Bhai Tara Singh Van

Bhai Tara Singh Van was a Sikh of the village of Van, in the Majha, who gave refuge to Sikhs fleeing Mughal persecution and died, with about twenty-two companions, fighting an army sent from Lahore. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism calls him a Buttar Jatt of Van, near Dall, and gives his birth as about 1702; Wikipedia gives 1687. His father, Gurdas Singh, took the vows of the Khalsa in Guru Gobind Singh Ji's time and fought in the battle of Amritsar on 6 April 1709, led by Bhai Mani Singh.

Key moments

• The refuge at Van: he sheltered Sikhs in a fortified enclosure of thorny branches. By Ratan Singh Bhangu he held a jagir there.
• The first clash: the Encyclopaedia says an informer, Sahib Rai of Naushahra Pannuan, told Ja'far Beg, faujdar of Patti, that Tara Singh harboured criminals. Ja'far Beg sent 25 horse and 80 foot. Tara Singh's party routed them and killed several, including the faujdar's nephew who led them. The Gurmat Bibek retelling of Bhangu gives a different cause, a quarrel over Sahib Rai's horses grazing in two Singhs' fields.
• The punitive expedition: Ja'far Beg reported to Zakariya Khan, who sent 2,000 horse, five elephants, 40 light guns and four cannon on wheels under his deputy Momin Khan.
• The last stand: Tara Singh had barely 22 men. They held the force off through the night and the next day were killed to a man in hand-to-hand fighting. A gurdwara marks where they were cremated.

When: the sources disagree. The Encyclopaedia gives 24 December 1732. Wikipedia gives 30 March 1726, and Gurmat Bibek's retelling says around 1726.

He is remembered as the Shaheed whose stand, in the Sikh retelling, revived the Panth after the Shaheedi of Banda Singh Bahadur in 1716. Gurmat Bibek's retelling says so, and adds that a memorial was built at Van.