Nawab Kapur Singh Virk

Honorable Jathedar Nawab Kapur Singh
ਮਾਣਯੋਗ ਜਥੇਦਾਰ ਨਵਾਬ ਕਪੂਰ ਸਿੰਘ
4th Jathedar of Akal Takht
In office 1737–1753
Preceded by	Darbara Singh
Succeeded by	Jassa Singh Ahluwalia
3rd Jathedar of Buddha Dal
In office 1737–1753
Preceded by	Darbara Singh
Succeeded by	Jassa Singh Ahluwalia
Personal details
Born	Kapur Singh Virk 1697 Kaloke, Sheikhupura, Panjab
Died	1753 (age 55-56) Amritsar, Panjab
Father	Dalip Singh Virk

Nawab Kapur Singh (1697–1753) is considered one of the pivotal figures in Sikh history, under whose leadership the Sikh community traversed one of the darkest periods of its history. He was the organizer of the Sikh Confederacy and the Dal Khalsa. Nawab Kapur Singh is regarded by Sikhs as a leader and general par excellence. The period, starting from the massacre in Delhi of Banda Singh and seven hundred other Sikhs, was followed by severe action against the Sikhs, including massacres of young men, women and children. However, every fresh adversity only stimulated their will to survive.

Nawab Kapur Singh was born into a Jatt Sikh family in 1697. His native village was Kaloke, now in Sheikhupura district, in Punjab (Pakistan). Kapur Singh was eleven years old at the time of Guru Gobind Singh's passing on and nineteen at the time of the massacre of Banda Bahadur and his followers in Delhi. Later, when he seized the village of Faizullapur, near Amritsar, he renamed it Singhpura and made it his headquarters. He is thus, also known as Kapur Singh Faizullapuria, and the small principality he founded, as Faizullapuria or Singhpuria.

Kapur Singh underwent amrit-initiation at a large gathering held at Amritsar on Baisakhi Day, 1721 from Panj Piarey led by Bhai Mani Singh. His father, Dalip Singh, and brother, Dan Singh, were also among those who were initiated into the Khalsa fold on that day. It was believed that some of the Virk Jatt Sikhs become part of the Ahluwalia Misl to whom he had given the command of Dal Khalsa, that Baron name (Sultan-ul-Quam) Nawab Jassa Singh Ahluwalia.

Kapur Singh soon gained a position of eminence among the Sikhs, who were then engaged in a desperate struggle against the Imperial Mughal government. Zakarya Khan, who had become the Mughal governor of Lahore in 1726, launched a policy of persecution against the Sikhs.

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Wikipedia