AJUDHIA PARSHAD, DIWAN (1799-1870), soldier and civil administrator in Sikh times, was the adopted son of Diwan Ganga Ram. Maharaja Ranjit Singh first employed Ajudhia Parshad in 1819 to serve in the military office in Kashmir. Three years later, he was recalled to Lahore and appointed paymaster of the

MAZHAR ALI, an artillery officer in Sikh times who commanded the horse battery of Maharaja Ranjit Singh`s Topkhanai Khas. For a time, he served under General Ghaus Khan with command of a battery of 10 light guns. He took part in the Attock operations in 1813 under the command

ARJAN SINGH NALVA (d. 1848), a minor jagirdar in Sikh times, was youngest of the four sons of the famous general, Hari Singh Nalva. He was a favourite of Kanvar Nau Nihal Singh, Maharaja Ranjit Singh`s grandson. In July 1840, it was reported that Arjan Singh had killed one

NAUDH SINGH (d. 1752), son of Buddha Singh, was greatgrandfather of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. He was a brave and daring man who applied his energies to expanding the family`s fortunes. He fortified the village of Sukkarchakk in 1730, and in the same year married the daughter of a rich

BRIJ RAJ (d. 1833), a learned Pandit came to settle in Lahore in the latter half of the eighteenth century, was appointed by Maharaja Ranjit Singh to the position of raj purohit, or royal priest, which office he held till his death in 1833. The Maharaja and the court

RADHA KISHAN, PANDIT (d. 1875), son of Pandit Madhusudan, was appointed in 1824 by Maharaja Ranjit Singh to take charge of the education of Hira Singh Dogra, who studied both Sanskrit and Persian. Later, he was appointed tutor to the minor Maharaja Duleep Singh. He also performed the duties

CHIRAGH DIN, FAQlR (d. 1851). son of Faqir Aziz udDin, foreign minister to Maharaja Ranjit Singh, was governor of Jasrota. a small principality in the Sivalik hills, and was shortly afterwards placed in attendance on Prince Kharak Singh. In 1842, he succeeded his brother, Shah Din, as the Sikh

RAJ KAUR (d. 1838), also known as Datar Kaur or more popularly Mal Nakain, was the second wife of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. She was the daughter of Ran Singh Nakai, and was married to the Maharaja in 1798. Though Ranjit Singh married several other women, Mal Nakain remained his

DAYAKAUR, RANI (d. 1843), widow of Sahib Singh Bhangi of Gujrat, was married, in 1811, to Maharaja Ranjit Singh by the rite of chadar andazi, a rite having sanction under customary law to facilitate marriage with a widow who is accepted into nuptials by unfurling a chadar or sheet

RAJ KAUR, daughter of Raja Gajpat Singh of Jind, was the mother of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. As she came from the Malva region, she was affectionately known as Mai Malvain. When her husband Mahari Singh died, their son Ranjit Singh was too young to assume control of the estate.

FATEH SINGH CHHACHHI (d. 1814), son of Tahal Singh Chhachhi, a Kohli Khatri belonging to Gujranwala district in the Punjab, served under Maharaja Ranjit Singh. He fought in the campaigns launched by the Maharaja for the conquest of Pind Dadan Khan, Pindi Gheb and Jhang and obtained considerable addition

SOHAN LAL SURI, vakil or attorney at the Lahore court, is famous for his monumental work in Persian, `Umdat iitTwankh, a chronicle of Sikh times comprising five daftars or volumes. Little is known about Sohan Lal`s early life except that he was the son of Lala Ganpat Rai, a