Biographical

PARTAP SINGH KAIRON (1901-1965). political leader of wide influence and chief minister of the Punjab from 1956 to 1964, was born on 1 October 1901 in the village of Kairon, in Amritsar district of the Punjab, in a farming family of modest means. His father Nihal Singh, who had been active in the Singh Sabha movement, was a pioneer of women`s education and had founded in his village a Sikh school for girls. When still a student of the Khalsa College at Amritsar, Partap Singh left home for the United States of America. There he had to earn his own way by working on farms and in factories.

RAM SINGH, CAPTAIN (1864-1949), soldier and Akali politician, was born the son of Nattha Singh of Sunam, now in Sarigrur district of the Punjab. His father had served in the army of the Sikh rulers of Lahore and later in the British Indian army. Born in 1864, Ram Singh spent his early life in his native village where he received his early education. As he grew up, he enlisted in the Patiala state army, but soon left it to join 15th Sikh Battalion of the Indian army on 15 April 1882. He served meritoriously in the Sudan campaigns of 1884-85 and 1897-98 and on the North-West Frontier of India, rising steadily in rank and becoming a Subedar Major and Honorary Captain by the time he retired in 1908.

SAHIB SINGH BEDl, BABA (1756-1834), tenth in direct descent from Guru Nanak, was much revered in Sikh times for his piety as well as for his martial prowess. He was born at Dera Baba Nanak, Gurdaspur district on Chet. Sudi 5,1813 Bk/5 April 1756. Around 1770, his parents Baba Ajit Singh and Mata Sarupan Devi, shifted from Dera Baba Nanak to Una, a town now in Himachal Pradesh in the Sivalik foothills, where the family held extensive jagirs. As a young boy, Sahib Singh studied the Sikh sacred texts and had training in the use of arms.

SHAHBAZ SINGH (d. 1745) was the son of Subeg Singh, the kotwal of Lahore under the Mughal governor, Zakariya Khan. He went to a Muhammadan school to read Persian and Arabic. He made good progress in his studies and caught the notice of the maulawi for his highly intelligent manner. The latter wished to bring,him into the fold of Islam, and began to offer him all kinds of allurements. But young Shahbaz Singh firmly resisted all his efforts to convert him.

SUNDAR SINGH MAJITHIA, SARDAR BAHADUR SIR (1872-1941), statesman and reformer, was the younger son of Raja Surat Singh (d. 1881). He was born on 17 February 1872 at Majitha (31038`N, 74052`E), a village 18 km northeast of Amritsar (hence the surname Majithia). He was educated at Government School, Amritsar, and Aitchison College, Lahore, finally joining Government College, Lahore, to pass the intermediate (undergraduate) examination. Soon after leaving college, he joined Sri Guru Singh Sabha, Amritsar, affiliated to the Khalsa Diwan, Amritsar, taking over as its secretary in 1894.

THAKAR SINGH, DOCTOR (1885-1945), a Ghadr activist who also took part in the Akali movement of 1920-25, was the son of Sher Singh of Ikulaha, a village 6 km southwest of Kharina (30"42`N, 76°13`E) in Ludhiana district of die Punjab. He was an undergraduate at Khalsa College, Amritsar, when he gave up his studies to go to China. He was employed as a sanitary inspector on the CantonKowloon railway where his duties included dispensing medicines to sick employees which earned him the popular title of "Doctor".

ADAM, BHAI, also mentioned as Uddam in some chronicles, was, according to Giani Gian Singh, Twarikh Guru Khalsa, a Siddhu Jatt of Brar clan living at Vinjhu, a village near Bathinda (30°-14`N, 74°-58\'E). He had no male child and, advancing in years, he along with his wife came to Amritsar to devote himself to serving Guru Ram Das. Besides partaking of the holy sangat morning and evening, he daily brought two loads of firewood from the jungle, one of which he contributed to the Guru ka Langar, selling part of the second to buy food for himself and storing the remainder. Once on an extremely cold night a large number of Sikhs arrived to visit the Guru.

ARDAMAN SINGH, BHAYEE (1899-1976), of pious lineage was born on 20 September 1899 (father: Bhayee Arjan Singh; mother: Devinder Kaur) at Bagarian, in present day Sarigrur district of the Punjab. The family traces its descent from Bhai Rup Chand, a devout Sikh of the time of Guru Hargobind (1595-1644) and has for the past several generations been a leading religious family among the Sikhs. For his schooling, Ardaman Singh was not sent to a Chiefs College as was then customary for aristocratic families, but to the Khalsa School at Ludhiana. He took his B.A. degree from Khalsa College, Amritsar, in 1918. He left off his law studies midway to lend his father a helping hand in his religious work.

BALLU, BHAI, a barber who embraced the Sikh faith at the hands of Guru Angad came into prominence in the time of Guru Amar Das. When Guru Amar Das, after being consecrated Guru by Guru Arigad, retired to Goindval and shut himself in a room to meditate in seclusion, Bhai Ballu, at the instance of sangat, anxious for a sight of the Guru, persuaded him to come out of his solitude. Ballu accompanied the Guru during visits to Kurukshetra and Haridvar. According to Sarup Das Bhalla, Mahima Prakash, when Guru Amar Das composed the famous hymn, Anandu, on the occasion of the birth of his grandson, Anand, Bhai Ballu sang it at his command to the beat of a drum.

BHANA, BHAI, of Sultanpur Lodhi, now in Kapurthala district of the Punjab, was a devoted Sikh of the time of Guru Arjan. He once travelled with the sangat of his town to Amritsar and received the Guru`s blessing. SeeAKUL, BHAI, and BHIKHA, BHATT