LOS ANGELES: Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, who died at the age of 94, was one of the two generals of the Indian army to be made a Field Marshal. He was awarded this honorary rank in 1973. With a career spanning almost four decades, Manekshaw saw five wars, culminating with the route of the Pakistan army the Indo-Pakistan war of 1971.Manekshaw's death marks the end of an era.

He was the last of those legendary warriors who played a key role in shaping India's destiny. These were the Generals who led the Indian army during the the wars of 1948, the Goa operations, the 1962 debacle, 1965 and 1971 which led to the creation of Bangladesh.Born to Parsi parents and brought up in Amritsar, Manekshaw went to Sherwood College, Nainital, and, in 1932, was in the first batch of 40 cadets to be selected for the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun. Manekshaw was married to Silloo Bode, whom he first met at a social gathering in Lahore in 1937. On occasion, she could outdo him in directness.

At a much later function, when he was chief of staff, they encountered the defence minister who had aspired to best him - but who had resigned after the humiliation by China. "Darling, you remember Mr Menon?" the general inquired diplomatically. "No, I don't," she responded.She died in 2001, and he is survived by his daughters Sherry and Maja.The October of 1962, the army was defeated in a battle with Chinese soldiers over a disputed area of the Himalayan border region of Arunachal Pradesh, and Jawaharlal Nehru, the Indian prime minister, sent Manekshaw to take command, now with the rank of lieutenant general.

His absolute instruction that there would be no further withdrawals helped to restore morale pending moves towards a political settlement.By the end of 1963, he was army commander in the west, and the following year attained the army's top operational role, as commander in the east. During the Indo-Pakistan war of 1965, centred on Kashmir, Manekshaw advised against attacking East Pakistan, a factor that played to his advantage six years later.The lightning speed of the 1971 operations in the east led to the fall of Dhaka and Lieutenant General AAK Niazi's surrender on December 16, with 93,000 soldiers taken prisoner.

This was followed by a ceasefire in the west the following day.Indira Gandhi asked Manekshaw to go to Dhaka, to accept the surrender of the Pakistanis , but he declined saying that the moment belonged to Lieutenant General Jagjit Singh Aurora. It was gestures like that which set him aside marked as a great leader, respected by all, notably the Indian army's Gurkhas, of whom he remarked: "If anyone tells you he is never afraid, he is a liar or he is a Gurkha.

"A colorful figure, he was known by the nickname Sam Bahadur - Bahadur being an honorific indicating bravery. He was forthright in his personal dealings: when Gandhi inquired about his state of preparedness for the 1971 war, he is reputed to have replied: "I'm always ready, sweetie," his boldness disarming any possible reproach.Once that conflict was over, the jaunty military march Sam Bahadur was composed in his honor and his popularity was such that the premier reportedly confronted him with rumours that he was planning a coup against her.

He is said to have replied: "Don't you think I would be a worthy replacement for you, madam prime minister? You have a long nose. So have I. But I don't poke my nose into other people's affairs."