Ranjit Singh, popularly known as Sher-e-Punjab or "Lion of Punjab", was the first Maharaja of the Sikh Empire, which ruled the northwest Indian subcontinent in the early half of the 19th century. He survived smallpox in infancy but lost sight in his left eye. He fought his first battle alongside his father at age 10. After his father died around Ranjit's early teenage years, Ranjit subsequently fought several wars to expel the Afghans throughout his teenage years. At the age of 21, he was proclaimed the "Maharaja of Punjab". His empire grew in the Punjab region under his leadership through 1839.
The Zafarnāma was a spiritual victory letter sent by Guru Gobind Singh in 1705 to the Mughal Emperor of India, Aurangzeb, after the Battle of Chamkaur.
Kunwar Natwar Singh, IFS is an Indian diplomat and politician who served as the Minister of External Affairs from May 2004 to December 2005.
Maharaja Sir Duleep Singh, GCSI, or Sir Dalip Singh, and later in life nicknamed the "Black Prince of Perthshire", was the last Maharaja of the Sikh Empire. He was Maharaja Ranjit Singh's youngest son, the only child of Maharani Jind Kaur.
Jyotindra Nath Dixit was an Indian diplomat, who served as Foreign Secretary (1991–1994), the top bureaucrat in the Ministry of External Affairs. At the time of his death, he was the National Security Adviser (India) to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and is mostly remembered for his role as a negotiator in disputes with Pakistan and China.
Shyam Saran is an Indian career diplomat. He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1970 and rose to become the Foreign Secretary to the Government of India. Prior to his appointment as the Foreign Secretary he served as India's ambassador to Myanmar, Indonesia and Nepal and as its High Commissioner to Mauritius. Upon finishing his tenure as the Foreign Secretary, he was appointed the Prime Minister's Special Envoy for Indo-US Civil Nuclear Issues and later as Special Envoy and Chief Negotiator on Climate Change.
Kavalam Madhava Panikkar, popularly known as Sardar K. M. Panikkar, was an Indian statesman and diplomat. He was also a professor, newspaper editor, historian and novelist. He was born in Travancore, then a princely state in the British Indian Empire and was educated in Madras and at the University of Oxford.
Bakshi Mohinder Singh Sarna, known professionally as S. Mohinder, was an Indian music composer.
Kahn Singh Nabha was a Punjabi Sikh scholar, writer, anthologist, lexicographer, and encyclopedist. His most influential work, Mahan Kosh, inspired generations of scholars after him. He also played a role in the Singh Sabha movement.
Roopinder Singh is an Indian journalist and author. He retired as Senior Associate Editor with the English daily newspaper, The Tribune, published from Chandigarh, India. in 2020.His specialization is Sikh history and culture, information technology, and education. He is the author of six major books in English, including a critically acclaimed volume on the founder of Sikh religion, Guru Nanak Dev, and a volume on Sikh heritage. He lives in Chandigarh, Punjab.
Aditya Narayan Dhairyasheel Haksar is a well known translator of Sanskrit classics into English. Born in Gwalior, central India, he is a graduate of The Doon School, Allahabad University and Oxford University. He was a career diplomat, serving as Indian High Commissioner to Kenya and the Seychelles, Minister in the United States, Ambassador to Portugal and Yugoslavia, and he also served as Dean of India's Foreign Service Institute and President of the U.N. Environment Programme's Governing Council.
Kanwal Sibal is a career diplomat who retired as Foreign Secretary to the Government of India. In 2017, The Government of India awarded him with the Padma Shri award for his distinguished services in the field of Public Affairs.
Harbans Singh was an educationist, administrator, scholar and the editor-in-chief of the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism. He was respected for his contributions to Sikh scholarship and Punjabi literary studies and had a vital and pervasive influence in the field of religious studies, with special reference to Sikhism.
Arun Kumar Singh or commonly Arun Singh is a former Indian diplomat. He was the Indian Ambassador to the United States from 2015 to 2016. He is now a senior fellow with the Asia program at the German Marshall Fund of the United States. Before taking charge as ambassador in the United States, he served as Ambassador of India to France in Paris. On 8 March 2015, Ministry of External Affairs of India announced its decision to appoint Singh as the next Ambassador of India to the United States.
Navdeep Suri is a retired Indian diplomat completing 36 years in the Indian Foreign Service, having served in India's diplomatic missions in Cairo, Damascus, Washington, Dar es Salaam and London and as India's Consul General in Johannesburg. He has also headed the West Africa and Public Diplomacy departments at the Ministry of External Affairs. He was India's High Commissioner to Australia and Ambassador to Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.
Sarna is an Indian surname of Punjabi Khatri community.
Mohinder Singh Sarna was an Indian civil servant and novelist who wrote in the Punjabi language. He won the 1994 Sahitya Akademi Award for his short story collection Nawen Yug De Waris. He served as an officer of Indian Audit and Accounts Service from the 1950 batch and is the father of diplomat Navtej Sarna.
Manjeev Singh Puri is a retired Indian civil servant of the Indian Foreign Service cadre and the former Ambassador of India to Nepal.
Taranjit Singh Sandhu is a retired Indian diplomat who served as High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka and 28th Ambassador of India to the United States.
Uppal is a Punjabi surname found in India and Pakistan. The Khatris and Jats, both have a clan called Uppal. According to BN Puri, Uppal is derived from the Sanskrit term "utpalarana" which means "one who leaps upon their enemies". Puri further mentions it to be a part of the Bunjahi and Sareen subcaste of Khatris. However, as per R.C. Dogra, Uppal means "stone". Uppals have origins in the districts of Montgomery, Amritsar and Ludhiana.
