Alphabetical Index

ILAHI BAKHSH, an officer in Maharaja Ranjit Singh`s army who commanded the special artillery wing of FaujiK has and a portion of the artillery corps named DerahiIlahi Bakhsh. General Ilalu Bakhsh`s lopkhdnd look part in most of the military campaigns of the Maharaja. It was employed to great effect during the conquest of Multan in 1818, and, two years later, in the pacification of Hazara and Dera Gha/T Khan. The Maharaja often called upon General Ilahl Bakhsh to display, on ceremonial occasions, the skill and effectiveness of his batteries.

IMAD USSAADAT, a chronicle in Persian, composed at the instance of Col. John Baillie, British Resident at Lucknow, by Ghulam `All Naqyi, of Rac Barcli, in 1808 containing accounts of the Nawabs of Oudh from Saadat Khan to Saadat `All Khan. besides those of the Marathas, the Ruhilas, the Afghans, the Jals and the Sikhs. The book was lithographed at the Nawal Kishore Press of Kanpur in 1864. The manuscript in the Oriental Public Library, Patna, comprising 151 large sized folios with 21 lines to a page, and written in nastaliq, is broken up into sections with subject headings given in red.

IMAM SHAH (d. 1846), who rose to be a colonel in Ranjit Singh`s army entered the service of Jodh Singh of Wazirabad in 1809 as an artillery Jamadar. He was of Persian descent and a grandson of Qamar udDin, an officer in the army of Nadir Shah. In 1810, on the death ofJodh Singh, Imam Shah joined service under Ranjit Singh. Imam Shah took part in various expeditions undertaken by the Maharaja. He was killed in action on 10 February 1846 at Sabhraon during the first Anglo Sikh war. His son, Muhammad Shah, a commandant in Sikh artillery, also took part in the battle along with his father.

IMAM UDDIN, FAQIR (d. 1847), second son of Ghulam Mohly udDTn and younger brother of Faqir `Azi/ udDin, foreign minister to Maharaja Ranjit Singh, was Qiladar or garrison commander of the Gobindgarh Fort at Amritsar, where the bulk of the Sikh crown jewels was kept in deposit. Capable and scholarly. Imam udDin was entrusted with multifarious duties by the Maharaja. He virtually acted as the chief treasurer of the kingdom, authorizing payments on behalf of the Darbar and carrying out commercial transactions through casli and hund is for the purchase of grain. 

IMAM UDDIN, SHAIKH (1819-1859), who succeeded his father, Shaikh Ghulam Mohly udDin, as governor of the Sikh province of Kashmir in 1845, had earlier served under Kanvar Nau Nihal Singh in the Derajat and had in 1840 assisted his father in the campaign against Mandi. In April 1841, when a mutiny occurred in Kashmir, Maharaja Sher Singh ordered his father, Sheikh Ghulam Mohiy udDin, then governor of the Jalandhar Doab, to proceed to Kashmir to take charge of the province and restore order. Shaikh Imam udDin was then appointed governor of the Jalandhar Doab. When in September 1843, Wazir Hira Singh had Bhai Gurmukh Singh and Misr Belt Ram arrested, he handed them over to Shaikh Imam udDin for custody. 

INDAR SINGH, BHAI (1881-1921), one of the Nankana Sahib martyrs, was born on 27 January 1881, the son of Bhai Sarmukh Singh and Mai Sukhdel of Pandori Nijjharari in Jalandhar district. He learnt reading and writing Punjabi in the village gurudwara, and grew up into a strongly built young man, tall and sturdy. He seemed ideally suited for a career in the army which he did join (36th Sikh Battalion), but took out his discharge in two years` time. He participated in the historic Sikh gathering at Dhavovali on 13 October 1920. He had his name registered as a volunteer in the batch led by Bhai Sundar Singh, Jathedar of his own village, for the liberation of the Nankana Sahib shrine. He fell a martyr in the compound of Gurdwara Janam As than in the raining bullets on 20 February 1921. See NANKANA SAHIB MASSACRE

INDAR SINGH, BHAI (1894-1921), one of the Akali reformers who fell martyr at Nankana Sahib during the reformation of the holy shrines there, was born in 1894, the son of Bhai Mahitab Singh and Mai Ichchhar Kaur of the village of Daroli in Jalandhar district. The family later shifted to Shahkoi, a small town in Sheikhupura district in the newly developed Lower Chenab Canal Colony where he earned a modest income as a draper-cum-tailor. As the movement for Gurdwara reform was picking up momentum towards the end of the second decade of the 20th century, he turned an Akali and took part in the liberation of Gurdwara Babe di Bcr on 45 October 1920.

INDIA SECRET PROCEEDINGS (1834-1856), a manuscript series of Indian records at the India Office Library, London, succeeding Bengal Secret and Political Consultations (1800-34). It includes the entire range of despatches and correspondence of the North-West Frontier Agency from the heyday of Sikh political power in the Punjab down to the annexation of the Punjab in 1849.

INDRA Millions of Indras serve the Lord. (Bhairo Kabir, p. 1163) Indra was ordered and it rained heavily. (Var Malar M. l, M. 3, p. 1281) One has to die ultimately in Indra Purt. (Gauri M. 5, p. 237) Indra received the punishment of one thousand marks of disgrace and vept. (Var Ramkali M. 3, Shalok M. l, p. 953) On seeing Ahalya, the wife of ascetic Gautama, Indra was allured. When a thousand marks of disgrace appeared on his body, he repented in his mind. (Prabhati M. l, p. 1344) Indra is the king of gods.

IOH SIMBLI, commonly called NASIMBLI, is an old village in Patiala district, about 5 km southwest of Ambala city (30"23`N, 76"47`E). It has a historical shrine, Gurdwara Manji Sahib Paishahi X, dedicated to Guru Gobind Singh who, according to local tradition, visited the site during his stay at Lakhnaur in 1670. The Gurdwara is situated inside the village. The present double storey building, constructed in 1952, comprises a square sanctum within a rectangular pavilion on the ground floor and a hall on the first floor.

ISA, ISARA, ISHARA (ISHWARA) Isara (Ishara) Brahma and goddess sing Thy Praises, O Lord !... (Japu, p. 6) I am a sacrince to my Lord Isa (Ishara). (Maru Solhe M. 5, p. 1072) Isa Mahesur (Shiva) serves the Lord, but does not know His Limits. (Var Malar M. l, p. 1279) Isara (Ishara, Ishwara) and Brahma serve the Lord, but they could not know His Limits. (Var Gujri M. 3, p. 516) The words Isa and Isara are tadbhavas from Sanskrit Ishwara, \'which mean \'The Lord\', but they are also titles given to Shiva, when they appear with the name of any other god.

ISAR or Isvar, a Gorakhpanthi yogi, who according to Miharbdn Janam Sdkhl, met Guru Nanak at Sumer mountain in company with a group of Nath ascetics and engaged in a discourse with him. Bhai Gurdas, Varan, I. 39, mentions Achal Vatala, outside of Batala, in present day Gurdaspur district of the Punjab, as the venue. The name Isar occurs in one of Guru Nanak`s slokas in RdmkaU ki Vdr`m the Guru Granth Sahib. The subject of the dialogue was the nature of the Supreme Reality and what constituted the true spiritual path.

ISAR SINGH (d. 1700), a warrior in the retinue of Guru Gobind Singh. According to Sarup Singh Kaushish, Guru kidn Sdkhidn, Isar Singh was among those who, fighting under the command of Sahibzada Ajit Singh, repulsed Raja Ajmcr Ghand of Kahlur, who had attacked the Fort of Taragarh at Anandpur. isar Singh, along with Kalyan Singh and some other Sikhs, fell in the battle which according to Bhalt Vahi Tomar Binjiauton Ki, took place on 29 August 1700.

ISHAR KAUR, RANI (d. 1840), daughter of Lal Singh Sandhu of the village of Sirarivali, in Sialkot district of the Punjab, was married to Prince Kharak Singh, eldest son of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, in 1815, by the rite of chddar anddzi, i.e. throwing across the conjugal sheet. She immolated herself on the funeral pyre of her husband on 5 November 1840.

ISHAR SINGH GRANTHI, BHAI (1881-1921), one of the Nankana Sahib martyrs, was born at Bahoru village in Amritsar district in 1881, the son of Bhai Alar Singh and Mai Nihal Kaur. His schooling was interrupted owing to his father`s death. But the desire to learn was so strong in him that at the age of 26, he joined the Khalsa Pracharak Vidyala, Tarn Taran, and spent four years there studying Sikh history and philosophy, besides practising kirlan.

ISHAR SINGH JATHEDAR, BHAI (1870-1921), one of the Nankana Sahib martyrs, was the second son of Dafcdar (cavalry sergeant) Hardit Singh and Mata Prem Kaur of Dharovali village in Gurdaspur district. He learnt to read the scripture in the village gurudwara. He was married on 15 Phagun 1942 Bk/26 February 1886 to Bibi Basant Kaur, daughter of Bhai Harnam Singh of Muhaddipur village in Jalandhar district. The family later migrated to Chakk No. 33 Dharovali in Sheikh upura district in the Lower Chenab Canal Colony.