K1SHAN CHAND, RAI (d. 1873), news writer and vakil or agent of the Sikh court at Ludhiana, the British post on the Anglo Sikh frontier, was son of Bakhshi Anand Singh. Well versed in diplomacy, he accompanied Colonel Claude Wade on a political mission to Peshawar in 1839. In 1840,

MAHARAJA RANJIT SINGH JIBAN VRITTANTA, by Brahmamohan Mallick, is a monograph in Bengali on the life of Maharaja Ranjit Singh (1780-1839). Published in 1862, within a quarter of a century of the Maharaja\'s death, it is one of the earliest biographies of the Maharaja written in any language. The

MOTI RAM, DIWAN (1770-1837), was the only son of Diwan Muhkam Chand, one of Maharaja Ranjil Singh`s most trusted army generals. Moll Ram officiated as the governor of the Jalandhar Doab during the absence of bis father on military expeditions. After the death of his father in 1814, he was

NIHAL SINGH, of Naushahra near Tarn Taran in Amritsar district of the Punjab, was among the close associates of the Sikh revolutionary, Bhai Maharaj Singh (d. 1856), who assigned him to many a secret mission such as procuring weapons from Charhat Singh, an exkdrddr, and helping Bhai Tek Chand

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

RAJ KAUR (d. 1838), also known as Datar Kaur or more popularly Mal Nakain, was the second wife of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. She was the daughter of Ran Singh Nakai, and was married to the Maharaja in 1798. Though Ranjit Singh married several other women, Mal Nakain remained his

RATAN CHAND (d. 1629), son of Bhagvan Das Gherar who had been killed in a skirmish with the Sikhs in the time of Guru Hargobind (1595-1644), made common cause with Karam Chand, son of Chandu Shah, with a view to avenging his father`s death. Chandu Shah, the main instigator

SHER SINGH CHHACHHI (d. 1814), son of Tahal Singh Chhachhi of Kohli Khatri caste, served under Maharaja Ranjit Singh. As his ancestors had settled in Chhachh, in Attock district (now in Pakistan) the family came to be known as Chhachhi. Sher Singh succeeded to the estates of his father

TITLES AND ORDERS OF MERIT, instituted at his court by Maharaja Ranjit Singh, broadly followed the Mughal pattern, though there did not exist among the Sikh nobility a specific classification or hierarchy which marked the mansabdan system of the Mughals. Tides and awards were granted to princes of the royal

AMAR NATH, DIWAN (1822-1867), bakhshi or paymaster of the irregular forces of the Sikh army who distinguished himself also as a historian, was born in 1822 the son of Raja Dina Nath, finance minister of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. During the prime ministership of Hira Singh, Amar Nath was assigned

AZIM KHAN, MUHAMMAD (d. 1823), was one of the sons of Painda Khan and a brother of Fateh Khan, who appointed him governor of Kashmir in April 1813. In 1814, Maharaja Ranjit Singh made an unsuccessful attempt to conquer Kashmir. On the death of Fateh Khan in 1818, Azim

BISHAN SINGH (d. 1868) was like his father, Sultan Singh, in the Ghorcharha regiment of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. In Maharaja Sher Singh`s time, he was placed in charge of the artillery park at Lahore. After the annexation of the Punjab by the British, Bishan Singh joined the 2nd Punjab