The land of five waters gave the world its first cities, its saints and its songs. Broken by every empire that crossed it, it is still ours to remember, and to make whole again.

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Land & Ages

The LandRivers, doabs, Harappa and the first cities, seasons, numbersAgesEight ages of the Punjab, from the Soan to todayTimelineEvery dated event on one lineAtlasEvery place on one map, age by agePlacesCities, ancient sites, temples, mosques and gurdwaras, battlefieldsLanguage & scriptsPunjabi, its dialects, Gurmukhi and Shahmukhi

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PeopleSaints and teachers, poets and singers, rulers, rebels, the people of both PunjabsPeople of the landJats, Rajputs, Arains, Khatris, Dalit communities and more, across every faithFaithsHindu traditions, Islam and the Sufis, Sikhi, and the Punjab's other faiths

Kingdoms & Struggles

Kingdoms & WarsWho ruled the Punjab, the Kingdom of Lahore, and the battles fought over itWho ruled the PunjabEvery ruling power, 518 BCE to todayWars & BattlesFrom the Hydaspes to BasantarStruggles & Partitions1849, 1919, 1947, 1966, 1984, 2020

Culture & Museum

CulturePoets, qisse, songs, music, dance, festivals, foodMuseumSculpture, coins, manuscripts, painting, arms, buildings, and where to see themChronicles & ProphecyThe poetry of the old chroniclesAboutWhat this atlas is, its sources, and every word explainedHelp maintain this siteCorrections, pictures, sources and new entries
Punjab WikiPeopleRebels and martyrs
Bhai Tara Singh Wan
Unknown · Wikimedia
Martyr

Bhai Tara Singh Wan

ਭਾਈ ਤਾਰਾ ਸਿੰਘ ਵਾਂتارا سنگھ واں

A farmer of the village of Wan who sheltered Sikhs on the run; when Zakariya Khan's troops came for him in 1726 he and some two dozen companions fought them to the death.

Tara Singh of Wan, near Tarn Taran, was a Sikh farmer in the years after Banda Singh's death, when the Sikhs were hunted. He gave food and shelter to Sikhs on the run.

An informer, Sahib Rai of Naushera, quarrelled with him and reported him. In 1726 Zakariya Khan sent troops to take him; he and his companions fought them and were killed.

He is remembered as the first martyr of the long persecution under Zakariya Khan.

Places linked to Bhai Tara Singh Wan

Connected

Zakariya Khan
Zakariya Khangovernor 1726 – 1745

Mughal governor of Lahore who put a price on Sikh heads, executed Bhai Mani Singh and Bhai Taru Singh, and in 1733 tried to buy peace by offering the Sikhs a jagir and the title of Nawab.

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