GURBAKHSH SIṄGH KALSĪĀ (d. 1785), a leading figure in the Karoṛsiṅghīā misl of the Sikhs, was a Sandhū Jaṭṭ, belonging to the village of Kalsīā in Lahore district. He received Sikh initiatory rites at the hands of the revered Bhāī Manī Siṅgh at Amritsar in the time of Nawāb Zakarīyā Khān of Lahore. As a mark of mutual friendliness, he exchanged turbans with Karoṛā Siṅgh, the Karoṛsiṅghīā misl chief, and participated in several expeditions of the Dal Khālsā. At the time of the conquest of Sirhind in January 1764, he seized the parganah of Chhachhraulī, now in Jagādharī tahsīl of Haryāṇā, comprising 114 villages, and founded an independent principality called Kalsīā after the name of his native village. He captured Bambelī parganah in Hoshiārpur district and collected immense wealth from different places in Haryāṇā and Rājasthān. Some of his villages had been seized by Rājā Amar Siṅgh of Paṭiālā which he later recovered. Along with several other Sikh chiefs, he attempted to form an alliance with the English against Mahādjī Scindia in 1785.

        Gurbakhsh Siṅgh died in 1785

BIBLIOGRAPHY

  1. Griffin, Lepel, and C.F. Massy, Chiefs and Families of Note in the Punjab. Lahore, 1909
  2. Seetal, Sohan Singh, The Sikh Misals and the Punjab. Ludhiana, n.d.

Sardār Siṅgh Bhāṭīā