Maharaja Ranjit Singh (Singh is King)

Maharaja Ranjit Singh ( 13th November 1780 – 27th June 1839) also called "Sher-e-Punjab" ("The Lion of Punjab") was the principle Sikh ruler of the sovereign country of Punjab and the Sikh Empire.He was the second Sikh King after the First Banda Singh Bahadur.
His sons were, in rapid succession, the others rulers but their rule was short lived. The Maharaja was born on 13th November 1780 in Gujranwala now in modern day Pakistan,into the Sansi-Sandhawalia family. At the time, much of Punjab was ruled by the Sikhs , who had divided the territory among factions known as misls.
Ranjit Singh's father Maha Singh was the misaldar ("commander", "misl leader") of the Sukerchakia misl and controlled a territory in west Punjab based around his headquarters at Gujranwala. Ranjit Singh succeeded his father as the misaldar, at the young age of 12. The name of his mother was Mai Raj Kaur who was the daughter of the king of Jind. She was also known by the name of ‘Malwain’.

Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s Empire extended from the Khyber Pass in the west, to Kashmir in the north (touching) the border's of Tibet, to the Sind River in the south and in the east to Himachal Pradesh.
The main geographical footprint of the empire was Punjab (historical Punjab region including present days Himachal Pradesh,Haryana).

The religious population demography of the Sikh Empire was Muslim (60%),Hindu (25%) and Sikh (15%).

This great warrior, fearless soldier, able administrator, clement ruler, statesman and liberator of Punjab died on 27th June 1839. His Samadhi (memorial) is located in Lahore now in Pakistan.

I pay my tribute to this GREAT KING of Sikh (Punjab,India) history.

Maharaja Ranjit Singh is included in the list of "Undefeated Military Commanders", [1] at Wikibin - a list of known military commanders who did not lose any significant engagement against the enemy as the commander-in-chief of a significant portion of a country's military forces.

History of Punjab

History of Punjab
647 - 1192: Rajput Period
713 - 1300: Muslim Invaders (Turks and Arabs) infamous invaders like Mahmud Gori and Mahmud Ghazni
8th Century: Arabs capture Sind and Multan
1450 - 1700: Mughal Rule
1469 - 1539: Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji (1st Sikh Guru)
1539 - 1675: Period of 8 Sikh Gurus from Guru Angad Dev Ji to Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji
1675 - 1708: Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji (10th Sikh Guru)
1699: Birth of the Khalsa
1708 - 1715: Conquests of Banda Bahadur
1716 - 1759: Sikh struggle against Moghul Governors
1739: - Nadir Shah of Persia invades
1748 -1769: Ahmed Shah Abdali's nine invasions
1762: 2nd Ghalughara (Holocaust) during Ahmed Shah's 6th invasion
1764 - 1799: The Sikh Misls fight each other for control of territories
1799 - 1839: Maharaja Ranjit Singh Rules Punjab and J and K

Bhai Vir Singh Ji

Bhai Vir Singh (December 5, 1872 - June 10, 1957) was a poet, scholar and theologian who was a major figure in the movement for the revival and renewal of Punjabi (Language) literary tradition. His identification with all the important concerns of modern Sikhism was so complete that he came to be canonized as Bhai, the Brother of the Sikh Order, very early in his career. For his pioneering work in its several different genres, he is acknowledged as the creator of modern Punjabi literature.
Born on 5 December 1872, in Amritsar (Punjab,India), Bhai Vir Singh was the eldest of Dr.Charan Singh’s three sons. The family traces its ancestry back to Diwan Kaura Mall (d. 1752), who rose to the position of vice-governor of Multan, under Nawab Mir Mu'ln ul-Mulk, With the title of Maharaja Bahadur.
Baba Kahn Singh (1788-1878) was, perhaps, the first in the family to become a Sikh. He became a recluse when he was still in his early teens and spent his entire youth in monasteries at Haridvar and then at Amritsar acquiring training in traditional Sikh learning. His mother's affection ultimately reclaimed him to the life of a householder at the age of 40, when he got married. Adept in versification in Sanskrit and Braj as well as in the oriental system of medicine, Baba Kahn Singh passed on his interests to his only son, Dr Charan Singh.
Apart from his sustained involvement in literary and scholarly pursuits, mainly as a Braj poet, Punjabi prose-writer, musicologist, prosodist and lexicographer, Dr Charan Singh took active interest in the affairs of the Sikh community, then experiencing a new urge for restoration as well as for change.