CHANNAN SINGH, SANT (1907-1972), elected president of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, successively from 1962 till his death in 1972, was born in 1907 to Tarlok Singh and Prem Kaur, a peasant couple of modest means, belonging to the village of Mullanpur, in Ludhiana district of the Punjab. As a small boy, he attended the Nirmala monastery located in his village where he learnt to read and write Gurmukhi and made his early acquaintance with Sikh scriptural texts.
DHANNA SINGH MALVAI (1775-1843), soldier and jagirdar under Ranjit Singh, belonged to the village of Maur in Nabha territory. Mall Singh, Dhanna Singh`s father, who was the first in the family to be initiated a Sikh, left his village about 1760 and entered the service of Charhat Singh Sukkarchakkia as a sowar. He was killed in a campaign in the northwest. His son, Dhanna Singh, left Maur in 1793 and took up service with Sahib Singh Bharigi of Gujrat. About the year 1800, he enlisted himself in the force of Fateh Singh Kaliarivala as a trooper, and soon rose in his favour, obtaining an independent command.
FATEH CHAND MAINI, RAJA, a ranked citizen of Patna in Bihar, who served Guru Tegh Bahadur with dedication during his visit in 1665. Fateh Chand and his wife were devout Sikhs and received the Guru and his family with great honour. They put them up in their newly built house, themselves continuing to live in the old one. After the departure of the Guru`s family for the Punjab, the couple converted their house into a dharamsala for the sangat or devotees to assemble in holy congregation. The place came to be known as Maini Sangat.
