Discover the legendary dark grey horse Laili, adored by Ranjit Singh, known for its beauty, grace, and the fascinating journey through 19th-century Punjab.
Discover the captivating history and architecture of Samman Burj, the octagonal Mughal marvel in Lahore Fort, known for its royal and administrative legacy.
ALLARD, ACHILLE, a young Muslim boy whose parents had been killed in one of the battles of Multan, and who was saved by Maharaja Ranjit Singh, had been born at Sayyidpur in the then province of Multan. General Allard noticed his intelligence and asked the Maharaja\'s permission to adopt him. Jacquemont saw him in Lahore, and Honigberger performed upon him a delicate surgical intervention. In 1834, he was christianized and rebaptized Achille by his adopted family.
Discover the life of Atar Singh Sandhanvalia, brave soldier and loyal confidant to Maharaja Ranjit Singh, navigating politics and power in the Sikh Empire.
BIJAYBINOD, a chronicle in Punjabi verse of the turbulent period following the death in 1839 of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the sovereign of the Punjab, written according to internal evidence in 1901 Bk/AD 1844. The only known manuscript of the work, still unpublished, is preserved in the private collection of Bhai Haridhan Singh of Bagariari. The manuscript, which comprises 84 folios, with 495 stanzas, is dated 1921 Bk/AD 1864. The poetic metres used include Dohara, Soratha, Bhujarig Prayat and Kabitt. The work was undertaken by the poet, Gval, at the instance of Pandit Jalha, a close confidant of Hira Singh Dogra, prime minister to Ranjit Singh`s son, Maharaja Duleep Singh, and that explains much of his bias in favour of the Dogras.
CHARYARI SOWARS was the name given to an irregular cavalry regiment in Sikh times. It owed its origin to four friends, or Char (four) Your (friends), who were seen together all the time. Their names were: Bhup Singh Siddhu.Jit Singh, Ram Singh Saddozai and Hardas Singh Bania. They were all young men of the same age, very handsome, well built and always elegantly dressed. Maharaja Ranjit Singh became very fond of the foursome and employed them as soldiers. He was so impressed by their bearing that he gave them fine horses to ride and created a regiment named Charyari Sowars after them.
DHANNA SINGH MALVAI (1775-1843), soldier and jagirdar under Ranjit Singh, belonged to the village of Maur in Nabha territory. Mall Singh, Dhanna Singh`s father, who was the first in the family to be initiated a Sikh, left his village about 1760 and entered the service of Charhat Singh Sukkarchakkia as a sowar. He was killed in a campaign in the northwest. His son, Dhanna Singh, left Maur in 1793 and took up service with Sahib Singh Bharigi of Gujrat. About the year 1800, he enlisted himself in the force of Fateh Singh Kaliarivala as a trooper, and soon rose in his favour, obtaining an independent command.
FIVE YEARS IN INDIA, by Henry Edward Fane, aide-de-camp to his uncle, General Sir Henry Fane, commander-in-chief of the army of the East India Company during late 1830`s, is "a narrative of [the author`s] travels in the Presidency of Bengal, a visit to the court of Runjeet Singh, a residence in the Himalayan mountains, an account of the late expedition to Cabul and Afghanistan, voyage down the Indus, and journey overland to England." Fane had kept an immaculate journal of his travels from the time his regiment got orders to move to Ceylon in June/ July 1835, till he arrived at Falmouth, England, in April 1840.His actual stay in India was of three and a half years, from August 1836, when he arrived at Calcutta, to the end of 1839, when he commenced his journey homeward. The travelogue was published in two volumes, under one cover, by Henry Colburn, London, in 1842.
Explore Gulab Singh Atarivala's influential role and adventures during the British era in India, from royal duties to the 1857 uprising.
Discover the intriguing history of Maratha chief Holkar, his retreat, and alliance with Sikh ruler Ranjit Singh after British defeats in 1804.
