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

CHATAR SINGH COLLECTION, comprising correspondence, papers, treaties, etc., particularly relating to transactions among the Dogra chiefs of Jammu (Dhian Singh, Gulab Singh and Suchet Singh) and between them and the Lahore Darbar, was put together by Thakur Chatar Singh of Dharamsala and is now preserved in the Punjab State Archives,

DHIAN SINGH, RAJA (1796-1843), the second son of Miari Kishora Singh Dogra and the middle one of the three brothers from Jammu serving Maharaja Ranjit Singh, was born on 22 August 1796. He was presented before Ranjit Singh at Rohtas in 1812 by his elder brother, Gulab Singh, and

GANGA RAM, DIWAN (1775-1826) was a Kashmiri Brahman whose father, Kishan Das, was a government employee. During the oppressive days of the governors of Kashmir, Kishan Das migrated to Delhi, and later settled in the village of Rampur, near Banaras, where Ganga Ram was born about the year 1775.

GUL BAHAR BEGAM (d. 1863), a dancing girl from Amritsar, was married to Maharaja Ranjit Singh in 1832. Gul Begam had danced before the Maharaja`s English guests at the time of his meeting with British Governor General, Lord William Bentinck, at Ropar in October 1831. Ranjil Singh there after

HONIGBERGER, DOCTORJOHN MARTIN (17951-865), physician to the court of Lahore from 1829 to 1849 and known to his Sikh contemporaries as Martin Sahib, was a Transylvanian born at Kronstadt in 1795. He combined with his medical knowledge an ardent spirit of enquiry and adventure. He had a great fascination for