UpdateBot at 23:19, 6 October 2021

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{{notability|1=Biographies|date=May 2017}}

{{Infobox royalty
| name = Gurbaksh Singh
| image =
| image_size =
| succession =
| title =
| caption =
| successor =
| predecessor =
| reign =
| spouse = [[Sada Kaur]]
| house =
| father = [[Jai Singh Kanhaiya]]
| mother = Desan Kaur
| birth_date = {{circa|1759}}
| birth_place = [[Leel]] village, [[Amritsar]], [[India]]
| death_date = {{death year and age|1785|1759}}
| death_place = [[Batala]], [[India]]
| issue = [[Mehtab Kaur]]
| religion = [[Sikhism]]
}}

'''Gurbaksh Singh Kanhaiya'''<ref>{{cite book|last1=Dhavan|first1=Purnima|title=When sparrows became hawks : the making of the Sikh warrior tradition, 1699-1799|date=2011|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York|isbn=9780199756551|page=85}}</ref> ({{circa}} 1759 - 1785) was the eldest son and heir of [[Jai Singh Kanhaiya]], the chief of the [[Kanhaiya Misl]].<ref name=Singha>{{cite book|last1=Singha|first1=H.S.|title=The encyclopedia of Sikhism (over 1000 entries)|date=2000|publisher=Hemkunt Publishers|location=New Delhi|isbn=9788170103011|page=137}}</ref> He was the father of Maharani [[Mehtab Kaur]] and thus, the father-in-law of Maharaja [[Ranjit Singh]], the founder of the [[Sikh Empire]].

==Early life==
Gurbaksh Singh, the only son and heir of Jai Singh Kanhaiya, was born in 1759 to his wife Desan Kaur, who was the widow of Jhanda Singh.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Griffin|first1=Sir Lepel Henry|title=The Panjab Chiefs: Historical and Biographical Notices of the Principal Families in the Lahore and Rawalpindi Divisions of the Panjab|date=1890|page=158|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tRFPAQAAIAAJ&q=desan|language=en}}</ref> His father, Jai Singh, was the founder and leader of the Kanhaiya Misl.<ref>{{cite book|last1=McLeod|first1=LOUIS E. FENECH, W.H.|title=Historical dictionary of Sikhism|date=2014|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=9781442236011|page=162|edition=Third}}</ref> Gurbaksh Singh was married at the age of seven to [[Sada Kaur]], a daughter of Sardar Daswandha Singh Alkol.<ref>{{cite journal|title=The Sikh Review|date=1 January 1968|volume=16-17|page=25|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PpHjAAAAMAAJ&q=sada+kaur+daswandha+singh|accessdate=3 May 2017|publisher=Sikh Cultural Centre|language=en}}</ref> The couple had one child together, a daughter named [[Mehtab Kaur]], who was born in 1782.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Noor|first1=Harbans Singh|title=Connecting the dots in Sikh history|date=2004|publisher=Institute of Sikh Studies|location=Chandigarh|isbn=9788185815237|page=67}}</ref>

She was married in 1796 to [[Ranjit Singh]], the successor of [[Maha Singh]], the leader of the [[Sukerchakia Misl]], who were a rival of the Kanhaiya Misl.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Calcutta Review|date=1 January 1944|page=74|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lOFMAAAAMAAJ&q=mehtab+kaur+gurbaksh|accessdate=3 May 2017|publisher=University of Calcutta.|language=en}}</ref>

==Death==
The Kanhaiyas, who had replaced the [[Bhangi Misl|Bhangis]] as the most powerful ''[[misl]]'', disputed Ranjit Singh's father's right to plunder [[Jammu]], and in one of the many skirmishes between the two ''misl''s, Gurbaksh Singh was killed in battle against Maha Singh in February 1785.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Garrett|first1=Joseph Davey Cunningham ; edited by H.L.O.|title=A history of the Sikhs from the origin of the nation to the battles of the Sutlej|date=1994|publisher=Asian Educational Services|location=New Delhi|isbn=9788120609501|page=175}}</ref>

In the absence of any heir, Gurbaksh Singh's widowed wife, [[Sada Kaur]] (an intelligent and ambitious woman) became the chief of the Kanhaiya Misl after her father-in-law's death in 1789.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Roy|first1=Kaushik|title=Military Manpower, Armies and Warfare in South Asia|date=2015|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781317321286|page=82|language=en}}</ref> She played an important role in Ranjit Singh's rise to power in [[Punjab]] and used to lend support of the Kanhaiya ''misl'' to Ranjit Singh till 1821, when she developed differences with him and as a consequence lost her territory to him.<ref name="Singha" />

==In popular culture==
*Rumi Khan portrays Gurbaksh Singh in [[Life OK]]'s historical drama ''Sher-e-Punjab: Maharaja Ranjit Singh''.<ref name=Coutinho>{{cite news|last1=Coutinho|first1=Natasha|title=Historical gets its look right - Mumbai Mirror -|url=http://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/entertainment/tv/historical-gets-its-look-right/articleshow/57502951.cms|accessdate=3 May 2017|work=Mumbai Mirror|date=March 7, 2017}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Ranjit Singh]]
*[[Sada Kaur]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kanhaiya, Gurbaksh Singh}}
[[Category:1759 births]]
[[Category:1785 deaths]]
[[Category:Indian Sikhs]]
[[Category:People killed in action]]

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Gurbaksh Singh Kanhaiya - Revision history

UpdateBot at 23:19, 6 October 2021