SHAHIDGANJ AGITATION (1935-40) marked culmination of the tussle between Sikh and Muslim communities in the Punjab for the possession of a sacred site in Lahore upon which stood Gurdwara Shahidgahj (shahid = martyr, gahj = hoard, treasure or mart) in memory of Sikh martyrs of the eighteenth century and which

RAM SINGH BEDI, BABA (d. 1797), a Nihang warrior, was the son of Bhai Faqir Chand, of the village of Kotia Faqir Chand, in Sialkot district, now in Pakistan. The family claimed direct descent from Guru Nanak. Ram Singh took khande di pahul or vows by the double edged sword,

RAM SINGH, a holy man maintaining a dharamsala at Zahura, near Tanda, in Hoshiarpur district, assisted Bhai Maharaj Singh, the leader of the anti British rebellion of 1848-49, not only by lodging him and his followers in his dharamsala but also introducing him to several influential

SAMMAN BURJ, also called Musamman Burj, an octagonal tower commanding a wide range of buildings within the Lahore Fort, was built by Emperor Akbar, who made the city his capital for some time. Within the Fort was situated the royal palace which was enlarged by Jahangir and,

AFGHAN SIKH RELATIONS spanning the years 1748 to 1849 go back to the first invasion of India by Ahmad Shah Durrani, although he must have heard of the Sikhs when in 1739 he accompanied Nadir Shah, the Iranian invader, as a young staff officer. Having occupied Lahore after a minor

AMAR SINGH MAJITHIA, soldier and administrator in Sikh times, called Amar Singh Kalan (senior) to distinguish him from his namesake Amar Singh Khurd (junior) who was also from the village of Majitha, was the son of Dargaha Singh Majithia. He took part in many an early campaign under Maharaja

ASRARISAMADI, a Persian chronicle by an anonymous writer who is now identified as Munshi Jot Prakash attached to the court of Nawab Abd us Samad Khan, the governor of Lahore from 1713 to 1726. Written around 1728, the work. which the author claims to be an eyewitness account of

BENET, a Frenchma n, was one of the European physicians at the court of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. He arrived at Lahore in 1838, and was given employment as a personal physician to the Maharaja and surgeon general to the Khalsa army on a monthly salary of Rs 1,000. After

BROADFOOT, GEORGE (1807-1845) Joined service of the East India Company as a cadet in the Madras Native Infantry in 1826. In May 1841, he went to Kabul in command of the escort which accompanied the families of Shah Shuja` and Zaman Shah. He took part in the first Afghan war

CHARHAT SINGH, son of Jai Singh, a Sandhu Jatt of Kot Sayyid Mahmud, a small village near Amritsar, held a service jagir under Maharaja Ranjit Singh. His father had served as a trooper under Gulab Singh Bhangi. Charhat Singh`s sister Rup Kaur married Maharaja Ranjit Singh in 1809. Charhat Singh

DEVA SINGH, SARDAR BAHADUR(d. 1872), son of Fateh Singh and a great grandson of Savan Singh, cousin of Sarigat Singh, the leader of the Nishanavali misi, came of a Shergil Jatt family of Mansurval, in Firozpur district. Deva Singh joined service under Maharaja Ranjit Singh in 1816 at a