BHANGA SINGH (d. 1815), a prominent sardar of the Karorsinghia chief ship, seized in January 1764, after the fall of Sirhind, the parganah of Pehova along the bed of the River Sarasvati, 22 km west of Thanesar. Later he captured Thanesar leaving Pehova in the possession of his brother, Bhag Singh. Bhanga Singh and Bhag Singh commanded a force of 750 horse and 250 foot. In 1779, Bhanga Singh aligned himself with the Mughal chief, Abdul Ahd Khan, to recover his territory from Raja Amar Singh of Patiala. In January 1786, Bhanga Singh along with other Sikh chiefs entered the Ganga Doab at the head of 5,000 horse and ravaged Meerut, Hapur and Garh Mukteshvar. In April 1789, Mahadji Scindia, regent of the Mughal empire, confirmed Bhanga Singh`s right to rakhi or cess levied for protection in some of the areas under his influence.
FATEH SINGH, SANT (1911-1972), who enjoyed wide religious esteem among the Sikhs (sant, lit. a holy man) and who during the latter part of his career became a dominant political figure, was born, on 27 October 1911, the son of Bhai Channan Singh, a resident of Badiala in present day Bathinda district of the Punjab. He had no formal schooling and started learning to read Punjabi only at the age of 15. In view of his interest in religious texts, his father apprenticed him to a well known scholar, Sant Ishar Singh, of Sekha, a village near Barnala. In company with Sant Channan Singh, another holy man, he migrated to Ganganagar district of the then princely state of Bikaner in Rajasthan, where a large number of Sikh peasants had settled down in the newly established canal colony.
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