NIDHAN SINGH PANJHATTHA (d. 1839), soldier, minor commander and jdgirddr under Maharaja Ranjit Singh. He acquired the epithet Parijhattha, the "five handed," for his gallantry in the battle of Ten hill (1823). He singlehanded made five Pathans prisoners and captured their weapons. This act of valour earned him the title of Panjhatthd. In every battle, Nidhan Singh was among the first to advance and the last to retreat, and his body was covered all over with the marks of his courage. His great grand father, Dulcha Singh, had been in the service of Raja Ranjit Deo of Jammu, and his grandfather, Ram Dat Singh, is said to have served the Sukkarchakkia family under Mahari Singh.
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.
BIR SINGH, BABA (1768-1844), soldier become religious preacher and saint, was born in July 1768 at the village of Gaggobua, in Amritsar district of the Punjab, the son of Seva Singh and Dharam Kaur. After the death of his father in one of the campaigns against the Afghan rulers of Multan, Bir Singh joined the Sikh army. He participated in Maharaja Ranjit Singh *s campaigns for the capture of Kashmir and Peshawar. After several years of active service, he secured his dismissal from the army as he came under the influence of Baba Bhag Singh, a Sikh saint belonging to Kuri, in Rawalpindi district.
