PARTAP SINGH. GIANI (1855-1920), Sikh school-man and calligraphist, was born in 1855, the son of Bhai Bhag Singh Giani of Lahore. As a young boy, Partap Singh learnt Punjabi, Urdu and Sanskrit and studied Sikh Scriptures. In 1884, he accompanied Thakur Singh Sandhanvalia to England to read the Guru Granth

RAJ BANSO (d. 1835). daughter of Raja Sarisar Chand of Kangra and sister of Ram Mahitab Devi, was married to Maharaja Ranjit Singh in 1829. Said to be the most beautiful of the Maharaja`s wives, she was a patron of hill music. Raj Bariso committed suicide in 1835 over

RANI RAJINDRAMATI CHARITRA by Sahib Singh Mrigind is a versified account (charitra = character; portrayal) in Braj (Gurmukhi characters) of Queen (rdm== queen) Jindan, the wife of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, here referred to as Rajindramati. Sahib Singh Mrigind (c. 1800-1876) who later became the court poet in the princely state

SHAMIR SINGH THETHAR (d. 1824), soldier and a minor commander in the Sikh times. He was the son of Prem Singh, of the village of Thethar, near Lahore, and brother of Lakkha Singh along with whom he entered the service of Sukkarchakkias. Shamir Singh fought in the battle of

THAKUR SINGH, a kahar or waterman of village Jagatpur, in Amritsar district, was the son of Ratan Singh, one of Maharaja Ranjit Singh`s personal attendants. Ratan Singh was a great favourite and had had jagirs of over one lakh rupees granted to him. His son Thakur Singh had in

ZORAWAR SINGH (1786-1841), military general who conquered Ladakh and Baltistan in the Sikh times and carried the Khalsa flag as far as the interior of Tibet. About Zorawar Singh\'s place of birth authorities differ. Major G. Carmichael Smyth, A Reigning Family of Lahore, says that he was a native

ALLARD, BENJAMIN (1796-1877), step-brother of General Allard, born at Saint Tropez in 1796, was sent to Lahore in 1829 in order to replace his brother as the military adviser of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, but the two brothers failed to win the confidence of the Maharaja, who would not release General

AUCKLAND, GEORGE EDEN, EARL OF (1784-1849), Governor General of India, son of William Eden, First Baron of Auckland, was born at Eden Farm, near Beckenham, in Kent, in August 1784. He was educated at Christ Church, Oxford, and was called to the bar at Lincoln`s Inn in 1809. From 1810-13,

BIKRAM SINGH BEDI, BABA (d. 1863), was the third and youngest son of Sahib Singh Bedi of Una, a lineal descendant of Guru Nanak. On Sahib Singh`s death in 1834, Bikram Singh suceeded to his father`s jagirs and position as preceptor to royal family of Lahore. After the deaths

CHARYARI SOWARS was the name given to an irregular cavalry regiment in Sikh times. It owed its origin to four friends, or Char (four) Your (friends), who were seen together all the time. Their names were: Bhup Singh Siddhu.Jit Singh, Ram Singh Saddozai and Hardas Singh Bania. They were all

DHANNA SINGH MALVAI (1775-1843), soldier and jagirdar under Ranjit Singh, belonged to the village of Maur in Nabha territory. Mall Singh, Dhanna Singh`s father, who was the first in the family to be initiated a Sikh, left his village about 1760 and entered the service of Charhat Singh Sukkarchakkia

FIVE YEARS IN INDIA, by Henry Edward Fane, aide-de-camp to his uncle, General Sir Henry Fane, commander-in-chief of the army of the East India Company during late 1830`s, is "a narrative of [the author`s] travels in the Presidency of Bengal, a visit to the court of Runjeet Singh, a residence