GAJPAT SIṄGH, RĀJĀ (1738-1789), founder of the Sikh state of Jīnd, was born on 15 April 1738, the second son of Sukhchain Siṅgh (d. 1751), who was the younger brother of Gurdit Siṅgh, an ancestor of the ruling family of Nābhā. In 1755, at the age of seventeen, Gajpat Siṅgh seized a large tract of country including Jīnd and Safīdoṅ. In 1764, he joined the Khālsā Dal under Jassā Siṅgh Āhlūvālīā and took part in the conquest of Sirhind. He then overran Pānīpat and Karnāl. In 1766, he made Jīnd his capital. Unlike other Sikh chiefs, he continued to acknowledge the Mughal authority in Delhi and paid revenue to the Emperor. He obtained the title of Rājā under a royal farmān or decree from Emperor Shāh Ālam II in February 1772. Gajpat Siṅgh was constantly at war with the Nābhā chief, and seized his territories Amloh, Bhādsoṅ and Saṅgrūr in 1774. Rājā Amar Siṅgh of Paṭiālā and other Sikh chiefs compelled him to return the first two to Nābhā, but Gajpat Siṅgh retained Saṅgrūr which eventually became the capital of the Jīnd state. In 1774, Rājā Gajpat Siṅgh's daughter, Rāj Kaur, was married to Mahāṅ Siṅgh of the Sukkarchakkīā misl. Rāj Kaur became the mother of Mahārājā Raṇjīt Siṅgh.

         Rājā Gajpat Siṅgh was a strong ally of Rājā Amar Siṅgh of Paṭiālā. He accompanied the Paṭiālā chief on many of his expeditions, joining him in his incursions upon Siālbā and Meerut. He also assisted Amar Siṅgh's successor, Rājā Sāhib Siṅgh, to restore order in his territories. In 1789, while engaged in an expedition against refractory villages near Ambālā, Gajpat Siṅgh fell ill and was carried to Safīdoṅ where he died on 11 November 1789.