LACHHMI, RANI, daughter of Desa Singh Vadpagga, a Sandhu Sikh of the village of Jogki Khan, in Gujranwala district, now in Pakistan, was married to Maharaja Ranjit Singh, in 1820. She survived the Maharaja and received from the British a pension of Rs 11,200 per annum.

MAZHAR ALI, an artillery officer in Sikh times who commanded the horse battery of Maharaja Ranjit Singh`s Topkhanai Khas. For a time, he served under General Ghaus Khan with command of a battery of 10 light guns. He took part in the Attock operations in 1813 under the command

NAUDH SINGH (d. 1752), son of Buddha Singh, was greatgrandfather of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. He was a brave and daring man who applied his energies to expanding the family`s fortunes. He fortified the village of Sukkarchakk in 1730, and in the same year married the daughter of a rich

RADHA KISHAN, PANDIT (d. 1875), son of Pandit Madhusudan, was appointed in 1824 by Maharaja Ranjit Singh to take charge of the education of Hira Singh Dogra, who studied both Sanskrit and Persian. Later, he was appointed tutor to the minor Maharaja Duleep Singh. He also performed the duties

RAJ KAUR, daughter of Raja Gajpat Singh of Jind, was the mother of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. As she came from the Malva region, she was affectionately known as Mai Malvain. When her husband Mahari Singh died, their son Ranjit Singh was too young to assume control of the estate.

SOHAN LAL SURI, vakil or attorney at the Lahore court, is famous for his monumental work in Persian, `Umdat iitTwankh, a chronicle of Sikh times comprising five daftars or volumes. Little is known about Sohan Lal`s early life except that he was the son of Lala Ganpat Rai, a

ARJAN SINGH THAPA was the son of the Gurkha general, Amar Singh Thapa, who had advanced his conquests up to Kangra in the early years of the nineteenth century. Maharaja Ranjit Singh expelled him from the Kangra hills, but the Gurkhas had fought so bravely that he decided to

ATAR SINGH ATARIVALA (d. 1897), son of Chatar Singh Atarivala, governor of Hazara. He joined his father during the latter`s re volt against the British in 1848-49 and was, after the annexation of the Punjab, confined within the limits of his village, along with his father and brother, Raja

DAYAKAUR, RANI (d. 1843), widow of Sahib Singh Bhangi of Gujrat, was married, in 1811, to Maharaja Ranjit Singh by the rite of chadar andazi, a rite having sanction under customary law to facilitate marriage with a widow who is accepted into nuptials by unfurling a chadar or sheet

FATEH SINGH CHHACHHI (d. 1814), son of Tahal Singh Chhachhi, a Kohli Khatri belonging to Gujranwala district in the Punjab, served under Maharaja Ranjit Singh. He fought in the campaigns launched by the Maharaja for the conquest of Pind Dadan Khan, Pindi Gheb and Jhang and obtained considerable addition

GURDIT SINGH MAJITHIA (d. 1853), army general in Sikh times, was son of Amar Singh Majithia. He entered Maharaja Ranjit Singh`s service in 1834, and rose to command 3 infantry battalions and a wing of light artillery. General Gurdit Singh was in command of the Lahore troops at Peshawar