1. Introduction

Massacre in Delhi of Banda Singh Bahadur and his 700 Singhs was followed by severe action against Sikhs. But every fresh adversity only stimulated their will to survival. A commanding figure who led Sikhs through this dark period was Nawab Kapur Singh, the founder of Dal Khalsa. Kapur Singh by his bold example and his wise leadership, welded the Sikhs into a strong fighting force and implanted in their minds the vision of political sovereignty. He was a true embodiment of Sikh character forged by the alchemy of a fiery ordeal and enjoyed unique esteem for his courage, sacrifice and religious devotion. Nawab Kapur Singh was born of a Virk family of Jats in 1697. His native village was Kalo-ke, now in Sheikhupura district, in Pakistan Punjab. Later, when he seized the village of Faizullapur, near Amritsar, he renamed it Singhpura and started living there. He is also known to history as Kapur Singh Faizullapuria, and the small principality he founded as Faizullapuria's or Singhpuria's state. Kapur Singh was eleven years old at the time of Guru Gobind Singh's death and nineteen at the time of the massacres Banda Bahadur and his 700 Singhs in Delhi. He had thus passed his early life in an atmosphere charged with the fervor of faith and sacrifice. He came in living tough with the new impulse animating his people when he took baptism at a large gathering of Sikhs held at Amritsar on the occasion of Baisakhi of 1721. Bhai Mani Singh who had been sent to Amritsar as head priest of the Harimandir by Guru Gobind Singh's widow, Mata Sundari ji, conducted the ceremony. Kapur Singh's youthful heart was fired with a new enthusiasm. His father, Dalip singh, and brother, Dan singh, were also among those who were baptized into the Khalsa fold on that historic date.