AJAB SINGH (d. 1705). son of Bhai Mani Ram, a Rajput Sikh of `Alipur in Multan district, now in Pakistan, came to Anandpur with his father and four brothers, and received the rites of initiation at the inauguration of the Khalsa by Guru Gobind Singh on the Baisakhi day of 1699. He remained in Guru Gobind Singh`s retinue until his death in the battle of Chamkaur on 7 December 1705.
DEATH, the primordial mystery and one of the cardinal conditions of existence. Scientifically, death is defined as "the permanent cessation of the vital function in the bodies of animals and plants" or, simply, as the end of life caused by senescence or by stoppage of the means of sustenance to body cells. In Sikhism the universal fact of mortality is juxtaposed to immortality (amarapad) as the ultimate objective (paramartha) of life. As a biological reality death is the inevitable destiny of everyone. Even the divines and prophets have no immunity from it. Mortality reigns over the realms of the gods as well.
AJIT SINGH PALIT (d. 1725), adopted son of Mata Sundari, the mother of Sahibzada Ajit Singh . Little is known about the family he came of except that Mata Sundari took him over from a goldsmith of Delhi and adopted him because of his striking resemblance with her son, Ajit Singh, who had met a martyr`s death at Chamkaur. She treated him with great affection and got him married to a girl from Burhanpur. Emperor Bahadur Shah, considering Ajit Singh to be Guru Gobind Singh`s heir, ordered, on 30 October 1708, the bestowal of a \'khill`atupon him as a mark of condolence for the Guru`s death.
NIHAL SINGH AHLUVALIA (d. 1852), son of Fateh Singh Ahluvalia, succeeded to the Ahluvalia chieftaincy on the death, in 1836, of his father. In his youth he was a favourite of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and was the recipient of the towns of Nur Mahal and Kalat Majra and other occasional bounties. Upon succession, however, he was subjected to a fee of 1,000,000 rupees. His younger brother, Amar Singh, who lived in Lahore, conspired to usurp the gaddi and was encouraged in his ambition by the Maharaja as well as by his minister, Dhian Singh.
