jdgirddr during Maharaja Ranjit Singh`s reign. About 1820, he was sent on a mission to Peshawar where, much to the chagrin of the Maharaja, he cultivated treacherously friendly relations with Dost Muhammad Khan, the Barak/ai chief

JIND KAUR, MAHARANI (1817-1863), popularly known as Jindari, was wife of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and mother of Maharaja Duleep Singh, the last Sikh sovereign of the Punjab. She was daughter of Manna Singh, an Aulakh Jail of Gujrariwala, who held an humble position at the court as an overseer

KAHN SINGH ROSA (d. 1864), son of Sukkha Singh, was appointed Jamadar in the Dragoons corps of the Sikh army in 1822 and was placed under General Allard. The following year he was made a Risaldar in the same regiment. In 1829, he was, on General Ventura`s recommendation, appointed

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,

LAHORE (31°35`N, 74°20`E), pronounced Lahaur, provincial capital of West Punjab in Pakistan, lies on the left bank of the River Ravi. Hindu tradition attributes its founding to Lava, son of Lord Rama, but it is neither mentioned in the Greek accounts of Alexander`s invasion (326 BC) nor described by

MAKKHAN SINGH, BHAI (d. 1863) was a granthi or officiant of the Darbar Sahib at Amritsar. When the British entered Lahore after the first Anglo-Sikh war in 1846, some of them, while visiting the holy shrine, would desecrate the precincts by entering with shoes on and otherwise annoy the

MINA, meaning hypocritical, secretive, rnean natured, deceitful, is an epithet applied in the Sikh tradition to Prithi Chand (1558-1618), the eldest son of Guru Ram Das, and such of his descendants as had not joined the main body of the Sikhs. There is also a community confined mainly to

NAU NIHAL SINGH, KANVAR( 1821-1840), son of Maharaja Kharak Singh, was born on 23 February 1821. According to the official Lahore diarist, Sohan Lal Suri, great rejoicing took place at his birth and a Persian chronogramA bouquet of wisdom`s garden was coined recording the year of his birth. Nau

PREMA PLOT, a conspiracy allegedly engineered by Maharani Jind Kaur with the help of some Sikh sardars to assassinate Sir Henry Lawrence, the first British Resident at Lahore, and the Sikh commander in chief, Tej Singh, and to topple the British control of the Punjab. One of the factors

SAIDO, BHAI, a Gheho Jatt, worshipper of Khwaja Khizr, a mythical Muslim saint, became a disciple of Guru Nanak. According to Puratan Janam Sakhi, he accompanied Guru Nanak during his journey to the South. While in Ceylon, Guru Nanak is said to have uttered Pran Sangali, a metrical composition