MEDINI PRAKASH, ruler from 1684 to 1704 of Sirmur, a state situated along the river Yamuna in the Kayarda Dun valley of the Sivalik hills, was one among the hill chiefs who did not support Raja Bhim Chand of Kahlur in his designs against Guru Gobind Singh. In April 1685,

PAHAR SINGH, RAJA (d. 1849), son of Charhat Singh, succeeded his nephew, Atar Singh, in 1827 to the throne of Faridkot. His reign lasting twenty-two years was marked by peace and prosperity. He founded many villages and dug wells and extended cultivation. He helped the British in the first

PANJAB KAUR (d. 1741) was the wife of Baba Ram Rai, who after being disowned by his father. Guru Har Rai, for his heresy had settled in Dehra Dun. Ram Rai died on 4 September 1687. Panjab Kaur believed that her husband had not died a natural death and

RANBIR SINGH, MAHARAJA (1879-1948), son of Balbir Singh and a grandson of Raja Raghbir Singh, was born at Sangrur on 11 October 1879. He ascended the gaddi of jind state in 1887 and was invested with ruling powers in 1899. Deaf from a relatively early age, Maharaja Ranbir Singh

SAHIB SINGH BEDl, BABA (1756-1834), tenth in direct descent from Guru Nanak, was much revered in Sikh times for his piety as well as for his martial prowess. He was born at Dera Baba Nanak, Gurdaspur district on Chet. Sudi 5,1813 Bk/5 April 1756. Around 1770, his parents Baba

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

AMRIT RAI, son of Chhail Rai, a Bhatt of Lahore, and pupil of Chatar Das, a noted poet, had completed his Ras Ratnakar and Chitra Bilas ( the latter in 1679) before he came under the patronage of Guru Gobind Singh at Anandpur. What is left of his compositions

BALLU, son of Mula, was the grandfather of Bhai Mani Ram of "Alipur, in Multan district, whose five sons were distinguished warriors in the retinue of Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708). According to Bhatt Vahi Multani Sindhi, Ballu himself was a retainer of Guru Hargobind (1595-1644). He died fighting for

GURBAKHSH SINGH, SANT (1871-1939), better known as Sant Gurbakhsh Singh of Patiala, scholar and preacher, was born in 1871 at Chunlan in Patiala district. His father, Bhal Sham Singh, and his family shifted to Harisron, near Navashahar in Jalandhar district, as the repression was let loose by government on

JALLIANVALA BAGH MASSACRE, involving the killing of hundreds of unarmed, defenceless Indians by a senior British military officer, took place on 13 April 1919 in the heart of Amritsar, the holiest city of the Sikhs, on a day sacred to them as the birth anniversary of the Khalsa. Jalliarivala Bagh,

KAHN SINGH MAN (d. 1848), son of Hukam Singh, was appointed commandant of Maharaja Ranjit Singh`s bodyguard at a comparatively young age. He took part in several campaigns under the Maharaja, rising to the rank of general in 1836, commanding four regiments of infantry and a 10gun derd of