ALLARD, BANNOU PAN DEI (1814-1884), born of Raja Menga Ram of Chamba and Banni Panje Dei at Chamba on 25 January 1814, married Jean Francois Allard, one of Maharaja Ranjit Singh\'s French generals, in March 1826, and bore him seven children, two of whom died in infancy and are buried in Lahore along with their father. Allard and his wife also adopted a little orphan, Achille. In 1834, Bannou Pan Dei, her children and two of her female attendants accompanied Allard to France.
ALLARD, JEAN FRANCOIS (1785-1839), Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, an order instituted in 1802 by Napoleon I, was born at Saint Tropez, France, on 8 March 1785. In 1803, he joined the French army and served in it fighting in the Imperial Cavalry in far flung fields in Italy, Spain and Portugal until its final defeat at the hands of the allies in 1815 when the Imperial Guard, in which he had been serving as a lieutenant since 1810, was disbanded.
ANARKALI, the oldest Mughal tomb in Lahore, was built between 1605 and 1615 by Emperor Jahangir for his former favourite dancing girl Anarkali. The tomb was surrounded by extensive gardens enclosed within a high protective wall, and several buildings and palaces were erected in the gardens by Mughal princes and nobles. In 1799, Maharaja Ranjit Singh put up his headquarters there while besieging Lahore. Subsequently, he offered Anarkali to his eldest son, the heir apparent Kharak Singh.
DEPUIS or DE LUST, a French soldier of fortune who came to Lahore in 1842, and was employed by the Sikh Darbar as a trainer of gunner recruits. Later, he was made commandant of a battalion, but, being found unfit for command, he was removed from service in 1844. He then proceeded to Shimla where he opened a school for teaching French and dancing.
DUBUIGNON, ROBERT WALTER, DE TALBOT (1809-1868), a French adventurer in the employ of Begam Samaru of Sardhana, who came to Lahore to seek better prospects. He obtained employment in the Sikh court through the good offices of General Ventura, and was assigned to General Allard as aide decamp. He left the service after about a year to go into business, exporting goods from Kashmir to France in exchange for French merchandise. He died at Ludhiana in 1868.
