| Misls of the Sikh Confederacy |
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The Shaheedan Misl,[1] also known as the Shahid Misl[2], was one of twelve Sikh Misls that later became the Sikh Empire. It held a small amount of territory in the Malwa (Punjab) area around the Damdama Sahib[3] before being incorporated into the Sikh Empire of the Sukerchakia MislbyRanjit Singh.
Deep Singh (later Baba Deep Singh), son of Bhagta, of village Pahuwind (now district Amritsar) was the founder of this Misl. Earlier this Misl was known as Deep Singh’s Misl but after the martyrdom of Deep Singh in 1757 and another Sikh general Gurbakhsh Singh (of Leel village) in 1764, this Misl came to be known as Shaheedan Misl.
In 1748, Baba Deep Singh was appointed the leader of the Shaheedan Misl and the Mahant of the Takht Sri Damdama Sahib. In 1757, Ahmad Shah Abdali invaded India[citation needed] and sent an army to the Harmindar Sahib to block Sikhs from entering the Gurdwara. Baba Deep Singh and a company of men who rode with him to free the gurdwara were killed in the Battle of Amritsar (1757)[4] against the Durrani Army. His successor, Suddha Singh, later led the misl into a skirmish against the Afghan government of Jalandhar City. The first two leaders of the misl were considered Shaheeds, or martyrs, by their contemporaries so the misl became known as, Shaheedan Misl, or the misl of the martyrs. The misl was annexed by the Sikh Empire at some point in the early 19th century and became a part of the Sikh Empire. The Nihang order of Sikhs maintains the traditions of this misl.[3]
Deep Singh Shahid, a Sandhu Jat and resident of the village of Pohuwind of the pargana of Amritsar, was the founder of this Misal.
NAINA SINGH: Naina Singh was the chief of the Shahid misl in the later part of the eighteenth century. His real name was Narain Singh. He is credited with the introduction of the Nihang type turban for his followers. He groomed the famous Sikh hero Akali Phula Singh and handed over the command of the Shahid misl to him.
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