Akali Baba Hanuman Singh

Akali Baba Hanuman Singh was a Nihang commander of the Khalsa. According to Budha Dal tradition, as retold by SikhNet and Wikipedia, he was the seventh Jathedar of the Budha Dal and also led the Akal Takht, from 1823 until his shaheedi after the First Anglo-Sikh War. The accounts we found are traditional rather than contemporary, and they differ on some details, which are marked below.

He was born in November 1755 to Garja Singh and Harnam Kaur. Wikipedia places his birth at Naurang Singh Wala, near Zira in Ferozepur district. SikhNet says he fought in many battles beside Akali Naina Singh and Akali Phula Singh, who led the Budha Dal before him.

Key moments

• 1823: Akali Phula Singh fell in battle at Naushera. Hanuman Singh, then aged 68, took over the Akali Nihangs and the Akal Takht.
• Before Sobraon (February 1846): SikhNet says Sardar Sham Singh Attari came to the Akal Takht to ask for his help against the British. Sham Singh died at Sobraon.
• After Sobraon: Budha Dal survivors camped at Patiala. SikhNet says the Patiala ruler, who had earlier helped the British, gave away their position, and that they were surrounded by British forces and troops of Patiala, Jind and Faridkot.
• The last stand: he survived the first bombardment with about 500 Nihangs and fought on with swords, bows and arrows, axes and matchlocks until the gunpowder ran out. He fell at about the age of ninety.

Where the accounts differ

Wikipedia dates his death to January 1846 and places it at the Battle of Sohana, Mohali. SikhNet gives no date, names Patiala district for the fighting, and says Gurdwara Sohana Sahib in Mohali district marks the place of his shaheedi. The toll is also uncertain: SikhNet says official records put the Sikh dead at about 15,000 while the Budha Dal claims 32,000, and we found no independent record of either figure.

Akali Prahlad Singh succeeded him as the eighth Jathedar in 1846 and held the post until 1865. Hanuman Singh is remembered as the Nihang Jathedar who kept resisting after the Sikh army was beaten. His memorial gurdwara at Sohana is also called Gurdwara Singh Shaheedan, and a kabaddi academy there carries his name.