AMIR CHAND, son of Misr Ram Kumar of the village of Dalval, in Jehlum district, joined service in Maharaja RanjitSingh`s toshakhana or treasury in 1830, soon becoming superintendent of Bela To shakhana, i.e. the treasury for charitable purposes. In June 1832, he was appointed to collect arrears of land

DEVI DAS, DIWAN (1767-1830), eldest son of Diwan Thakur Das Khatri of Peshawar, was, like his father, in the service of the Afghan rulers prior to joining the court of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. At the time of Shah Zaman`s last invasion of northern India (1798-99), the Maharaja, who had

JIVAN SINGH, COLONEL (d. 1851). eldest of the six sons of Dula Singh of Kalasvala in Siakot district, joined the army of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and was placed under Prince Kharak Singh. He first saw active service in Kashmir where he was wounded. For the bravery he displayed in

ARGOUD, BENOIT, a Frenchman, who joined Maharaja Ranjit Singh`s infantry in November 1836 as an instructor. He was of a quarrelsome nature and readily picked rows with his colleagues and subordinates. Dismissed from service in April 1837, he proceeded to Afghanistan, but failed to get any employment there. Returning

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

KAHN SINGH (d. 1876), son of Dula Singh, belonged to the village of KaIasvala, in Sialkot district. He began his career in Maharaja Ranjit Singh`s army under General Avkabile and was present in the Khaibar Pass actions and throughout the Yusafzai campaign. He served in the Sher Dil Paltan

PRICE, JAMES, an Englishman who deserting the British camp at Ludhiana in early 1809. came to Lahore and joined Maharaja Ranjit Singh`s army on a salary of Rs 300 per month. He served under Diwan Muhkam Chand. The British demanded his extradition which was denied. However, he did not

ARUR SINGH, BHAI (1872-1921), one of the Nankana Sahib martyrs, was born in November 1872 at Thothian village in Amritsar district, the son of Bhai Nihal Singh and Mat Jio. His education was limited to reading and writing the Gurmukhi script which he learnt in the village gurdwara. He

DOTTENWEISS or DOTTERWICH, a short statured, stoutly built German who, in 1835, joined the army of Maharaja Ranjit Singh as a military tactician. He was found unequal to the appointment and was dismissed from the service soon afterwards.

KARAM SINGH CHAHAL (d. 1823) was, like his father Kattha Singh, in the service of the Bhangi sarddrst.a.hma. Singh and Gujjar Singh before he joined Ranjit Singh`s army after he had seized Lahore in 1799 from Lahina Singh Bhangi`s son, Chet Singh. Karam Singh rapidly rose in the Maharaja`s

ROCHA SINGH, SANT (1688-1803), a holy man and preacher of Sikh faith, was born of Brahman parents living at Kausari, a small village in Hazara district (now in Pakistan). Rocha Singh was barely 14 years of age when his father, Bhai Parijaba, died leaving his wife and a younger