NIDHAN SINGH PANJHATTHA (d. 1839), soldier, minor commander and jdgirddr under Maharaja Ranjit Singh. He acquired the epithet Parijhattha, the "five handed," for his gallantry in the battle of Ten hill (1823). He singlehanded made five Pathans prisoners and captured their weapons. This act of valour earned him the

SIKHS` RELATIONS WITH NAWAB OF OUDH. For a whole decade prior to 1774, Sikhs had been regularly raiding and pillaging upper Ganga Yamuna Doab and Ruhilkhand bordering on Oudh. Yet they had not entered the territory of the Nawab, Shuja` udDaulah, who had become an ally of the British since

SURAT SINGH MAJITHIA, RAJA (d. 1881), son of Atar Singh Majithia, was a soldier, commander and notable sardar of the Sikh Darbar. Details of his early career and of his service under Maharaja Ranjit Singh are scanty. Surat Singh was commandant of the Sikh battalion posted at Peshawar during

WAQI`AIJANGISIKKHAN, by Diwan Ajudhia Parshad, is a chronicle in Persian prose of the events of the first Anglo Sikh war (1845-46). The narratives of the battles of Pherushahr and Sabhraon have in fact been taken from two separate manuscripts. The work was translated into English by V.S. Suri and published

AGNEW, PATRICK ALEXANDER VANS (1822-1848), a civil servant under the East India Company. He was the son of Lt Col Patrick Vans Agnew, an East India Company director. Agnew joined the Bengal civil service in March 1841. In 1842, he became assistant to the commissioner of Delhi division. In December

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

AHMAD YAR KHAN TIWANA (d. 1829), second son of Khan Muhammad Khan, the Tiwana chief of Mittha Tiwana, in Shahpur district, measured swords with Sikhs more than once during Maharaja Ranjit Singh`s time. Ahmad Yar Khan revolted against his father and, having succeeded in attracting most of the tribe to

ARJAN SINGH (d. 1859), a military commander in Sikh times, was born the son of Jamiat Singh of Rarighar Nangal, in Gurdaspur district. In 1845, on the eve of the first AngloSikh war, he was given the command of four infantry regiments, one regiment of cavalry, and a troop

BISHAN SINGH, a general in the Sikh army, was the adopted son of Jamadar Khushal Singh, the royal chamberlain (deorhidar). He received his education at the Ludhiana Mission School across the AngloSikh frontier. In 1848, when stationed at Pind Dadan Khan, Bishan Singh was ordered to move his troops

BUDDH SINGH MAN (d. 1856), son of Mana Singh, entered the service of Maharaja Ranjit Singh in 1816 as a khidmatgar (attendant). He rose to the command of 30 horse, and was given a.jagir worth 17,000 rupees. Later, he was promoted a colonel in General Court`s brigade. According to

FIVE YEARS IN INDIA, by Henry Edward Fane, aide-de-camp to his uncle, General Sir Henry Fane, commander-in-chief of the army of the East India Company during late 1830`s, is "a narrative of [the author`s] travels in the Presidency of Bengal, a visit to the court of Runjeet Singh, a residence

FORD, MATTHEW WILLIAM (d. 1841), an Englishman who started his career in 1804 as an ensign in a West India regiment. He successively served with the 7th Foot, the 70th Foot, the 1st Royal Scots and the 22nd Light Dragoons. In 1823, he was appointed paymaster to the 16th Foot.