Baba Ram Singh (Namdhari)

Ram Singh was born in 1816 at Bhaini near Ludhiana, served in Ranjit Singh's army, and became a disciple of Balak Singh, a reformer at Hazro. In 1857 he founded the Namdhari movement at Bhaini Sahib, calling Sikhs back to strict discipline, vegetarianism and simple living. Because his followers shouted in their prayers, the British called them Kukas.

He forbade dowry and child marriage, held mass weddings at a fraction of the usual cost, and preached the boycott of British goods, schools, courts and post offices, decades before Gandhi. The movement had a parallel postal service and its own leaders in every district.

In 1872 a band of Kukas attacked the town of Malerkotla to avenge the killing of cows. The British blew sixty-six of them from the mouths of cannon at Malerkotla without trial. Ram Singh, who had not ordered the attack, was exiled to Burma, where he died in 1885. The Namdharis believe he is still alive.