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

RAM SINGH (1744-1839), son of a Khatri belonging to Hasanvala in Gujrariwala district, was taken into the household of Charhat Singh Sukkarchakkia at a very young age. When he grew up, he rode in the chief`s troops. He considered Mahan Singh, son of Charhat Singh, his putreld

SAMMAN BURJ, also called Musamman Burj, an octagonal tower commanding a wide range of buildings within the Lahore Fort, was built by Emperor Akbar, who made the city his capital for some time. Within the Fort was situated the royal palace which was enlarged by Jahangir and,

AKHBAR-I-DARBAR-I-MAHARAJA RANJIT SINGH, also called Akhbari Deorhi Sardar Ranjit Singh Bahadur, is a set of Persian manuscripts comprising 193 loose sheets of unequal size and containing, as the title indicates, news of the court of Maharaja Ranjit Singh (1780-1839). These sheets are believed to be newsletters sent from the Punjab

AZIZ UDDIN, FAQIR (1780-1845), physician, diplomat, and foreign minister at the court of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, was the eldest son of Ghulam Mohy udDin, a leading physician of Lahore. Of his two brothers, Nur udDin held charge of the city of Lahore and had been governor of Gujrat, and Imam

CANORA (KANAKA), FRANCIS JOHN (1799-1848), an Irishman, inscribed in Khalsa Darbar records variously as Kenny, Kennedy and Khora. Roaming across many countries, he reached Lahore in 1831, and joined Maharaja Ranjit Singh`s artillery on a daily wage of Rs 3. Gradually, he rose to the rank of colonel, with a

DAYAKAUR, RANI (d. 1843), widow of Sahib Singh Bhangi of Gujrat, was married, in 1811, to Maharaja Ranjit Singh by the rite of chadar andazi, a rite having sanction under customary law to facilitate marriage with a widow who is accepted into nuptials by unfurling a chadar or sheet

GOBIND RAM, BHAI (d. 1845), son of Bhai Harbhaj and a grandson of Bhai Vasti Ram, had, like his brother Bhai Ram Singh, an honoured position at the court of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. A good scholar of Sanskrit and Persian, Gobind Ram, was of a retiring nature and more

HOTI, BAWA PREM SINGH (1882 - 1954) Bawa Kahan Singh, the grandfather of Bawa Prem Singh Hoti shifted to the North West Frontier Province after its annexation to the kingdom of Maharaja Ranjit Singh from Goindwal (Amritsar). He got his education from indigenous institutions and gained proficiency in Punjabi,

JODH SINGH WAZLRABADIA (d. 1809), son of Gurbakhsh Singh, was a powerful eighteenth century Sikh chief. He possessed the parganahs;of Wazirabad, Karial, Mitranvali and Talvandi Musa Khan, comprising about 500 villages. Jodh Singh and Maharaja Ranjit Singh`s father, Mahari Singh, were great friends, and both often joined hands together

MAHITAB KAUR, daughter of Chaudhari Sujan Singh, an Atval Jatt of the village of Malla, in Gurdaspur district, was married to Maharaja Ranjit Singh about the year 1822 by the rites of chadar andazi, knotting the sheet cover. She survived the Maharaja and lived up to a ripe old

NIZAM UDDIN (d. 1802), the Pathan chief of Kasur and a tributary of the Bharigi sarddrs, overthrew his allegiance to the Sikhs and submitted to Shah Zaman, the king of Afghanistan, when the latter invaded India in January 1797. Nizam udDin took possession of the forts evacuated by the Sikhs.