BHIM CHAND, ruler of Kahlur (Bilaspur), a princely state in the Sivaliks, from 1665-92. The family claimed descent from Chandel Rajputs of Bundelkhand. Bhim Chand`s father, Dip Chand, was a tributary of the Mughals and he was allowed to exercise nominal authority over twenty-two states in the hills including

SOHAN SINGH BHAKNA, BABA (1870-1968), founder president of the Ghadr party in the U.S.A., was the only son of Bhai Karam Singh, a Shergill Jatt of the village of Bhakna, 16 km southwest of Amritsar. He was born in January 1870 at Khutrai Khurd, parental home of his mother,

BHUPINDER SINGH, LIEUTENANTGENERAL MAHARAJA SIR (1891-1931), Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Star of India, Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire, Knight of the Order of the British Empire, ruler of the Sikh state of Patiala, was one of the most colourful and

UDHAM SINGH (1882-1926), revolutionary and Ghadr leader, was born on 15 March 1882 at the village of Kasel in Amritsar district. His father`s name was Meva Singh and mother`s Hukam Kaur. He passed his early years in his village grazing cattle and working on the family`s small farm. He

DHARAM ARTH BOARD, a body representing different sections of the Sikh community constituted in May 1949 by Maharaja Yadavinder Singh, Rajpramukh of the Patiala and East Punjab States Union (PEPSU), to manage the major Sikh shrines within the new state which had come into being in consequence of the amalgamation

YADAVINDER SINGH, LIEUTENANT GENERAL MAHARAJA (1913-1974), Grand Commander of the Indian Empire, Companion of the British Empire, Doctor of Laws from Banaras and Panjab Universities, was the last hereditary ruler of the east while Indian princely state of Patiala. Born on 7 January 1913 during the high noon of

KEHAR SINGH, a Ghadr leader, was the son of Nihal Singh of the village of Marhana in Amritsar district. Like many other farmers from his district, he left home to seek his fortune in the United States of America. Responding to the call of the Ghadr Party to make

ZAIL SINGH, GIANI (1916-1994), the first Punjabi to become President of the Republic of India, was born on 5 May 1916, the son of Bhai Kishan Singh and Mata Ind Kaur, a Ramgarhia couple of a small village, Sandhvan, near Kot Kapura, in the princely state of Faridkot. Kishan

KESAR SINGH (1875?), one of the leading organizers and first vice-president of the Hindustani Association of the Pacific Coast (of the United States), more commonly known as the Ghadr Parly. Born in 1875, he was the son of Bhup Singh and came from the village of Thatgarh, in Amritsar

NIRMAL PANCHAITI AKHARA is a seminary of the Nirmala sect of the Sikhs established in 1862 at Patiala. Akhdrd, lit. arena, signifies a monastery or seminary with facilities for board, lodging and education of sadhus of a particular sect or cult. Sannyasi and Bairagi sadhus had their respective akhdrds, also

OFFER OF SIKH STATE RECALLED BY MAHARAJA YADAVINDER SINGH. It was raining heavily and my garden was enveloped in mist. We were having the First real monsoon downpour of the season. The beautiful dahlias, some of them 10 inches or more in diameter, were sadly drooping. The gladioli were not