ARJAN SINGH THAPA was the son of the Gurkha general, Amar Singh Thapa, who had advanced his conquests up to Kangra in the early years of the nineteenth century. Maharaja Ranjit Singh expelled him from the Kangra hills, but the Gurkhas had fought so bravely that he decided to

BISHAN SINGH (d. 1868) was like his father, Sultan Singh, in the Ghorcharha regiment of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. In Maharaja Sher Singh`s time, he was placed in charge of the artillery park at Lahore. After the annexation of the Punjab by the British, Bishan Singh joined the 2nd Punjab

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

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

FORD, MATTHEW WILLIAM (d. 1841), an Englishman who started his career in 1804 as an ensign in a West India regiment. He successively served with the 7th Foot, the 70th Foot, the 1st Royal Scots and the 22nd Light Dragoons. In 1823, he was appointed paymaster to the 16th Foot.

GORDON (d. 1837), often miscalled Canon, an Anglo Indian, entered the service of Maharaja Ranjit Singh in 1820 as an infantry instructor on a salary of Rs 500 per month. Later, he was put in command of a battalion of artillery. In July 1822, his battalion received approbation from Allard

HISAB I AFWAJ MAHARAJA RANJIT SINGH, Persian MS. No. 622, in the Oriental Public (Khuda Bux) Library, Patna, is a manual of the accounts of Maharaja Ranjit Singh\'s army. It is a highly illuminated manuscript with gold ruled borders, size 12"x 71/s" 477 folios, written in mixed shikasld and nasta

JIVAN SINGH, COLONEL (d. 1851). eldest of the six sons of Dula Singh of Kalasvala in Siakot district, joined the army of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and was placed under Prince Kharak Singh. He first saw active service in Kashmir where he was wounded. For the bravery he displayed in

KAHN SINGH ROSA (d. 1864), son of Sukkha Singh, was appointed Jamadar in the Dragoons corps of the Sikh army in 1822 and was placed under General Allard. The following year he was made a Risaldar in the same regiment. In 1829, he was, on General Ventura`s recommendation, appointed

KARAM SINGH, SANT (1826-1903), Sikh saint of much renown and influence, was born in 1826 at village of Qa/iari in Gu|jarkhan lahsil of Rawalpindi district, now in Pakistan. His father, Kirpa Singh, and mother, Subi, were devoted Sikhs, and Karam Singh inherited their religious disposition. He learnt to read

KHALSA BAHADUR, by Chuhar Singh, is a 55 page long poetic composition in the Malvai dialect of the Punjabi language, describing the unique chivalry and sacrifice of the twenty-one Sikh soldiers of the 36th Sikh Regiment at Saragarhi in AD 1897. Written in the baint verseform, the poem was completed

MOHAN SINGH, GENERAL (1909-1989), famous for his part in the Indian National Army for the liberation of India from British rule, in which he held the rank of a general, was born the only son of Tara Singh and Hukam Kaur, a peasant couple of Ugoke village, near Sialkot