Kartar Singh Komal was born in 1913 at Fujipur (Srinagar). He passed his Matric and Gyani examinations and adopted the career of teaching. During his job as teacher in Khalsa School he was closely associated with the Shiromani Khalsa Darbar and Kashmir Central Sikh League.
Srinagar is the largest city and the summer capital of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. It lies in the Kashmir Valley on the banks of the Jhelum River, a tributary of the Indus, and Dal and Anchar lakes. The city is known for its natural environment, gardens, waterfronts and houseboats. It is also known for traditional Kashmiri handicrafts and dried fruits. It is the northernmost city of India with over 1 million people.
A Gyani or Giani is an honorific Sikh title used by someone learned in the Sikh religion and who often leads the congregation in prayers, such as Ardas, or in singing (kirtan). The word "Ghian" in Punjabi means knowledge, derivative of Sanskrit word, Jnana. So a "gyani" is someone who has spiritual and religious knowledge and can help the congregation, called the Sadh Sangat, in understanding the Sacred Texts and the history of the religion.
He participated in the freedom struggle and was gaoled several times. Before 1947 he had been publishing a fortnightly Urdu paper "Karam Veer". He was editor of "Shamsheer" too. He wrote several books, viz. Dharam Dhwaj (1936), Komal Hularey (1958), Samaj Sudhar Bare Anmol Gurmat Vichar (1982).
Komal was instrumental in the enactment of the Kashmir Gurdwaras Act, for which he, along with other leaders of the Sikhs, struggled very hard. Komal was a dedicated and unassuming social worker. Until the age of 79 years he served the Kashmiri Sikhs. He died in 1992.
Kashmir is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, it denotes a larger area that includes the Indian-administered territory of Jammu and Kashmir, the Pakistani-administered territories of Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, and Chinese-administered territories of Aksai Chin and the Trans-Karakoram Tract.
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The Khalistan movement is a Sikh separatist movement, which seeks to create a separate country called Khalistān in the Punjab region to serve as a homeland for Sikhs. The territorial definition of the proposed country Khalistan consists of both the Punjab, India along with Punjab, Pakistan and includes parts of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Rajasthan.
Guru Gobind Singh, born Gobind Rai, was the tenth Sikh Guru, a spiritual master, warrior, poet and philosopher. When his father, Guru Tegh Bahadur, was beheaded for refusing to convert to Islam, Guru Gobind Singh was formally installed as the leader of the Sikhs at age nine, becoming the tenth Sikh Guru. His four sons died during his lifetime – two in battle, two executed by the Mughal army.
Maharaja Ranjit Singh was the leader of the Sikh Empire, which ruled the northwest Indian subcontinent in the early half of the 19th century. He survived smallpox in infancy but lost sight in his left eye. He fought his first battle alongside his father at age 10. After his father died, he fought several wars to expel the Afghans in his teenage years and was proclaimed as the "Maharaja of Punjab" at age 21. His empire grew in the Punjab region under his leadership through 1839.
Khalsa refers to both a special group of initiated Sikh warriors, as well as a community that considers Sikhism as its faith.The Khalsa tradition was initiated in 1699 by the last living Guru of Sikhism, Guru Gobind Singh. Its formation was a key event in the history of Sikhism. The founding of Khalsa is celebrated by Sikhs during the festival of Vaisakhi.
Dal Khalsa is a Sikh organisation, based in the city of Amritsar. The organisation was formed in 1978 and came to promencne under the inspiration and time of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale in 1981 They claim that their primary aim of Dal Khalsa is to achieve the independence of the Punjabi-speaking Sikh majority region of North West India through peaceful and democratic means in order to establish a sovereign Sikh state, Khalistan.
The Sikh Empire was a major power originating in the Indian subcontinent, formed under the leadership of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, who established a secular empire based in the Punjab. The empire existed from 1799, when Ranjit Singh captured Lahore, to 1849 and was forged on the foundations of the Khalsa from a collection of autonomous Sikh misls. At its peak in the 19th century, the Empire extended from the Khyber Pass in the west to western Tibet in the east, and from Mithankot in the south to Kashmir in the north. The religious demography of the Sikh Empire was Muslim (80%), Sikh (10%), Hindu (10%). The population of the empire was 3.5 million in 1831. It was the last major region of the Indian subcontinent to be annexed by the British.
The Battle of Sobraon was fought on 10 February 1846, between the forces of the East India Company and the Sikh Khalsa Army, the army of the Sikh Empire of the Punjab. The Sikhs were completely defeated, making this the decisive battle of the First Anglo-Sikh War.
Bhai Mani Singh was an 18th-century Sikh scholar and martyr. He was a childhood companion of Guru Gobind Singh and took the vows of Sikhism when the Guru inaugurated the Khalsa in March 1699. Soon after that, the Guru sent him to Amritsar to take charge of Harmandir Sahib, which had been without a custodian since 1696. He took control and steered the course of Sikh destiny at a critical stage in Sikh history.
Khalsa Aid is an international non-profit aid and relief organization founded on the Sikh principles of selfless service and universal love but their aid is not just limited to Sikh community, it is worldwide. Founded in 1999, it is a UK Registered Charity (#1080374) with the UK Charities Commission and also has volunteers in North America and Asia. Khalsa Aid has provided relief assistance to victims of disasters, wars, and other tragic events around the world.
Maharaja Gulab Singh Jamwal (1792–1857) was the founder of royal Dogra dynasty and first Maharaja of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, the second largest princely state in British India, which was created after the defeat of the Sikh Empire in the First Anglo-Sikh War. The Treaty of Amritsar (1846) formalised the sale by the British to Gulab Singh for 7,500,000 Nanakshahee Rupees of all the lands in Kashmir that were ceded to them by the Sikhs by the Treaty of Lahore.
The history of Sikhism started with Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the first Guru in the fifteenth century in the Punjab region in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent. The religious practices were formalised by Guru Gobind Singh Ji on 13 April 1699. The latter baptised five persons from different social backgrounds to form Khalsa (ਖ਼ਾਲਸਾ). The first five, Pure Ones, then baptised Gobind Singh into the Khalsa fold. This gives the order of Khalsa, a history of around 300 years.
Sikhism is the fourth largest religion in India and has existed for 548 years, beginning with the birth of its founder Guru Nanak. The Sikhs are predominantly located in Punjab, but also in many other parts of India. It is also the fifth largest religion in the world, with more than 27 million followers in the world as of the year 2010.
Thoha Khalsa is a town in the Islamabad Capital Territory of Pakistan.
Sham Singh Attariwala was a general of the Sikh Empire. He was born in the 1790s in the house of well known Sikh farmers in the town of Attari, Amritsar, in the Majha region of Panjab, India. Asa child he was educated in Gurmukhi and Persian. When Ranjit singh became the Maharaja of Punjab, he got Attariwala's services at his disposal. Maharaja Ranjit Singh knowing his qualities and fighting abilities made him a 'Jathedar' of 5000 horsemen. He participated actively in many campaigns, notably like the campaign of Multan, campaign of Kashmir, campaign of the Frontier Province etc.
The Sikh Rule in Lahore initiated from the invasion and rule of the Sikh Misls and extended till the Sikh Empire of Ranjit Singh which ended in 1849. The Sikhs began gaining power following the decline of the Mughal Empire in Punjab and consisted of a collection of autonomous Punjabi Misls, which were governed by Misldars, mainly in the Punjab region.
The Afghan–Sikh wars were a series of wars between the Afghan Pashtuns Durrani Empire, and the Sikh Empire. The conflict had its origins stemming from the days of the Dal Khalsa.
The British Sikh Student Federation (B.S.S.F) is student body registered with the National Union of Students based in the United Kingdom, formed in late 2008 it is now one of the leading Sikh student groups in the United Kingdom.
Banda Singh Bahadur, was a Sikh military commander who established a Sikh state with capital at Lohgarh. At age 15 he left home to become an ascetic, and was given the name ‘’Madho Das’’. He established a monastery at Nānded, on the bank of the river Godāvarī, where in September 1708 he was visited by, and became a disciple of, Guru Gobind Singh, who gave him the new name of Banda Singh Bahadur after initiating him into the Khalsa. Armed with the blessing and authority of Guru Gobind Singh, he came to Khanda in Sonipat and assembled a fighting force and led the struggle against the Mughal Empire. Guru Gobind Singh also appointed five Sikhs to assist him.
Surat Singh Khalsa, also known as "Bapu Surat Singh Khalsa" is a civil rights and political activist, from the Indian state of Punjab. Surat Singh Khalsa has been involved with various political struggles related to Sikhs in Punjab, however he is currently in the limelight for a hunger strike as a form of peaceful protest against illegal and prolonged detention of political prisoners.
