SHĀM SIṄGH NIHAṄG (1854-1924) was born Harkesh, in 1854, to Chaudharī Jasvant Siṅgh at the village of Muhammadpur, in Sultānpur district of Uttar Pradesh. As he grew up, he helped his father in the family's profession of farming before migrating at the age of twenty-five to Hyderābād, in the Deccan, to do business. There, undergoing several sudden turns of fortune, he went through the rites of Khālsā initiation at Gurdwārā Srī Hazūr Sāhib at Nāndeḍ, receiving the name of Shām Siṅgh. He donned the blue and saffron robes of a Nihaṅg and came to be known as Nihaṅg Shām Siṅgh. He dedicated his life to preaching the Sikh faith. He returned to his native village, in Uttar Pradesh, where his erstwhile busines, partner, Sherā, was the first to come under his influence. He escorted Sherā to Bhasauṛ, then an active centre of Siṅgh Sabhā, the Sikh renaissance movement. Here he was converted by Bhāī Tejā Siṅgh, a leading Sikh of the day, and named Harī Siṅgh. Shām Siṅgh continued his missionary work in Uttar Pradesh. In 1914, he came to settle at Paniālī Qāsimpur where he set up a gurdwārā. Many were drawn to the Sikh faith by his pious example.

        Shām Siṅgh died in 1924, leaving his successor, Bhāī Mahāṅ Siṅgh, to carry on his work.