AKHBAR-I-DARBAR-I-MAHARAJA RANJIT SINGH, also called Akhbari Deorhi Sardar Ranjit Singh Bahadur, is a set of Persian manuscripts comprising 193 loose sheets of unequal size and containing, as the title indicates, news of the court of Maharaja Ranjit Singh (1780-1839). These sheets are believed to be newsletters sent from the Punjab

AMIR ULIMLA, also known as MUNTAKHAB ULHAQA`IQ, a collection of miscellaneous letters, in Persian script, mostly of Sikh chiefs of the Punjab addressed to one another on subjects relating to private and public affairs. Compiled by Amir Chand in A.H. 1209 (ADi 794-95), the manuscript comprises 127 folios and 247

AURANGABAD, (19° 54`N, 75° 20`E) is a district town in Maharashtra. It is a railway station on the ManmadKachiguda section of the South Central Railway, 114 km from Manmad towards Nanded. The site was once the capital of the Yadavas ofDevgiri or Deogir in the 12th and 13th centuries; Aurangzib

BOTA SINGH (d. 1739), an eighteenth century martyr of the Sikh faith, belonged to the village of Bharana in Amritsar district. In those days of dire persecution, he along with many fellow Sikhs had sought the safety of wastes and jungles. At nightfall, he would come out of his

DAYA SINGH, BHAI (1661-1708), one of the Panj Piare or the Five Beloved celebrated in the Sikh tradition, was the son of Bhai Suddha, a Sobti Khatri of Lahore, and Mai Diali. His original name was Daya Ram. Bhai Suddha was a devout Sikh of Guru Tegh Bahadur and

DINA, village 15 km south of Nihalsinghvala (30° 35`N, 75° 16`E) in presentday Faridkot district of the Punjab, is sacred to Guru Gobind Singh, who, after evacuating Anandpur in December 1705, came here and stayed a few days. Chaudhari Shamir and Lakhmir, grandsons of the local chief, Rai Jodh,

DHARISHTA BUDDHI As fol Chandrahasa, Dharishta Buddhi was in great anguish, he himself caused to bum (destroy) his own house. (Nat M. 4, p. 982) The king Sudharma of a Southern State was attacked by a neighbouring king Kantuhal. He was slain in battle. His wife became a Sati

FATEHNAMAH, or Namah-i-Guru Gobind Singh, a letter (namah in Persian) that Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708) is believed to have addressed to Emperor Aurangzib prior to his better known Zafarnamah included in the Dasam Granth. The first reference to the existence of Fatehndmah dates to 1922 when Babu Jagan Nath Das

GURCHARAN SINGH, a Kuka leader (formally designated subd, i.e. governor or deputy, by Baba Ram Singh) who attempted to seek help of the Russians against the British, was born in 1806 at Chakk Pirana in Sialkot district, now in Pakistan, the son of Afar Singh Virk. He joined the

GURMUKHI is the name of the script used in writing primarily Punjabi and, secondarily, Sindhi language. The word gurmukhi seems to have gained currency from the use of these letters to record the sayings coming from the mukh (lit. mouth or lips) of the (Sikh) Gurus. The letters no doubt

JAMIAT RAI alias Jit Mall, a jhwar or water bearer on the domestic establishment of Maharaja Duleep Singh during his stay at Fatehgarh. He belonged to Shahgharib, in Shakargarh tahsil of Gurdaspur district (now in Pakistan). In 1885, he received a letter from the Maharaja then living in England,

THAKAR SINGH, DOCTOR (1885-1945), a Ghadr activist who also took part in the Akali movement of 1920-25, was the son of Sher Singh of Ikulaha, a village 6 km southwest of Kharina (30"42`N, 76°13`E) in Ludhiana district of die Punjab. He was an undergraduate at Khalsa College, Amritsar, when he