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 by the creator of the Khalsa, Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708), had broken up at the time of the evacuation of Anandpur in December 1705. Another force, at one time 40,000 strong, raised by Banda Singh Bahadur (1670-1716) was scattered after the caputre and execution of its leader.
DHARAM SINGH, a cousin of the celebrated Tara Singh Ghaiba of the Dallevalia Misi, participated in the campaigns of the Khalsa, fighting against Mughals and Afghans in the second half of the eighteenth century. He figured in the conquest of Sirhind and partition of the territory by Sikhs in January 1764 when he occupied a cluster of villages and founded amid them his own Dharamsinghvala.
