Misls and Afghans

Persian poet at the court of Guru Gobind Singh. His ghazals may be sung in gurdwaras.

Nawab of Malerkotla who protested in Wazir Khan's court against the execution of the Guru's young sons, though his own brother had died fighting the Guru.

Mughal governor of Sirhind who besieged Anandpur, pursued Guru Gobind Singh and ordered the execution of his younger sons. Killed by Banda Singh's army at Chappar Chiri.

Aurangzeb's son, whom Guru Gobind Singh helped in the succession war of 1707 and travelled with to the Deccan. He later led the campaign against Banda Singh.

Scribe of the final Guru Granth Sahib at Damdama and later head granthi of the Harmandir Sahib, cut apart joint by joint in Lahore.

Gave water to wounded soldiers of both sides at Anandpur. The Guru gave him ointment to treat the enemy too. Seen as a forerunner of the Red Cross.

Merchant of Sirhind who bought land to cremate the Guru's younger sons and mother by covering it in gold coins, said to be the most expensive land ever bought.

Tenth Guru, warrior and poet. Created the Khalsa in 1699, fought a long war with the Mughals and hill rajas, lost his four sons and mother, and named the Guru Granth Sahib as the final Guru.

Ascetic turned general. Sent north by Guru Gobind Singh in 1708, he took Sirhind, set up the first Sikh state, gave land to those who tilled it and was executed in Delhi in 1716.

Shamed forty deserters into returning to the Guru, led them into battle at Muktsar and survived to serve as one of his bodyguards.

The most loved Sufi poet of Punjab. Mocked clerics of every faith and praised the Sikh Gurus in an age of persecution.

Wife of Guru Gobind Singh, honoured as the Mother of the Khalsa. She added sugar puffs (patase) to the first amrit.

Scholar and warrior who led the Shaheed misl. In his seventies he marched to free the Harmandir Sahib after Afghan desecration and died near its precinct.

Ruler of Persia who invaded India in 1739, sacked Delhi and carried off the Peacock Throne and the Koh-i-Noor. Sikh bands raided his baggage train on the way home.

A farmer of the village of Wan who sheltered Sikhs on the run; when Zakariya Khan's troops came for him in 1726 he and some two dozen companions fought them to the death.

Mughal governor of Lahore who put a price on Sikh heads, executed Bhai Mani Singh and Bhai Taru Singh, and in 1733 tried to buy peace by offering the Sikhs a jagir and the title of Nawab.

Built the Bhangi misl into the strongest of the confederacy, with lands from Lahore to Multan. The great Zamzama gun was captured by the Bhangis and long known as the Bhangian wali top.

Wily faujdar of the Jalandhar Doab who played Mughals, Afghans, Marathas and Sikhs against one another and in 1758 briefly became governor of all Punjab.

Supreme commander of the Dal Khalsa, wounded many times at the Vadda Ghallughara. Struck coins at Lahore and was called Sultan-ul-Qaum, king of the nation.

A young farmer who fed Sikhs hiding in the forests. Ordered to cut his hair and convert, he refused and his scalp was removed in Lahore in 1745.

Governor of Lahore after the victory at Manupur, remembered by Sikhs for the harshest persecution of the century, including the imprisonment of Sikh women and children.

Grandfather of Ranjit Singh and founder of the Sukerchakia misl's power at Gujranwala, where he beat the Afghan governor in 1761.

Founder of the Afghan Durrani empire, who invaded Punjab eight or nine times between 1748 and 1767, crushed the Marathas at Panipat and twice destroyed the Harmandir Sahib.

Poet of Heer, the best-known telling of the tragic love of Heer and Ranjha, completed in 1766.

Karorsinghia leader who entered the Red Fort in 1783 and, by agreement with Shah Alam II, built gurdwaras at the Sikh sites of Delhi.

Father of Ranjit Singh. Expanded the Sukerchakia lands from Gujranwala and died during a siege when Ranjit was twelve.

Nihang leader and jathedar of the Akal Takht who once had Ranjit Singh flogged for a moral lapse. Killed leading the charge at Nowshera.

Head of the Kanhaiya misl after her husband's death and the mother-in-law of Ranjit Singh. Her support helped him take Lahore in 1799.

Chief of the Kharals of the Ravi bar who led the tribes of the Gogera country against the East India Company in 1857, and was killed at prayer.

Sher-e-Punjab, the Lion of Punjab. United the misls into the Sikh Empire, ruled from Lahore for forty years and covered the Harmandir Sahib in gold.

Muslim poet whose Jangnama laments the fall of the Sikh kingdom in the First Anglo-Sikh War as Punjab's own loss.

Founder of the Nirankari reform movement at Rawalpindi, which called Sikhs back to worship of the formless God and simple rites.

Ranjit Singh's wife from the Nakai misl and mother of Kharak Singh, who accompanied the Multan campaign and handled its supplies.

American-Scottish adventurer and colonel of artillery at Lahore, remembered for his tartan turban.

Veteran of Napoleon's cavalry who arrived in Lahore in 1822 and raised the Fauj-i-Khas, the elite French-drilled brigade of the Sikh army.

Veteran general who, dressed in white, rode into the British lines at Sobraon and died with his men.

Dogra general who led armies across the high Himalaya: Ladakh from 1834, Baltistan in 1840 and western Tibet in 1841, where he was killed at To-yo in the snows.

Commander of the Jamrud garrison who held the fort after Hari Singh Nalwa fell, keeping his death secret.

Commander-in-chief of the Sikh army on the north-west frontier. Governed Kashmir and Peshawar and died holding Jamrud against the Afghans.

Neapolitan soldier who governed Wazirabad and then Peshawar for the Sikh Empire with notorious severity.

Dogra raja of Jammu under Lahore, whose general Zorawar Singh conquered Ladakh and Baltistan. In 1846 he stayed out of the war and bought Kashmir from the British for 7.5 million rupees.

Chief minister of the Sikh Empire for 25 years and the most powerful man at court after Ranjit Singh. Assassinated in 1843.