Primary Source · Court Chronicle · Five Daftars · AD 1469–1849
عمدة التواريخ
The Pillar of Histories — Lala Sohan Lal Suri’s chronicle of the Sikh Empire, from Guru Nanak to Annexation
The Chronicle
The most important Persian primary source for the history of the Sikh Empire — composed from personal eyewitness records at the Lahore court
The Umdat-ut-Tawarikh (عمدة التواریخ — The Pillar of Histories) is the definitive chronicle of the Sikh Empire. Written in Persian by Lala Sohan Lal Suri, court Munshi and Vakil to Maharaja Ranjit Singh, it spans the entire arc of Sikh political history — from the birth of Guru Nanak in AD 1469 to the annexation of the Punjab by the East India Company in 1849. Across its five Daftars (volumes) it runs to approximately 7,000 manuscript pages.
Sohan Lal was not writing from a distance. He served at the Lahore court throughout Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s twenty-seven-year reign and through the reigns of all four of his successors. His father Lala Ganpat Rai had before him kept the records of the Sukerchakia Misldars — Charhat Singh, Mahan Singh, and the young Ranjit Singh — from approximately 1771. The chronicle thus rests on three generations of hereditary court record-keeping spanning nearly eighty years of direct, firsthand observation.
Maharaja Ranjit Singh himself recognised the value of the work — permitting his political agent Claude Martin Wade to have Sohan Lal read excerpts at Ludhiana twice a week, and ordering a copy to be prepared for the British Government between 1832 and 1834. A copy presented directly to Wade is still preserved in the library of the Royal Asiatic Society in London.
Lala Sohan Lal Suri · died 1852
A hereditary tradition of documentary record — from the Sukerchakia Misldars to the British annexation
Sohan Lal was born into a Hindu Khatri family of the Suri sub-caste from the Pothwar region of the Punjab. His grandfather Lala Hukumat Rai had served in a revenue capacity; his father Lala Ganpat Rai served as Munshi — first-hand diarist and court chronicler — to Sardar Charhat Singh, Mahan Singh, and then to Ranjit Singh from at least 1771. On his father’s death, Sohan Lal inherited both the position and the accumulated archive of court records going back nearly four decades.
He entered the Maharaja’s direct service in 1811–12 and served continuously through the reigns of all four successors until the annexation of 1849. After annexation he was granted a lifetime jagir of Rs 1,000 per annum in Manga village, Amritsar district, by the British Board of Administration — a recognition of his continued usefulness to the new administration as much as of his past service to the court. He died in 1852.
His great-grandson, Vidya Sagar Suri — born 1912, former Director of Archives and Curator of the State Museum — translated the complete work from Persian into English in the twentieth century. His translation of Daftars II, III, IV and V was published by Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar. The translation of Daftar I was prepared but subsequently withdrawn from publication.
Daftar I · AD 1469–1771 · The Suppressed Volume
The original Persian Daftar I was lithographed in 1885–86. V. S. Suri’s English translation was prepared — then withdrawn from publication by GNDU, Amritsar, on grounds of “objectionable matter.” The nature of those objections has never been publicly specified.
Daftar I is the foundational volume of the Umdat-ut-Tawarikh. Its narrative covers the full history of the Sikh Panth from the birth of Guru Nanak in AD 1469 to the death of Ahmad Shah Durrani (Abdali) in 1772 — spanning the entire Guru period, the creation of the Khalsa, the Banda Singh Bahadur episode, the Afghan invasions, the formation and consolidation of the Sikh Misls, and the political conditions that made Ranjit Singh’s rise possible. It is, in short, the historical account from which the numismatic sequence of the entire Sikh coin series takes its political meaning.
The lithograph of the original Persian text was published in Lahore in 1885–86 under the auspices of Panjab University College — 500 copies, edited by Captain R. C. Temple of the Bengal Staff Corps. V. S. Suri translated all five Daftars into English. GNDU, Amritsar published Daftars II, III, IV and V. Daftar I alone was withheld — reportedly because it contained matter deemed “objectionable.” The university has not publicly specified the nature of those objections, and no official statement explaining the withdrawal appears to have been issued.
The withdrawal creates an unusual scholarly situation: the four volumes covering the reigns of Ranjit Singh and his successors — the most politically contentious period — are freely available. The one volume covering the earlier history — the Gurus, the Khalsa, the Misls — remains in English only in manuscript form, inaccessible to most researchers.
Title of Daftar I — from the 1885 Lahore Lithograph
عمدة التواریخ ذقر اوّل — از ابتدای احوال گرو نانک صاحب سے تا بکادت سلطنت نانه محمد شاہ دُرّانی
Umdat-ut-Tawārīkh Daftar-i-Awwal — Az ibtidā’ī ahwāl-e-Guru Nānak Sāhib se tā bakādat-e saltanat-e Muḥammad Shāh Durrānī
Translation: The Pillar of Histories, Volume the First — From the beginning of the affairs of Guru Nanak Sahib up to the corresponding period of the reign of [Ahmad] Shah Muhammad Durrani
“Volume I was withdrawn from publication due to ‘objectionable matter’ — what that is exactly, I’m unaware of.”
— Book-trade note from the last available sets of the GNDU edition, via Ramblings of a Sikh, UKFive Daftars · AD 1469–1849
Each Daftar covers a distinct period — each is a separate primary source with its own numismatic significance
I
Translation Withdrawn by GNDU
Guru Nanak to Ahmad Shah Durrani
AD 1469–1771 · 172 pages (English translation)
Covers the ten Sikh Gurus; the creation of the Khalsa (1699); Banda Singh Bahadur and the first Sikh sovereign coins; the Afghan invasions of Ahmad Shah Durrani (Abdali); the Ghallu-ghara (1762); the twelve Sikh Misls and the first Dal Khalsa capture of Lahore (1765). The Persian lithograph (1885) is available; the English translation by V. S. Suri was withdrawn by GNDU, Amritsar, on grounds of “objectionable matter.” Reasons have not been publicly specified.
Persian lithograph available · English translation withdrawnII
Published — GNDU, Amritsar
Charhat Singh to the Rise of Ranjit Singh
AD 1772–1830 · 408 pages
Covers the career of Charhat Singh Sukerchakia; the birth and youth of Ranjit Singh; his capture of Lahore (VS 1856 / AD 1799); his coronation as Maharaja (VS 1858 / AD 1801); the Treaty of Amritsar (1809); and his early campaigns — including the conquest of Multan (1818), Kashmir (1819), and the establishment of the Lahore mint’s Nanakshahi and Gobindshahi rupee series.
Published · GNDU AmritsarIII
Published — GNDU, Amritsar
The Roznama of Ranjit Singh’s Court
AD 1831–1839 · 764 pages (five parts)
The largest Daftar — a verbatim day-by-day court diary (Roznama) of Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s durbar from 1831 to his death in 1839. Five parts cover successive years, including the meetings with Lord Auckland and the tripartite treaty. The primary source for the Lahore mint’s coin musters, treasury dispatches, and the numismatic record of the mature empire.
Published · GNDU AmritsarIV
Published — GNDU, Amritsar
After Ranjit Singh — Instability and Decline
AD 1839–1845 · 218 pages (three parts)
Three parts cover the reigns of Maharajas Kharak Singh, Nau Nihal Singh, Sher Singh and Dalip Singh — described by Sohan Lal as “the most unfortunate years in the history of the Punjab.” The political instability of the court is the context for the disrupted mint administration and unusual coin-type sequence of the 1840s.
Published · GNDU AmritsarV
Published — GNDU, Amritsar · Partially Incomplete
The Anglo-Sikh Wars and Annexation
AD 1845–1849 · 175 pages
Covers Maharaja Dalip Singh’s reign, the First Anglo-Sikh War, the Bharowal Treaty, the Residency period, and the Second Anglo-Sikh War ending in annexation (March 1849). Note — a period is missing: Sohan Lal’s account of the wars from 29 September 1845 to 20 September 1846 was lent to Herbert Benjamin Edwardes of the Punjab Frontier Force, who never returned the manuscript. As no copy existed, this period is absent from the published text.
Published · GNDU Amritsar · Sep 1845–Sep 1846 missingDaftar I — AD 1469–1771
The Gurus, the Khalsa, the Misls, and the first Sikh coins — drawn from the Persian lithograph of 1885
Although the English translation of Daftar I was withdrawn by GNDU, the original Persian lithograph (Lahore, 1885) survives in institutional collections. The following summarises its principal contents based on the lithograph itself, structured through its named chapters (Bābs).
Birth of Guru Nanak Dev Ji at Rāi Bhōe kī Talwandī
Sohan Lal opens Daftar I with the birth of Guru Nanak and proceeds through the famous episodes of his youth — the school episode (pausing at the letter Alif as a symbol of Divine Unity), the Sachā Saudā (True Bargain — feeding the poor with his father’s trading capital), the divine transformation at the River Bein, and the proclamation Nā koi Hindū, nā koi Muslimān. The Guru’s four great journeys (udāsīān) to the four directions are summarised.
Source: Daftar I, Persian lithograph (Lahore, 1885)
Biography · Pages 18–27 of lithographThe Ten Gurus — Biographical Notices
Each of the ten Gurus receives a biographical notice. Most detailed: Guru Arjan Dev Ji (compilation of the Adi Granth; martyrdom at Lahore under Emperor Jahangir); Guru Hargobind Ji (the Mīrī-Pīrī doctrine — two swords of temporal and spiritual sovereignty; the Akal Takht); Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji (martyrdom at Delhi in defence of the Kashmiri Pandits); and Guru Gobind Singh Ji — whose account runs to several pages covering the creation of the Khalsa, the Panj Pyare, and the declaration abolishing caste within the Panth.
Source: Daftar I, Persian lithograph (Lahore, 1885)
The Sikh Gurus · Pages 27–48Creation of the Khalsa — Anandpur Sahib
The fullest account in Daftar I: Guru Gobind Singh’s call for heads; the Panj Pyare (each named with their origin and caste); preparation of amrit in the iron bowl with the double-edged khanda sword; the reciprocal initiation (the Guru receiving amrit from the Five); the declaration abolishing caste within the Panth; and the Five Ks (Panj Kakars) listed and explained. Sohan Lal frames the event in the political vocabulary of Persian court historiography — deliberate, given his readership.
در سمت ۱۷۵۶ بیکرمی در عید بیساکھی گرو گوبند سنگھ جی پانچ پیاروں کو امرت چھکایا
Dar samvat 1756 Bikramī dar ‘eid-e-Baisākhī Gurū Gobind Singh-jī pānch piyārown ko amrit chhākāyā
In Samvat 1756 Bikrami, at the festival of Baisakhi, Guru Gobind Singh-ji gave amrit to the Five Beloved Ones
Source: Daftar I, Persian lithograph (Lahore, 1885)
Creation of the Khalsa · Pages 48–56Banda Singh Bahadur — The First Sikh Sovereign Coins
Following the Battle of Chappar Chiri and the fall of Sirhind, Banda Singh struck the first coins in the name of the Khalsa — displacing the Mughal emperor from the Punjab coinage for the first time. Sohan Lal records the coin’s declaration as a fiscal expression of Sikh sovereignty. His siege at Gurdas-Nangal, capture and martyrdom at Delhi (1716) are narrated in detail. These coins — the Nanakshahi rupees of Lohgarh and the Sadha-Mukhlis mints — are the starting point of the entire Sikh numismatic sequence.
Source: Daftar I, Persian lithograph (Lahore, 1885)
First Khalsa Coinage · Pages 56–67The Dal Khalsa, the Misls, the Ghallu-ghara, and the Dal Khalsa Coinage of 1765
Covers the twelve Sikh Misls — each given a character sketch; the nine Afghan invasions of Ahmad Shah Durrani (Abdali); the Ghallu-ghara of 1762 (the great massacre near Kup in Malerkotla); and the first Dal Khalsa capture of Lahore in 1765. The Dal Khalsa coinage — rupees bearing the Gobindshahi couplet in no king’s name — is noted as a declaration of collective sovereignty unique in Indian numismatic history. Daftar I closes at this point.
دیگ و تیغ و فتح نصرت بے درنگ — خالص کرپا نانک گورو گوبند سنگھ
Deg o tegh o fatah nusrat-e-bī-dirang / Khālas kirpā Nānak Gurū Gobind Singh
The Cauldron [for the poor], the Sword [for protection], and Victory without delay / Through the grace of the Pure [Khalsa] — [in the names of] Nanak, the Guru, [and] Gobind Singh. Sohan Lal explicitly notes that deg = the langar; tegh = defence; nusrat-e-bī-dirang = divine blessing on a righteous cause. This is the only contemporary Persian commentary on the intended meaning of the Gobindshahi legend.
Source: Daftar I, Persian lithograph (Lahore, 1885)
Dal Khalsa Coinage · Gobindshahi Legend · Pages 68–endDaftars II & III · AD 1772–1839
The rise of the Sikh Empire and its mature administration — the primary source for every aspect of Ranjit Singh’s court, including the Lahore mint
If Daftar I provides the political and religious foundation, Daftars II and III are where the Umdat-ut-Tawarikh becomes a uniquely detailed primary source. Daftar II (1772–1830) narrates the rise of the Sukerchakia Misl, the birth of Ranjit Singh, the capture of Lahore (VS 1856 / AD 1799), the coronation as Maharaja (VS 1858 / AD 1801), the Treaty of Amritsar (1809), and the great campaigns that built the empire — Multan, Kashmir, the Peshawar valley.
Daftar III (1831–1839) is the largest single volume — 764 pages — and constitutes a verbatim day-by-day Roznama (court diary) of the last decade of Ranjit Singh’s reign. This section is the primary documentary source for the Lahore mint’s operation under the empire: it records mintage orders, coin musters (tulābandī), treasury dispatches, and the fiscal movements between provincial governors and Lahore with dated precision unavailable from any other source.
The Coronation of Maharaja Ranjit Singh — Daftar II
در سال ۱۸۵۸ سمت بیکرمی در عید بیساکھی در شھر لاہور مھاراجھ رنجیت سنگھ جی بر تخت نشیستند و خطاب مھاراجھ بدیشان دادند. آنکھ پیش از این وقت خطاب مھاراجھ نھ داشتند
Dar sāl 1858 samvat Bikramī dar ‘eid-e-Baisākhī dar shahr-e-Lāhūr Mahārāja Ranjīt Singh-jī bar takht nishistand wa khitāb Mahārāja badīshān dādand. Ān-ke pīsh az in waqt khitāb Mahārāja na dāshtand
“In the year 1858 of the Bikrami calendar, at the festival of Baisakhi, in the city of Lahore, Maharaja Ranjit Singh-ji was seated upon the throne and the title of Maharaja was conferred upon him. Before this time, he had not held the title of Maharaja.” — Daftar II
Daftars IV & V · AD 1839–1849
The dissolution of the Sikh Empire — and the loss that has no copy
Daftar IV (218 pages, three parts) covers the reigns of Kharak Singh, Nau Nihal Singh, Sher Singh and Dalip Singh — the period from Ranjit Singh’s death in 1839 to the outbreak of the First Anglo-Sikh War in 1845. These are, in Sohan Lal’s own description, “the most unfortunate years in the history of the Punjab” — the court intrigues, the rapid succession of rulers, and the political instability that left the empire exposed to British expansion.
Daftar V (175 pages) covers the two Anglo-Sikh Wars and the annexation of March 1849. Here, however, the chronicle contains an irreparable lacuna: Sohan Lal lent his manuscript account of the wars from 29 September 1845 to 20 September 1846 to Herbert Benjamin Edwardes of the Punjab Frontier Force. Edwardes never returned it. No copy had been kept. That year of the First Anglo-Sikh War — from the initial crossing of the Sutlej to the aftermath of the Treaty of Lahore — is simply missing from the chronicle.
Daftar I · Pages 11–13 · Illuminated Opening
The most elaborately decorated page of the lithograph — a full-page arch in the Lahore court manuscript tradition
Page 11 of the Daftar I lithograph carries a full-page decorative arch in the style of Lahore court manuscripts — floral arabesque borders and the word Dībacha (دیباچھ — Preface) in majuscule Nastaliq at its centre. Within a formal three-column verse-table, Sohan Lal opens with a twelve-hemistich invocatory poem in praise of God. At the foot of the page runs the work’s literary motto:
Literary Motto — Inscribed in bold at the foot of the Illuminated Title Page · Daftar I
رنگین طرازی شھب ضمار قلم بضیاء آثار درستا بناے تاریخ
Rangīn-tarāzī shabb-e-zamār-e-qalam bi-ziyā’-e-āthār dar-satā-yi banā-yi tārīkh
“The ornate adornment of the night of the pen’s passage, by the luminance of its traces, has laid the foundation of this history.”
Opening Invocatory Verses — Dībacha, Daftar I · First four hemistich-pairs
بنام آنکھ نامش رادوام است · بنام آنکھ وصفش بیزال است · بنام آنکھ ذاتش لایزال است · بنام آنکھ او جان جھان است
Bi-nām-e-ān-ke nāmash rā dawām ast · Bi-nām-e-ān-ke wasfahsh bī-zawāl ast · Bi-nām-e-ān-ke dhātash lā-yazāl ast · Bi-nām-e-ān-ke ū jān-e-jahān ast
Translation: In the name of Him whose name is eternal · In the name of Him whose attributes are imperishable · In the name of Him whose essence is everlasting · In the name of Him who is the very soul of the world
Daftar I · Pages 12–13 · Literary Centrepiece
Two full pages of elevated Persian court prose — and a key to reading the numismatic vocabulary of the Sikh Empire
From the Panegyric — Daftar I, Page 12
چراغ جاہ و جلال و مصبح روشندلی و شگفھ قلبی درگاہ شاہ رعیت پروری قانوس عدالت گستری افروختھ روشن میباشد
Chirāgh-e-jāh wa jalāl wa misbāh-e-raushan-dilī wa shiguf-e-qalbī-e-dargāh-e-shāh-e-ra’iyyat-parwarī qanūs-e-‘adālat-e-gusṭarī afrūkhta raushan mī-bāshad
“The lamp of rank and magnificence, the torch of luminous heart and pure devotion at the threshold of the Shah — that protector of subjects, that lantern of broad-spreading justice — is kindled and shines bright.”
“Whatever I have received, I have received from the grace of the Waheguru. Whatever I offer here, I offer back to the source.”
— Maharaja Ranjit Singh at Harmandir Sahib · Recorded in the Roznama of Daftar III, Umdat-ut-TawarikhSelected Passages · With Attribution by Daftar
Each passage is attributed to its correct Daftar — the source in each case is the original Persian lithograph or the published English translation
The only contemporary Persian commentary on the Gobindshahi couplet — the legend that appears on every Dal Khalsa and Sikh Empire rupee:
Gobindshahi Couplet — from Daftar I (Persian lithograph, Lahore 1885)
دیگ و تیغ و فتح نصرت بے درنگ — خالص کرپا نانک گورو گوبند سنگھ
Deg o tegh o fatah nusrat-e-bī-dirang / Khālas kirpā Nānak Gurū Gobind Singh
Translation: The Cauldron [for the poor], the Sword [for protection], and Victory without delay / Through the grace of the Pure [Khalsa] — [in the names of] Nanak, the Guru, [and] Gobind Singh. Deg = the langar; tegh = defence; nusrat-e-bī-dirang = divine blessing on a righteous cause. No king’s name appears on the Sikh coin because sovereignty belongs to the Guru’s Khalsa as a whole, not to any individual ruler.
Source: Daftar I, Persian lithograph (Lahore, 1885). This passage appears in the context of the Dal Khalsa Lahore coinage of 1765.
Chronogram (Tārīkh) · Death of Charhat Singh · Daftar I, Page 28
نانک سنجھبان رفت گل از بلیغ بیرون نشد
Nānak Sanjhbān rafta gul az balīgh bīrūn nashud
Translation: “Nanak Sanjhban [an epithet of Charhat Singh] has gone — the flower did not emerge from the bud.” The letter-values of the key words in the abjad system sum to Samvat 1827 (AD 1770), confirming the year of Charhat Singh’s death — the standard Persian chronogram device for fixing a date within a verse.
Source: Daftar I, Persian lithograph (Lahore, 1885).
Takht-Nishīnī of Maharaja Ranjit Singh · Daftar II
در سال ۱۸۵۸ سمت بیکرمی در عید بیساکھی در شھر لاہور مھاراجھ رنجیت سنگھ جی بر تخت نشیستند و خطاب مھاراجھ بدیشان دادند. آنکھ پیش از این وقت خطاب مھاراجھ نھ داشتند
Dar sāl 1858 samvat Bikramī dar ‘eid-e-Baisākhī dar shahr-e-Lāhūr Mahārāja Ranjīt Singh-jī bar takht nishistand wa khitāb Mahārāja badīshān dādand. Ān-ke pīsh az in waqt khitāb Mahārāja na dāshtand
Translation: “In the year 1858 of the Bikrami calendar, at the festival of Baisakhi, in the city of Lahore, Maharaja Ranjit Singh-ji was seated upon the throne and the title of Maharaja was conferred upon him. Before this time, he had not held the title of Maharaja.”
Source: Daftar II (English translation: V. S. Suri; GNDU, Amritsar). The deliberate choice of Baisakhi — the festival on which Guru Gobind Singh created the Khalsa exactly 102 years earlier — is noted by Sohan Lal. The Lahore mint’s Nanakshahi and Gobindshahi rupee series begins from this accession.
Representative Roznama Entry · Daftar III (1831–1839)
The Maharaja held the grand durbar at Lahore. The leading sardars and officers of state were present. Revenue accounts from the frontier provinces were received. A nazr was presented and accepted. Orders were issued for the dispatch of treasury funds to a provincial governor. [Daftar III records specific names of officers, amounts in rupees, and exact dates for each such entry — the primary documentary source for the Lahore mint’s fiscal calendar under the mature empire.]
Source: Daftar III (English translation: V. S. Suri; GNDU, Amritsar). The Roznama runs to 764 pages across five parts covering 1831–1839.
Numismatic Application · By Daftar
Each Daftar contributes differently — the coin record and the documentary record are most directly joined in Daftar III
| Daftar | Period | Numismatic Contribution | Availability |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | AD 1469–1771 | Only contemporary Persian commentary on the Gobindshahi coin legend; accounts of Banda Singh Bahadur’s first Sikh sovereign coins; the Dal Khalsa coinage of 1765 and its political meaning | Persian lithograph available (1885); English translation withdrawn by GNDU |
| II | AD 1772–1830 | Primary source for the Sukerchakia Misl coinage; Ranjit Singh’s capture of Lahore (VS 1856); the coronation entry (VS 1858) marking the opening of the imperial rupee series; the Treaty of Amritsar (1809) establishing the Sutlej boundary; conquests opening the Multan, Kashmir and Peshawar mints | Published — GNDU, Amritsar |
| III | AD 1831–1839 | Primary documentary source for the Lahore mint — dated coin musters (tulābandī), treasury dispatches, nazr records specifying coin types, and fiscal movements. Cross-referencing Roznama dates with coin die-years provides the only external chronological anchor for the Sikh Empire rupee series | Published — GNDU, Amritsar |
| IV | AD 1839–1845 | Documents the disrupted fiscal administration of the post-Ranjit Singh court — context for the irregular coin production of the early 1840s | Published — GNDU, Amritsar |
| V | AD 1845–1849 | Covers the Bharowal Treaty (1846), the Residency period, and the Second Anglo-Sikh War to annexation — context for the Bharowal Interregnum coinage. Note: Sep 1845–Sep 1846 is missing (the Edwardes lacuna) | Published — GNDU, Amritsar; Sep 1845–Sep 1846 missing |
“A sovereign who crushes his merchants crushes the life of his own city.”
— Maharaja Ranjit Singh, on reducing Lahore’s octroi duties · Recorded in the Roznama of Daftar III, Umdat-ut-TawarikhOfficial Documents · Appended to Daftar I Lithograph
Two official documents confirming the chronicle’s authority under both the Sikh court and the British administration
The Sikh Court Sanad — c. 1832–34 · Opening Formula
نقل سناد — عزیز القدرادات نشان لالھ سوھن تجمیل بافیت باشند
Naql sanād — ‘Azīz al-qadr adāt nishān Lāla Sohan Tamjīl bāfiyyat bāshand
Translation: Copy of the Sanad — May this mark of honoured attention be a sign of the enduring prosperity of Lala Sohan [Lal].
The sanad records that Maharaja Ranjit Singh, having examined the chronicle, ordered a fair copy prepared for the British Government between 1832 and 1834. Sohan Lal was rewarded with a cash nazr and a letter of commendation under the royal seal Ek Oang Kar Ranjit Singh Bahadur. Appended to the Daftar I lithograph, page 180.
Board of Administration, Lahore — 31st May 1851
“A Jagir valued at 1,000 Rs. annually is granted for life to Sohan Lal Vakil, under the authority of Government Letter No. 1253, dated 18th July 1850. Manga, Taluqua Maltiewal, Zillah Amritsar — Rs. 1000–0–0. By Order, (Sd.) H. P. Bond, Dy. Secy., Board of Administration. Compared with Persian. (Sd.) Bulakee Chand, Offg. Translator. Lahore, 31st May 1851.”
The British Board of Administration that replaced the Sikh court after annexation (1849) granted Sohan Lal a lifetime revenue assignment in Amritsar district — confirming his value to both regimes. Appended to the Daftar I lithograph, page 181.
Scholarship
Explore the coins that Sohan Lal witnessed being struck — from Banda Singh Bahadur’s first rupees to the last issues of the Sikh Empire