NIHAL SINGH KAIRON (1863-1928), a pioneer of women`s education in the Punjab, was born on 22 December 1863 at Kairori, a village in Amritsar district. His father, Gulab Singh, a deeply religious person, had three sons, Nihal Singh being the youngest of them. Nihal Singh had no formal schooling,

PRATAP SINGH, MAHARAJA (1919-1995). Tall and handsome, His Highness Maharaja Sir Pratap Singh, Malvendra Bahadur, was the ruler of the princely state of Nabha. The state ceased to be in 1948 when a new and larger political unit called Patiala and East Punjab States Union, short PEPSU, came into

RANJIT SINGH (1780-1839), Maharaja of the Punjab, popularly called Sheri Punjab, i.e. the Lion of the Punjab, was the most colourful, the most powerful and yet the most endearing figure in the history of the Sikhs. He ruled over a domain extending from the Khaibar Pass in the west

SAHIB SINGH, RAJA (1773-1813), born on 18 August 1773 to Raja Amar Singh and Rani Raj Kaur, ascended the throne of Patiala after his father`s death in February 1781. In 1787 he was married, at Amritsar, to Ratan Kaur, daughter of Ganda Singh, the Bhangi chief. Five years later,

SHER SINGH, leader of a group of Sikh warriors who was rewarded by Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708) for his initiative and alacrity in one of the battles of Anandpur. He fell upon a contingent of the Mughal force fatigued after a quick day`s action. This sudden attack took the

TAHL SINGH CHHACHHI (d. 1785), a Kohli Khatri, first entered the service of the Khattar sardars but later joined Sardar Charhat Singh Sukkarchakkia and received from him, in 1741, jagirs comprising several villages, including Miari Daud Khel. Tahl Singh also made conquests on his own account and captured territories

TILOK SINGH, (d. 1710), Tiloka or Tilok Chand before receiving the Sikh initiatory rites, was an ancestor of the Phulkian families of Nabha and Jind, Badrukkhan and Dialpura. He was the eldest son of Chaudhari Phul. His wife, Bakhto, bore him two sons, Gurdit Singh and Sukhchain Singh. From

AMAR SINGH (1888-1948), of the Sheri Punjab, journalist, scholar and a prominent figure in Sikh politics, was born on 27 May 1888 at Pindi Gheb in Attock district of the Punjab, now in Pakistan. His grandfather, Gauhar Singh, had held a civil appointment under Maharaja Ranjit Singh. He spent

ATAR SINGH, one of the twenty-two Kuka subas, i.e. governors or deputies, appointed in different parts to espouse Kuka or Namdhari patriotism and reform during the latter part of the nineteenth century, belonged to Ludhiana district. He was born in 1832 the son of Buddh Singh. He sold all

BANTA SINGH DHAMIAN (1900-1923), Babar revolutionary, was born in 1900 at the village of Dhamian Kalan, in Jalandhar district. He went to the village primary school, and joined the army serving in the 55th Sikh Battalion for about three years. While in the army he came in contact with

BHUPAL SINGH, a son of the Gurkha general, Amar Singh Thapa, came to Lahore and took up service under Maharaja Ranjit Singh (1780-1839). He became an officer in a battalion in the Sikh army under General Ventura. In 1838, Bhupal Singh returned to Nepal and was appointed to command

BULAKI DAS was the masand or head of the Sikh sangat, at Dhaka, now capital of Bangladesh, during the third quarter of the seventeenth century. Dhaka had been visited by Guru Nanak at the beginning of the sixteenth century when a sangat had emerged in the town. During the