JASPAT RAI (d. 1746), a native of Kalanaur, in Gurdaspur district of the Punjab, was during Mughal times the faujddr of Eminabad, now in Gujrariwala district of Pakistan. A weal thy ^fl^m/ar and an influential courtier of Zakanya Khan, the governor of Lahore, he once ransomed Lakhpat Rai, his

WAZIRKHAN, NAWAB (d. 1710), a resident of Kuhjpura, near Karnal, now in Haryana, was the faujdar of Sirhind under the Mughals in the opening years of the eighteenth century. The hill chiefs who held territories in the Sivalik ranges often sought his help against Guru Gobind Singh, then living in

WAQI`AIJANGISIKKHAN, by Diwan Ajudhia Parshad, is a chronicle in Persian prose of the events of the first Anglo Sikh war (1845-46). The narratives of the battles of Pherushahr and Sabhraon have in fact been taken from two separate manuscripts. The work was translated into English by V.S. Suri and published

SURAT SINGH MAJITHIA, RAJA (d. 1881), son of Atar Singh Majithia, was a soldier, commander and notable sardar of the Sikh Darbar. Details of his early career and of his service under Maharaja Ranjit Singh are scanty. Surat Singh was commandant of the Sikh battalion posted at Peshawar during

SIKHS` RELATIONS WITH NAWAB OF OUDH. For a whole decade prior to 1774, Sikhs had been regularly raiding and pillaging upper Ganga Yamuna Doab and Ruhilkhand bordering on Oudh. Yet they had not entered the territory of the Nawab, Shuja` udDaulah, who had become an ally of the British since

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

MAHITAB SINGH MAJITHIA (1811-1865), General in the Sikh army, son of Amar Singh Majithia (junior). Mahitab Singh started his career as a subahdar in the irregular Sikh cavalry of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. In 1831, he was promoted Colonel and posted as commandant of Sikh troops stationed at Amritsar. He

LITTLER, SIRJOHN HUNTER (1783-1856), garrison commander at Firozpur, the concentration point of British forward movement preparatory to the first Anglo Sikh war, was born on 6 January 1783 at Tarvin, Cheshire, England. He joined the 10th Bengal Native Infantry in August 1800 and served in the campaigns under Lord Lake

LAL SINGH MORANVALA, promoted a general in the Sikh army during the prime ministership of Jawahar Singh, was a member of the Council of Regency constituted by Maharani Jind Kaur in December 1844. He took part in the operation against Raja Gulab Singh of Jammu launched by the Lahore

AGNEW, PATRICK ALEXANDER VANS (1822-1848), a civil servant under the East India Company. He was the son of Lt Col Patrick Vans Agnew, an East India Company director. Agnew joined the Bengal civil service in March 1841. In 1842, he became assistant to the commissioner of Delhi division. In December

FOULKES, R. (d. 1841), an Englishman, who joined Maharaja Ranjit Sihgh`s cavalry in February 1836. He remained attached to General Ventura as aide-de-camp, and accompanied him on his expedition to Mandi in 1840. On file conclusion of the campaign, he was left in charge of the Sikh troops stationed

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.