ABD USSAMAD KHAN (d. 1737), governor of Lahore from 1713 to 1726, a descendant of the Naqashbandi saint `Abdulla Ahrar, a great grandson of Khwaja Baki of Baghdad, was born at Agra when his father, Khwaja `Abd ul-Karim Ansari, had come out with his family from Samarkand on a tour

ABDUL RASUL KASHMIRI, a native of Srinagar who was in trade at Amritsar as a shawl merchant, was for a time a close confidant of Maharaja Duleep Singh, the last Sikh King of the Punjab deposed by the British in 1849. Kashmir! acted as the deposed Maharaja`s liaison man with

\'ABDULLA BHAI\', Abdul according to some Sikh chroniclers, was a Muslim minstrel who recited heroic balladry at Sikh congregations in the time of Guru Hargobind (1595-1644). Abdul was born in the village of Sursingh, now in Amritsar district of the Punjab. He first came to Amritsar in 1606 at the

ABDULLA, KHWAJA, a native of Mani Majra, near present day Chandigarh, was the keeper of the jail at Chandni Chowk kotwali in Delhi, where Guru Tegh Bahadur, Nanak IX, was detained under imperial warrant. He was a pious man and truly reverenced the holy detenu. He tried to mitigate

ABUL FAZL (1551-1602), principal secretary-cum-minister to Akbar, the Mughal emperor. He was an accomplished man of learning and was the author of two celebrated works, A`ini Akbari and Akbar-nama, the former being a description of Akbar`s administrative system and the latter a chronicle of the events of his reign.

ADINA BEG KHAN (d. 1758), governor of the Punjab for a few months in AD 1758, was, according to Ahwal-i-Dina Beg Khan, an unpublished Persian manuscript, the son of Channu, of the Arain agriculturalist caste, mostly settled in Doaba region of the Punjab. He was born at the village of

AHMAD SHAH DURRANI (1722-1772), the first of the Saddozai rulers of Afghanistan and founder of the Durrani empire, belonged to the Saddozai section of the Popalzai clan of the Abdali tribe of Afghans. In the 18th century the Abdalis were to be found chiefly around Herat. Under their leader

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

AHMAD, SHAIKH (1564-1624), celebrated Muslim thinker and theologian of the Naqshbandi Sufi order, was born on 26 May 1564 at Sirhind in present day Patiala district of the Punjab. He received his early education at the hands of his father. Shaikh `Abd al-Ahad, and later studied at Siaiko, now in

AKBAR KHAN MUHAMMAD (d. 1848), son of Dost Muhammad Khan, the ruler of Afghanistan. He was a Hery young man of great dash and daring. Like his father, he was keen to regain the Afghan possessions in India Multan, Kashmir, Attock and Peshawar. In 1837, Dost Muhammad Khan declared

AKBAR, JALAL UD-DIN MUHAMMAD (1542-1605), third in the line of Mughal emperors of India, was born on 23 November 1542 at Amarkot, in Sindh, while his father, Humayun, was escaping to Persia after he had been ousted by Sher Khan Sur. Akbar was crowned king at Kalanaur, in the Punjab,

ALIF KHAN, who is mentioned in Guru Gobind Singh\'s Bachitra Natak, was an officer in the Mughal army of Aurangzib. In 1691, he was despatched by Mian Khan, the viceroy of Jammu, to Kangra for collecting arrears of tribute from the hill chiefs. Raja Kirpal Chand Katoch of Kangra

ALIM, a Muslim poet, enjoyed the patronage of Guru Gobind Singh. Formerly in the employ of Prince Mu\'azzam (later Emperor Bahadur Shah), he probably came to Guru Gobind Singh sometime during the period 1687-94 when the prince, having fallen from the favour of his father, Aurangzib, was under internment.

ALLAHDAD KHAN (d. 184.9) was the last ruler of Khattekhel family of Tonk, situated in Bannu district, on the northwest frontier. When Maharaja Ranjit Singh conquered this region in 1821, Allahdad Khan became a tributary of the Sikh government. As the tribute had fallen in arrears, an expedition was

ALLARD, ACHILLE, a young Muslim boy whose parents had been killed in one of the battles of Multan, and who was saved by Maharaja Ranjit Singh, had been born at Sayyidpur in the then province of Multan. General Allard noticed his intelligence and asked the Maharaja\'s permission to adopt

ASMAN KHAN or ASMAN KHAN (d. 1635), a Pathan who sacrilegiously appropriated the robe of honour, a sword and a horse bestowed by Guru Hargobind on his father in law, Painda Khan, and poached a hawk belonging to the Guru`s eldest son, Baba Gurditta. When questioned, Painda Khan defended

ATA MUHAMMAD KHAN BARAKZAI, son of Painda Khan Barakzai, became the governor of Kashmir in 1809. When Shah Shuja`, the king of Afghanistan, was dethroned, he fled towards the Punjab. At Attock he was captured by the governor, Jaharidad Khan. who sent him to Kashmir to be handed over

AURANGZIB, MUHI UDDIN MUHAMMAD ALAMGIR (1618-1707), the last of the great Mughal emperors of India, ascended the throne of Delhi on 21 July 1658 after he had gained a decisive victory in the war of succession at Samugarh, near Agra, on 29 May 1658. Aurangzib`s appointment in 1636 as

AZIM KHAN, MUHAMMAD (d. 1823), was one of the sons of Painda Khan and a brother of Fateh Khan, who appointed him governor of Kashmir in April 1813. In 1814, Maharaja Ranjit Singh made an unsuccessful attempt to conquer Kashmir. On the death of Fateh Khan in 1818, Azim

AZIZ UDDIN, FAQIR (1780-1845), physician, diplomat, and foreign minister at the court of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, was the eldest son of Ghulam Mohy udDin, a leading physician of Lahore. Of his two brothers, Nur udDin held charge of the city of Lahore and had been governor of Gujrat, and Imam