PURAN SINGH. PROFESSOR (1881-1931), poet and scientist, was born on 17 February 1881 at Salhadd (Abottabad) in a Khatri family (father: Kartar Singh; mother; Parma Devi). His father worked in the revenue department at Salhadd, though their ancestral home was in the village of Dera Khalsa in Rawalpindi district.