SHAH DIN, FAQIR (d. 1842), son of Faqir `Aziz udDin, minister to Maharaja Ranjit Singh, was the Sikh court`s envoy with the British political agent at Ludhiana and later at Firozpur. He is described in contemporary chronicles as an able diplomat who often accompanied foreign dignitaries visiting Lahore and acted

TAZKIRAHISALATlNICHUGHTAI, a manuscript dealing with the political history of the Mughal times from the reign of Aurangzib to the third year of Muhammad Shah`s reign, i.e. up to 1722. It is an important document for the history of the Sikhs for^ its sections dealing in detail with the exploits

AUCKLAND PAPERS, comprising private correspondence and letters of Lord Auckland, governor general of India (1836-42), now available in the British Library and Museum, London, provide interesting sidelights on political affairs in the Punjab (1836-1841), Sindh and Afghanistan, and also furnish useful information on the military power of the Sikhs,

FATEHNAMAH, by Bhai Dyal Singh, is a versified account of the victory (fateh, in Persian) of the Sikhs in the battle fought on Sunday, 22 Baisakh 1854 Bk/30 April 1797, against Shah Zaman`s forces led by one of his generals Ahmad Khan, also called Shahanchi Khan, in which the latter

KHUSHAL CHAND, RAJA, or Khushal Rai (d. 1752), an official under the Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah (1719-48) and a writer and poet of some merit, described himself as a NanakpanthI, i.e. a follower of Guru Nanak, his father Jivan Ram, and grandfather, Anand Ram Kayastha, had also served in the

PHUL SHAH (1574-1663), Udasi Sikh preacher, was born the son of Bhai Jai Dev and Mat Subhadra, Khatris of Srinagar (Kashmir), on 14 February 1574. Under the influence of his elder brother, Bhai Goind, another well known Udasi Sikh and head of one of the four dhudns or branches

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`

TEGH BAHADUR, GURU (1621-1675), prophet and martyr, revered as the Ninth Guru or Revealer of the Sikh faith, was the youngest of the five sons of the Sixth Guru, Guru Hargobind, and his wife, Nanaki. He was born at Amritsar on Baisakh vadl5,1678 Bk/ 1 April 1621. The early years

BAHADUR SHAH (1643-1712), Mughal emperor of India from 1707 to 1712. Born Muhammad Mu\'azzam at Burhanpur in the Deccan on 14 October 1643, he was actively employed by his father, Aurangzib, from 1663 onwards for subduing the kingdom of Bijapur and the Qutb Shahi dynasty of Golconda in the south.

GANGA RAM was one of the five sons of Bhai Sadhu and Bibi Viro, the daughter of Guru Hargobind, who formed part of Guru Gobind Singh`s retinue at Paonta, in present day Himachal Pradesh, when he was attacked by a combined force of some of the hill chiefs headed

KOHINUR ("Mountain of Light"), the peerless diamond which today lakes the pride of place among the British crown jewels, once belonged to Maharaja Duleep Singh, the last Sikh sovereign of the Punjab. Duleep Singh was made to surrender it to the British after the annexation of

PREMA BHAI, a Khatri of Talvandi. now called Talvandi Chaudharian, in Kapurthala district of the Punjab, was a devout Sikh of the time of Guru Amar Das. He was lame in the leg, yet he daily walked, on crutches, to Goindval, 8 km from his village across the River