LAILI or LAILA, a famous horse of superb beauty and grace, was originally owned by Yar Muhammad Khan Barakzai, the Sikh tributary governor of Peshawar. It was much coveted by Maharaja Ranjit Singh, whose love for horses was proverbial. With the romantic name given it, Laili was known throughout Central

CHATTHIAN DI VAR is a Punjabi ballad describing the battle between Mahan Singh, father of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, and Ghulam Muhammad Chattha, a Muslim chieftain of the Chattha clan of the Jatts. The poet is some Pir Muhammad, whose name appears in some verses of the poem. The Var was

RUHILASIKH RELATIONS. The Ruhilas came from the Yusafzai tribe of Afghans originally belonging to Roh, a tract of land south of Chitral in the North-West Frontier region. They established themselves in the early years of the eighteenth century as a semi independent power in the district lying between the River

DOST MUHAMMAD KHAN. AMIR (1791-1863), ruler of Kabul and Qandahar, was the son of Painda Khan (executed 1799), the Barakzai chief. Dost Muhammad`s first engagement with the Sikhs was at Attock, the Afghan citadel, which had fallen into the hands of the Sikhs in June 1813. In the conflict which

SHAH SHUJA (1780-1842) or Shuja`ulMulk, the King of Kabul, was the youngest son of Taimur Shah and grandson of Ahmad Shah Durrani. Shah Zaman, his elder brother, appointed him governor of Peshawar. In 1800, Shah Zaman was defeated and dethroned by his half brother, Shah Mahmud, but Shah Shuja`

FATEH KHAN (d. 1818), son of Painda Khan, the Barakzai chief, who overthrew Shah Zaman, the king of Afghanistan (1793-1800), and placed his half-brother Shah Mahmud on the throne of Afghanistan, himself becoming prime minister. Shah Mahmud was dethroned in 1803 and was succeeded by Shah Shuja`. Fateh Khan expelled

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

GARHI NAZIR, a village 3 km to the southeast of Samana (30°11`N, 76°11`E), is the site of an historical Sikh shrine called Gurdwara Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Patshahi 9. From Samana, Guru Tegh Bahadur, for whose arrest an imperial troop had been patrolling the countryside, was escorted by Muhammad

SHER MUHAMMAD KHAN, NAWAB (d. 1710), an Afghan feudatory of the Mughals, was the chief of Malerkotia and held a high military position in the sarkar or division of Sirhind. He had participated in the batde of Chamkaur and was present in the court at Sirhind when Nawab Wazir Khan,

HARLAN, JOSIAH (1799-1871), adventurer and medical practitioner who served the British, the Sikhs and the Afghans, was born in Philadelphia, U.S.A., in 1799. At the age of 24, he arrived at Calcutta and was employed as an assistant surgeon by the East India Company and attached to the British army

SULTAN MUHAMMAD KHAN, one of the several sons of Painda Khan, was a gorgeous person known as "Sultan Bibi" on account of Ills excessive love of finery and ostentation. In 1830 Sultan Muhammad Khan became governor of Peshawar and a tributary of the Sikhs. About this time, he was

JAHANDAD KHAN, one of the many sons of Painda Khan and a half brother of Fatch Khan Wazir, was appointed governor of Attock by Shah Shuja`, the king of Afghanistan. In 1809, Fatch Khan dethroned Shah Shuja`, placed Shah Mahmud on the throne and himself became prime minister. Shah