RAM DIAL, RAI (d. 1863), news writer and vakil of the Sikh kingdom at FIrozpur, was the son of Rai Anand Singh, after whose death he was sent to Ludhiana as vakil in 1827. Shortly thereafter he was recalled to Lahore and, in 1832, was sent to Anandpur Sahib to

SAHIB SINGH BHANGI (d.1811), son of Gujjar Singh of the Bhangi clan, one of the numerous principalities into which Punjab was divided during the latter part of the 18th century, ruled over the territory of Gujrat in central Punjab. He was married to Raj Kaur, daughter of Charhat Singh

SHER SINGH NAMAH, also known as Halati`Punjab, by Muhammad Naqi Peshawari Ibn Khwaja Bakhsh Mulla, is an unpublished manuscript, in Persian, containing an account of events of the Punjab from the death of Maharaja Ranjit Singh in 1839 to the accession to the throne in 1843 of Maharaja Duleep

SOLDIER AND TRAVELLER: MEMOIRS OF ALEXANDER GARDNER, edited by Major Hugh Pearse, with an introduction by Sir Richard Temple, was first published in 1898 by William Black wood and Sons of Edinburgh and London, and was reprinted by the Languages Department, Punjab, in 1970. Alexander Gardner (1785-1877), a European

A veteran political activist, Santokh Singh \'Dheer\' is bold, outspoken, down-to-earth and yet essentially poetic. He was born in Bassi Pathana, Punjab in 1920. He is a whole-time and his prolific contribution to literature includes nine short story collections, four novels, eleven books of verse, two edited volumes of

TWARIKHIHIND, subtitled Bayan i Ahwal iMulki Hind wa Maluki An az Zamani Qadim ta 1233 A.M., by Ahmad Shah of Batala, a manuscript preserved in Dyal Singh Trust Library, Lahore, is a history of India from earliest times to AD 1818 according to the subtitle, although it also records

AJUDHIA PARSHAD, DIWAN (1799-1870), soldier and civil administrator in Sikh times, was the adopted son of Diwan Ganga Ram. Maharaja Ranjit Singh first employed Ajudhia Parshad in 1819 to serve in the military office in Kashmir. Three years later, he was recalled to Lahore and appointed paymaster of the

ANNEXATION OF THE PUNJAB to British dominions in India in 1849 by Lord Dalhousie, the British governor general, which finally put an end to the sovereignty of the Sikhs over northwestern India, was the sequel to a chain of events that had followed the death of Maharaja Ranjit Singh ten

BAIRAGIS, or Vairagis, are a sect of Hindu ascetics, eschewing colour or passion and detached from all worldly allurements. Founded by Sri Anand, the 12th spiritual descendant of Ramanand, the sect comprises a class of nomadic penitents, living a secluded life of extreme poverty, wearing minimum of clothing and

BHALENDRA SINGH, RAJA (1919-1992). distinguished cricketer and India`s long estlasting sports executive, was born on 19 August 1919, the son of Lieutenant General Maharaja Sir Bhupinder Singh, the glamorous princely ruler of the state of Patiala in Southern Punjab. Brought up in the lap of luxury, Bhalendra Singh shot up

CHARHAT SINGH, son of Jai Singh, a Sandhu Jatt of Kot Sayyid Mahmud, a small village near Amritsar, held a service jagir under Maharaja Ranjit Singh. His father had served as a trooper under Gulab Singh Bhangi. Charhat Singh`s sister Rup Kaur married Maharaja Ranjit Singh in 1809. Charhat Singh

DERA, a word of Persian extraction, has several connotations. The original Persian word derah or dirah means a tent, camp, abode, house or habitation. In current usage in rural Punjab, a farmhouse or a group of farmhouses built away from the village proper is called dera. Even after such an