Baba Ala Singh
Founder of Patiala and of the Phulkian dynasty that ruled it until 1948.
Ala Singh was born in 1691 at Phul in the Malwa, the grandson of Phul, a chief who had received the blessing of Guru Har Rai. He built up a small principality around Barnala in the 1720s and 1730s, fighting the local Bhatti and Muslim chiefs.
He was baptised by the Khalsa and fought alongside the Dal Khalsa at times, but he was also a cautious politician who made peace with whoever was strongest. After the Vadda Ghallughara of 1762, when he was captured by Ahmad Shah Abdali, he paid a large tribute and accepted the title of raja from him, which angered the Khalsa; he was fined at the Akal Takht for it.
In 1763 he founded the fort of Patiala, and his descendants, the Phulkian dynasty, ruled the state of Patiala until it merged with India in 1948. He died in 1765.
