KIRPA RAM, DIWAN (d. 1843), civil administrator, soldier and statesman in Sikh times, was the youngest son of Diwan Moti Ram. In 1819, Kirpa Ram was sent by Maharaja Ranjit Singh to Hazara to settle that turbulent country. The same year he was transferred to the Jalandhar Doab as governor

MAHAN SINGH (d. 1790), son of Charhat Singh of Sukkarchakkia misl, was young in years when his father died. During his minority, his mother, Mai Desan, carried on the administration, with the help of her brothers. As soon as he came of age, Mahan Singh embarked upon a career

MORAN, a Muhammadan dancing girl of Lahore whom Maharaja Ranjit Singh is said to have married in 1802. She was a woman of uncommon beauty and attracted the Maharaja`s notice at a nautch party set up to mark the birth of his son and heir, Kharak Singh. Ranjit Singh

NIDHAN SINGH PANJHATTHA (d. 1839), soldier, minor commander and jdgirddr under Maharaja Ranjit Singh. He acquired the epithet Parijhattha, the "five handed," for his gallantry in the battle of Ten hill (1823). He singlehanded made five Pathans prisoners and captured their weapons. This act of valour earned him the

PASHAURA SINGH, KANVAR (1821-1845), son of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, was born in 1821 to Rani Daya Kaur. He emerged from obscurity to claim the kingdom of the Punjab after the assassination of Maharaja Sher Singh. After his escape from Baba Bir Singh`s camp, where his brother Kashmira Singh was

RAJ DEVI, RAM (d. 1839), daughter of Miari Padam Singh, a Rajput, was married to Maharaja Ranjit Singh. She immolated herself on the funeral pyre of her husband on 28 June 1839.

RANJIT SINGH (1780-1839), Maharaja of the Punjab, popularly called Sheri Punjab, i.e. the Lion of the Punjab, was the most colourful, the most powerful and yet the most endearing figure in the history of the Sikhs. He ruled over a domain extending from the Khaibar Pass in the west

SHAMSHER SINGH SANDHANVAUA (1816-1871) was son of Buddh Singh and a collateral of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Shamsher Singh distinguished himself as a soldier and served on active duty in the Peshawar area. He was by nature averse to politics and took no part in courtly intrigues which engulfed Lahore

THAKUR SINGH SANDHANVALIA (1837-1887), one of the founders of the Singh Sabha and a scion of the Sandharivalia family, who masterminded the campaign for the restoration of Maharaja Duleep Singh to the throne of the Punjab, was son of Lahina Singh, who in the reign of Maharaja Ranjit Singhenjoyed

ALLARD, JEAN FRANCOIS (1785-1839), Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, an order instituted in 1802 by Napoleon I, was born at Saint Tropez, France, on 8 March 1785. In 1803, he joined the French army and served in it fighting in the Imperial Cavalry in far flung fields in Italy,

AVITABILE, PAOLO CRESCENZO MARTINO (1791-1850), a Neapolitan soldier of fortune who, starting life as a private gunner, succeeded in obtaining high ranks in two widely separated Asiatic armies of Persia and Punjab, was born at Agerola, Naples, Italy, on 25 October 1791. From 1807 onwards he successively served in the

BIR SINGH, BABA (1768-1844), soldier become religious preacher and saint, was born in July 1768 at the village of Gaggobua, in Amritsar district of the Punjab, the son of Seva Singh and Dharam Kaur. After the death of his father in one of the campaigns against the Afghan rulers