RAM SINGH (d. 1716), a Bal Jatt of the village of Mirpur Patti in Amritsar district of the Punjab, was the younger brother of Baj Singh, who was appointed governor of the town of Sirhind after it was occupied by Banda Singh Bahadur in May 1710. Ram

LANGAH, BHAI, a well known figure in early Sikh history, was originally a follower of Sultan Sakhi Sarwar. Son of Abu ulKhair, a Dhillon Jatt with a Muslim name, belonging to the village of Jhabal, in the present Amritsar district of the Punjab, he was one of the three

SHANKAR DAS (d. 1832) was introduced at the Sikh court by his father, Shiv Dial, himself an employee of Maharaja Ranjit Singh who had appointed him manager of the Dhanni country. Shankar Das was placed under Prince Kharak Singh, the heir apparent, to manage his Jagirs. When Diwan Moti

SAHIB DIAL (b.1801), second of the five sons of Misr Ralia Ram, entered the Sikh service as a munshi (clerk) in the Customs Department under his father. In 1832 he was transferred to the Paymaster`s office of the regular army and in 1839 was made chief of the customs

RUP LAL (d. 1865), the eldest son of Misr Divan Chand, served in the Lahore treasury until he was appointed in 1832 by Maharaja Ranjit Singh to replace Shaikh Muhi udDin as governor of the Jalandhar Doab. Maharaja Sher Singh made him governor of Kalanaur and the Lahore territory

RALIA RAM (d. 1864), eldest son of Misr Chhajju Mall, was appointed by Maharaja Ranjit Singh as administrator of Amritsar in 1811. Ralla Ram displayed great energy and resourcefulness in securing peace and putting an end to thefts and highway robberies. In 1812 he was entrusted with charge of

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

POTTINGER, SIR HENRY (1789-1856), soldier and diplomat, son of Eldred Curwen Pottinger, was born on 3 Ocober 1789. He obtained a cadetship in the Indian army in 1804. During 1809-11, he explored the country between Persia and India travelling incognito. He reported the results of his journey which were published

NUR UDDIN, FAQIR (d. 1852), third son of Ghulam Mohy udDin and the youngest brother of Faqir `Aziz udDin, was one of the prominent Muslim courtiers serving the Sikh sovereign Maharaja Ranjit Singh and his successors. In 1801, when Ranjit Singh assumed the title of Maharaja, Nur udDin was

NAHAR SINGH and Sher Singh at the head of 500 Sikhs were appointed by Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708) to defend Lohgarh Fort during one of the battles of Anandpur. Both of them displayed uncommon initiative and daring against the besieging host. They were rewarded by the Guru who, according

MANGAL SINGH RAMGARHIA (1800-1879), manager of the Golden Temple at Amritsar for 17 years from 1862 till his death in 1879, was the son of Divan Singh Ramgarhia, a nephew of the famous Sardar Jassa Singh Ramgarhia. During his younger days, Mangal Singh remained in attendance on Maharaja Ranjit

MAN SINGH, JUSTICE (1887-1949), known as Bhai Man Singh up to his thirties, was born in 1887 at Ambala, now in Haryana, the youngest of the three sons of Nand Singh who had fought against the British in the second AngloSikh war (1849) and had then worked under them