ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>KAP&#362R SI&#7748GH NAW&#256B (1697-1753)</TITLE> <style type="text/css"> .BODY { background-color: #EAF1F7; background-image: url('images/gtbh.jpg'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; background-position: center; color: #0066CC;} .C1{text-align: justify;color: #0066CC;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .BIB{text-align: center;color: #000099;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .CONT{text-align: right;color: #FF0000;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} </style><META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="KAPjR,SIDGH,NAWB,Person,Person"> <META http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></HEAD> <BODY class="BODY" oncontextmenu="return false" ondragstart="return false" onselectstart="return false"> <FONT ALIGN="JUSTIFY" FACE="Tahoma"> <p class="C1">&#65279KAP&#362R SI&#7748GH, NAW&#256B (1697-1753), eighteenth century Sikh hero and founder of the Dal <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257. He was born in 1697 in a peasant family of Virks of the village of K&#257loke, now in Shei<u>kh</u>&#363pur&#257 district of Pakistan. His father's name was Dal&#299p Si&#7749gh. When Kap&#363r Si&#7749gh was of the age to bear arms, he seized the village of Faizull&#257pur, near Amritsar, renamed it Si&#7749ghpur&#257 and started living there. For this reason he is also known to history as Kap&#363r Si&#7749gh Faizull&#257pur&#299&#257 and the principality he founded as Faizull&#257pur&#299&#257's or Si&#7749ghpur&#299&#257's <i>misl</i> or chieftaincy.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Kap&#363r Si&#7749gh was eleven years old at the time of Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh's death and nineteen when Band&#257 Si&#7749gh Bah&#257dur and his companions were tortured to death in Delhi. He had thus passed his early life in an atmosphere charged with the fervour of faith and sacrifice. Side by side with religious discipline, Kap&#363r Si&#7749gh practised manly exercises like horse-riding and swordsmanship. In 1721, he received the vows of <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 initiation at the hands of Bh&#257&#299 Man&#299 Si&#7749gh, a pious and learned Sikh of that time, at a large gathering of Sikhs held at Amritsar on the occasion of the D&#299v&#257l&#299 festival. Kap&#363r Si&#7749gh's physical prowess and spirit of boldness proved valuable assets in those days of high adventure, and he soon gained a position of eminence among his people who were then engaged in a desperate struggle for survival. When Zakar&#299y&#257 <u>Kh</u>&#257n, who became the governor of Lahore in 1726, adopted rigorous measures against the Sikhs, Kap&#363r Si&#7749gh organized a band of warriors, who, with a view to paralyzing the administration and obtaining food for their companions forced to seek shelter in remote hills and forests, attacked government treasuries and caravans moving from one place to another. Such was the effect of these depredations that the Delhi government, in 1733, at the instance of Zakar&#299y&#257 <u>Kh</u>&#257n, decided to lift the quarantine forced upon the Sikhs and made an offer of a grant to them. Subeg Si&#7749gh, a Sikh resident of Jambar, near Lahore, who was for a time <i>kotv&#257l</i> or police inspector of the city under Mu<u>gh</u>al authority, was entrusted with the task of negotiating peace with the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257. He reached Amritsar and offered the Sikhs, assembled there on the occasion of the Bais&#257kh&#299 festival, on behalf of the government the title of Naw&#257b and a <i>j&#257g&#299r</i> consisting of <i>parganahs</i> of D&#299p&#257lpur, Ka&#7749ganval and Jhab&#257l. After the Sikhs accepted the offer, Kap&#363r Si&#7749gh humbly swinging a hand-fan over the assembly, was unanimously chosen to be honoured with the title of Naw&#257b. Kap&#363r Si&#7749gh reluctantly accepted the honour and, as a mark of respect, he placed the robe of honour sent by the Mu<u>gh</u>als at the feet of five revered Sikhs before putting it on. The dress, according to Sikh chroniclers, included a shawl, a turban, a jewelled plume, a pair of gold bangles, a necklace, a row of pearls, a brocade garment and a sword.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; During the respite thus secured, Kap&#363r Si&#7749gh gave attention to reorganizing the Sikh force which he divided into two sections --- the Bu&#7693&#7693h&#257 Dal, army of the elderly, and the Taru&#7751&#257 Dal, army of the young. The former, under the charge of Naw&#257b Kap&#363r Si&#7749gh, was entrusted with the task of looking after the holy places, preaching the Gur&#363's word and administering the vows of the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 to Sikhs, while the latter was the more active division whose function was to fight in times of emergency. As Taru&#7751&#257 Dal grew in strength, Naw&#257b Kap&#363r Si&#7749gh further split it into five parts, each with a separate centre and its own banner and drum.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The detente with the Mu<u>gh</u>als did not last long and before the harvest season of 1735, Zakar&#299y&#257 <u>Kh</u>&#257n sent a force and occupied the <i>j&#257g&#299r</i>. The Bu&#7693&#7693h&#257 Dal being driven away towards the M&#257lv&#257, Naw&#257b Kap&#363r Si&#7749gh continued his missionary and military activities in the cis-Sutlej parts. He conquered the territory of Sun&#257m and made it over to &#256l&#257 Si&#7749gh, the Ph&#363lk&#299&#257&#7749 chief, who had received rites of initiation from him.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Naw&#257b Kap&#363r Si&#7749gh led the Bu&#7693&#7693h&#257 Dal right up to the vicinity of Delhi, vanquishing, on the way, the chieftains of Jhajjar, D&#257dr&#299, Doj&#257&#7751&#257 and Pa&#7789aud&#299. Overrunning Far&#299d&#257b&#257d, Ballabga&#7771h and Gu&#7771g&#257o&#7749 in the <i>parganah</i> of Delhi, the Dal returned to the village of &#7788h&#299kr&#299v&#257l&#257 in the M&#257lv&#257. When in 1739, N&#257dir Sh&#257h was returning to Persia after a hearty plunder of Delhi and the Punjab, Naw&#257b Kap&#363r Si&#7749gh swooped down upon his rearguard, near Akhn&#363r on the river Chen&#257b, and rescued a number of innocent girls who were being abducted, and restored them to their parents.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; On the occasion of Bais&#257kh&#299 (29 March) of 1748, when Sikhs were able to assemble at Amritsar after a long interval, a new force known as the Dal <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 was constituted at the instance of Naw&#257b Kap&#363r Si&#7749gh. Different groups of the Sikhs, whose number had already touched sixty-five, were leagued together into eleven main associations, each with a separate banner, a stable, a kitchen and a leader but acting under one supreme commander binding each group with the other group and also with the whole Panth. Kap&#363r Si&#7749gh surrendered charge to Jass&#257 Si&#7749gh &#256hl&#363v&#257l&#299&#257 who was, at his suggestion, chosen the supreme commander of the Dal <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Naw&#257b Kap&#363r Si&#7749gh died on 7 October 1753 and was cremated in the premises of Gurdw&#257r&#257 B&#257b&#257 A&#7789al at Amritsar.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Bha&#7749g&#363, Ratan Si&#7749gh, <i>Pr&#257ch&#299n Panth Prak&#257sh</i>. Amritsar, 1914<BR> <li class="C1"> Hot&#299, Prem Si&#7749gh, <i>Naw&#257b Kap&#363r Si&#7749gh</i>. Ludhiana, 1952<BR> <li class="C1"> Ga&#7751&#7693&#257 Si&#7749gh, <i>Sard&#257r Jass&#257 Si&#7749gh &#256hl&#363v&#257l&#299&#257</i>. Patiala, 1969<BR> <li class="C1"> Teja Singh and Ganda Singh, <i>A Short History of the Sikhs</i>. Bombay, 1950<BR> <li class="C1"> Khushwant Singh, <i>A History of the Sikhs</i>, vol. I. Princeton, 1963<BR> <li class="C1"> Harbans Singh, <i>The Heritage of the Sikhs</i>. Delhi, 1983<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Har&#299 R&#257m Gupta<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>