CHARAN SINGH, DR (1853-1908), poet and musicologist, was born at Amritsar in 1853 (father: Kahn Singh ; mother Rup Kaur) and was seventh in descent from Diwan Kaura Mail, an influential eighteenth century Sahajdhari Sikh. Kahn Singh (1788-1878) who was of a retiring disposition had spent some years in the company of wandering ascetics before he was persuaded to give up the life of a recluse and become a householder. In addition to his practice of indigenous medicine, he collected and transcribed Sanskrit manuscripts and wrote verse in Braj thereby laying the foundations of the family`s literary tradition. His son, Charan Singh, studied Sanskrit, Braj, Persian and prosody, besides Ayurveda and Western medicine.
CHHOTA MIRZAPUR, a village in Mirzapur district of Uttar Pradesh, 18 km south of Varanasi (25 20`N, 82 58`E), is sacred to Guru Gobind Singh. He broke journey at Chhota Mirzapur while travelling as a child from Patna, his birthplace, to the Punjab. A Sikh sangat developed here in course of time. The present Gurdwara constructed recently on the site of an older one is, however, named Gurdwara Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur, Navami Patshahi, perhaps because at the time of his visit, Guru Gobind Singh had not yet been anointed Guru and the party travelling was only remembered as the family of the Ninth Guru, Guru Tegh Bahadur. Bhai Musa Singh, a native Sikh and head of the only Sikh family in the village, looks after the Gurdwara.
CHARAN SINGH. BHAI (d. 1921), one of the Nankana Sahib martyrs, was the son of Bhai Gokal Singh and Mai Lachhman Kaur of Diriga village, in Gujrat district. He lost his mother during infancy. His old grandmother looked after him for about five years and was then sent to live with his maternal aunt in a village in Lyallpur district where a childless neighbour Bhai Piara Singh adopted him as his son. He took the vows of the Khalsa at the age of 15. He adopted tattooing as a profession.
CHANDA SINGH, BHAI (1885-1921) was born on 9 Savan 1942 Bk / 22 July 1885, the son of Bhai Hukam Singh and Mat Nand Kaur, a peasant couple of village Nizampur, in Amritsar district. The family shifted westward to Chakk No. 38 Nizampur Deva Singhvala, in a newly colonized district. As he grew up, Chanda Singh, was influenced by the current of Sikh reformation then sweeping the Punjab.
CHAUPA SINGH (d. 1724), earlier name Chaupati Rai, was a prominent Sikh in the retinue of Guru Tegh Bahadur (1621-75) and then of Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708). He was born in a Chhibbar (Brahman) family of Kariala, a village in Jehlum district, now in Pakistan. His grandfather, Gautam, had accepted the Sikh faith and was followed in this allegiance by his two sons Paira and Praga. The former was Chaupati Rai`s father; in the lineage of the latter, known for his martial skill during the time of Guru Hargobind (1595-1644), were Dargah Malt, Dharam Chand, Gurbakhsh Singh and Kesar Singh.
