DAL KHALSA is the term used to describe the militia which came into being during the turbulent period of the second half of the eighteenth century and which became a formidable fighting force of the Sikhs in the northwestern part of India. The first Khalsa army formed and led

DAULAT KHAN LODHI, NAWAB, an Afghan noble, was, during the last quarter of the fifteenth century, governor of Jalandhar Doab with Sultanpur, a town in present day Kapurthala district, as his capital. One of his officials, Jai Ram, was married to Guru Nanak`s sister, Nanaki.Jai Ram secured young Nanak employment

JAI RAM (d. 1518), brother in law of Guru Nanak, was a trusted official at the court of Nawab Daulat Khan Lodhl at Sultanpur, in presentday Kapurthala district of the Punjab. He was married to Nanaki, daughter of Kalian Chand and sister of Guru Nanak, in 1475 at Talvandi

JAI SINGH KAMLA (d. 1827) served, like his father Uttam Singh, under the Bharigi chief, Gulab Singh, on whose death in 1800 he joined Ranjit Singh, who had occupied Lahore barely a year earlier. Jai Singh was a good soldier and took part in many of the Maharaja`s campaigns.

KAPUR SINGH, NAWAB (1697-1753), eighteenth century Sikh hero and founder of the Dal Khalsa. He was born in 1697 in a peasant family of Virks of the village of Kaloke, now in Shcikhupura district of Pakistan. His father`s name was DalTp Singh. When Kapur Singh was of the age

KHUSHAL SINGH (d. 1795), son of Dan Singh, who was the younger brother of Nawab Kapur Singh, leader of the Dal Khalsa, succeeded the Nawab to the leadership of the Singhpuria misl. He added a number of places and parganahs such as Bahrampui and Nurpur to his estate. After

PRARTHANATITADAN, poem in Bengali by Rabindranath Tagore on the Sikh martyr Bhai Taru Singh. Written on 2 Agrahayan, 1306 BS/1819 November 1899 and included in Kathd, a collection of Tagore`s poems published in October-November 1899, the poem refers to Bhai Taru Singh`s arrest along with some other Sikhs "who had

SADHU SINGH AKALI (d. 1818), known for his daring exploits during the final Sikh assault on Multan under Maharaja Ranjit Singh in 1818. On 2 June when the fort wall was breached by cannonading, Akali Sadhu Singh accompanied by a few of his companions rushed through the breach and

SHER MUHAMMAD KHAN, NAWAB (d. 1710), an Afghan feudatory of the Mughals, was the chief of Malerkotia and held a high military position in the sarkar or division of Sirhind. He had participated in the batde of Chamkaur and was present in the court at Sirhind when Nawab Wazir Khan,

SIKHS` RELATIONS WITH NAWAB OF OUDH. For a whole decade prior to 1774, Sikhs had been regularly raiding and pillaging upper Ganga Yamuna Doab and Ruhilkhand bordering on Oudh. Yet they had not entered the territory of the Nawab, Shuja` udDaulah, who had become an ally of the British since

ABDULLA, KHWAJA, a native of Mani Majra, near present day Chandigarh, was the keeper of the jail at Chandni Chowk kotwali in Delhi, where Guru Tegh Bahadur, Nanak IX, was detained under imperial warrant. He was a pious man and truly reverenced the holy detenu. He tried to mitigate

SUCHCHANAND (d. 1710), a Khatri official in the court of Nawab Wazir Khan, faiydar of Sirhind, was instrumental in the execution of Sahibzada Zorawar Singh and Sahibzada Fateh Singh, Guru Gobind Singh`s two younger sons aged nine and seven respectively. The Sahibzadas and their grandmother, Mata Gujari, had been