10. Bhai Tara Singh Wan
Family background
His father, S. Gurdas Singh, had received the rites of the Khalsa in the
time of Guru Gobind Singh Sahib, and had taken part in the Battle of
Amritsar (6 April 1709), in which Bhai Mani Singh led the Sikhs and in which
Har Sahai, a revenue official of Patti, was killed at his (Gurdas Singh's)
hands. Baba Gurdas Singh took martyrdom in Bajwara (Hoshiarpur) when he went
along with Baba Banda Singh to fight for Sirhind. Baba Gurdas Singh was
married in next village of Rajoke.
Early life
Bhai Tara Singh, the eldest of the five sons of Gurdas Singh, was born
around 1687. He took Amrit from Bhai Mani Singh. Receiving the rites of
initiation, he grew up to be a devout Sikh, skilled in the martial arts.
Martyrdom
As persistent persecution drove the Sikhs out of their homes to seek shelter
in hills and forests, Tara Singh collected around him a band of desperadoes
and lived defiantly at Wan, where he, according to Ratan Singh Bhangu's
Pracheen Panth Prakash[3][4][5][6], possessed ajag'Iror landgrant. In his
vaar or enclosure made with thick piles of dried branches of thorny trees,
he gave refuge to any Sikh who came to him to escape persecution. A
government informer, Chaudhry Sahib Rai of Naushahra Pannuan, complained to
the Faujdar of Patti, Jafar Begh that Tara Singh harboured criminals.[7] The faujdar sent a contingent of 25 horse and 80 foot to Wan but Tara Singh's
colleague Sardar met them in the fields, fought back and routed the invaders
with several dead, including their commander, nephew of the faujdar and got
martyrdom himself. Ja'far Begh reported the matter to Zakariya Khan, who
sent a punitive expedition consisting of 2,000 horse, 5 elephants, 40 light
guns and 4 cannononwheels under his deputy, Momin Khan. Tara Singh had
barely 22 men with him at that time. They kept the Lahore force at bay
through the night but were killed to a man in the handtohand fight on the
following day 1726.[8] Their heads were taken back to Lahore and thrown in
blind well where Gurudwara Shaheed Singhania now stands in Landa Bazar. A
Gurudwara Sahib now marks the site where the dead bodies of Bhai Tara Singh
and his 20 companions were cremated.