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,

VAR HARI SINGH KI, by Sahai Singh. included in the anthology entitled Prachin Varan te Jangname, edited by Shamsher Singh Ashok and published by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, Amritsar, in 1947. He describes Hari Singh Nalva`s expedidon against the Afghans who had invaded Peshawar from across the Khaibar Pass

VIGAH MALL, BHAl, of Sultanpur Lodhi now in Kapurthala district of the Punjab, embraced Sikh faith during the time of Guru Amar Das. He lived up to the time of Guru Arjan and once visited him in Amritsar with the sangat of Sultanpur to receive instruction from him. His

WAZIRKHAN, NAWAB (d. 1710), a resident of Kuhjpura, near Karnal, now in Haryana, was the faujdar of Sirhind under the Mughals in the opening years of the eighteenth century. The hill chiefs who held territories in the Sivalik ranges often sought his help against Guru Gobind Singh, then living in

ZORAWAR SINGH PAUT (d. 1708), generally known as Guru Gobind Singh\'s adopted son, was born to Bhai Natthu, a carpenter of Bassi Pathanan, near Sirhind. His mother, Mai Bhikkhi, served in the Guru`s household at Anandpur, where the boy spent his early childhood, too. He was about the same age

ABBOTT, SIR JAMES (1807-1896), British Resident\'s assistant at Lahore, capital of the sikh kingdom, after the first Anglo - Sikh war (1845-46), was born on 12 March 1807, the son of Henry Alexius Abbott. Passing out of the military college of the East India Company at Addiscombe, England, Abbott received

AHANKAR (hankar as it is commonly pronounced in Punjabi) is a compound of Sanskrit aham (I) and kar (\'maker\') and means I-maker, i.e. what individuates the person as I. It stands for egotism, egoism, self conceit, self centredness, vanity or simply pride. Other synonyms used in the sacred texts of

AJMER CHAND, ruler of Kahlur (Bilaspur), one of the princely states in the Sivaliks. He succeeded his father. Raja Bhim Chand, who had retired in his favour. Bhim Chand had led battles against Guru Gobind Singh, and his son, Ajmer Chand, continued the hostility. He formed a league of

AKHBARAT-I-SINGHAN, also known as Twarikhi Sikkhan, is a diary of the day today events of the period from 1895 Bk/AD 1839 to 1903 Bk/AD 1847 based on official reports which General Avitabile (q.v.), military governor of Peshawar during Sikh times, received from various districts under his jurisdiction. It is written

ALLAYAR, a wealthy Muslim horse dealer of Delhi, who turned a preacher of Sikhism, first came to Guru Amar Das at Goindval escorted by Bhai Paro, a prominent Sikh of Dalla, a village in present day Kapurthala district of the Punjab. It is said that returning from Kabul once

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

ANARKALI, the oldest Mughal tomb in Lahore, was built between 1605 and 1615 by Emperor Jahangir for his former favourite dancing girl Anarkali. The tomb was surrounded by extensive gardens enclosed within a high protective wall, and several buildings and palaces were erected in the gardens by Mughal princes and