Nawab Kapur Singh - The Great Sikh Warrior

Nawab Kapur Singh Virk born in 1697 is recognized as one of the major figures in Sikh history. He was born in a peasant family in the village of Kaloke, now in Sheikhupura district of Pakistan. His father’s name was Dalip Singh. Under Kapur’s leadership, the Sikh community passed through one of the darkest periods of history from 1716-1733 and 1735-1764. He was the organizer of the Sikh Confederacy and Sikh empire. He was also the founder of the Dal Khalsa. In his early years, he seized the village of Faizullapur, near Amritsar and renamed it Singhpura and started living there. Because of this he was known as Kapur Singh Faizullapuria and the principality he founded was known as Faizullapuria’s or Singhpuria’s misl or chieftaincy.

Kapur Singh was eleven years old at the time of Guru Gobind Singh’s death and nineteen when Banda Singh Bahadur was tortured in Delhi with his companions. Kapur laid the foundations of the Sikh Empire. He is regarded by the Sikhs to be of equal importance to Banda Singh Bahadur. Kapur Singh was highly religious and practised many exercises like horse riding and swordsmanship. In 1721, he received the vows of Khalsa initiation at the hands of Bhai Mani Singh who was a pious and learned Sikh of that time, in a large gathering held in Amritsar on Baisakhi Day. 

Kapur gained an important position among the Sikhs during the struggle against the Imperial Mughal government. Zakariya Khan Bahadur, the Mughal governor of Lahore in 1726, launched a policy of persecution against the Sikhs. Zakariya adopted harsh measures against the Sikhs. For this Kapur Singh organized a band of warriors with a view to paralysing the administration and obtaining food for their companions who were forced to take shelter in remote hills and forests. They attacked government treasuries and caravans moving from one place to another. Due to these attacks the Delhi government decided, at the insistence of Zakariya Khan, to lift the quarantine forced upon the Sikhs and made an offer of a grant to them. The title of Nawab was conferred upon their leader, with a jagir consisting of three parganas. Kapur Singh was unanimously elected as the leader and chosen for the title after he accepted the offer. 

After the quarantine phase was lifted a word was sent around to the Sikhs moving in the jungles and deserts that they could return to their homes. Nawab Singh took the charge of consolidating the disintegrated fabric of the Sikh Jathas. The Sikh jathas were merged into a single central fighting force (The Dal) divided into two sections - The Budha Dal, the army of the veterans and the Taruna Dal, the army of the young. Sardar Hari Singh Dhillon was elected its leader. Nawab Singh’s personality was the common link between these two wings. Nawab Singh was a great warrior and he had fought many battles. The battle of Sirhind in 1764 was a turning point of Singhpuria Misl.

Meanwhile Zakariya Khan and his minister, Lakhpat Rai again launched an all-out campaign against Nawab Singh. The Sikhs were brought to bay in a dense bush near Kahnuwan, in the Gurdaspur District. They however put up a determined fight but were overcome by a large number of the enemy’s army. They were chased and forced to scatter in the woods. More than seven thousand Sikhs died and about one thousand Sikhs were brought to prisons in Lahore by Lakhpat Singh. They were forced to ride on donkeys, bare-backed and paraded in the bazaars. After this they were taken to the horse-market outside Delhi Gate and were beheaded one by one mercilessly. This campaign is known as the Chhota Ghalughara or Lesser Holocaust in the Sikh history. 

Due to his old age, Nawab Singh requested the community to relieve him of his duties and at his suggestion Jassa Singh Ahluwalia was chosen as the supreme commander of the Dal Khalsa. Kapur Singh died in 1753 at Amritsar and was succeeded by his younger brother, Hameer Singh. The great Sikh warrior was cremated near Baba Atal Rai Gurdwara, at Amritsar.