ADVENTURES OF AN OFFICER IN THE PUNJAB (2 vols.) by Major H. M. L. Lawrence, under the pseudonym of Bellasis, published in AD 1846 by Henry Colburn, London, and reprinted in 1970 by the Languages Department, Punjab, Patiala. The book which is a rambling account, half fact half fiction, of the author`s adventures, provides information about the rise of the Sikhs and about the person and government of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. This is "a dose of history, which the reader may read or not, as he pleases" (p. 236), mixed with scandal and bazaar gossip.
Explore the life of Beli Ram, treasury head and guardian of the Kohinoor diamond, caught in Lahore's royal politics under Maharaja Ranjit Singh.position in it. Besides, he received numerous jagirs, including that of Ranghar Nangal worth 30,000 rupees a year. Beli Ram maintained strict discipline. He annoyed Raja Dhian Singh, the prime minister, by declining him to show a rare piece of jewellery in the to shakhana, royal treasury, without the Maharaja`s permission.
BUDDH SINGH SANDHANVALIA (d. 1827), soldier wdjagirdar in the time of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, was son of Amir Singh Sandhanvalia, his two brothers being the more famous Lahina Singh Sandhanvalia and Atar Singh Sandhanvalia. Buddh Singh entered the Maharaja`s service in 1811. The first independent command he held was at Bahawalpur where he had been sent to collect tax arrears. In 1821, he captured the forts of Maujgarh and Jamgarh and received jagirs in reward from the Maharaja. Later, he was sent to the Jammu hills in command of two regiments of infantry and one of cavalry.
GOBINDJAS, RAI (d. 1846) served, like his father Rai Anand Singh, as a vakilor agent of the Sikh kingdom, first at Ludhiana and then at Delhi. His despatches from Ludhiana contain reports concerning various political matters such as the Indus navigation scheme, the Ropar meeting, Alexander Burncs` mission to Kabul, the Tripartite treaty, Lord Auckland`s visit to Firozpur, and the passage of British troops across the Punjab to Kabul. He was one of Maharaja Ranjit Singh`s most wellinformed counsellors on Anglo Sikh affairs. Gobind Jas died in 1846.
