J. Baba Balbir Singh
Since the time of Sri Guru Gobind Singh, Nihangs had been dominating the Sikh history as they were
mainly constituting the Sikh army known at that time as the beloved forces of the Guru. This position
continued even when Sikh Panth was constituted in twelve misals. The two groups at that time comprising
of the said misals came to be known as Budha Dal and Taruna Dal. The Budha Dal mainly consisted of
the elderly people and the Taruna Dal had the youngsters in the forces. In the course of time many other
groups of Taruna Dal Nihangs came into being and are presently functioning at different headquarters.
These groups include Baba Bakala Taruna Dal, Baba Bidhi Chand Samparda Taruna Dal, Taruna Dal Hariya
Vela, and Taruna Dal Mehta Chowk. However, despite various Taruna Dal groups of Nihangs, the Budha
Dal has kept its supremacy in Sikh affairs. The present chief of Budha Dal is Jathedar Baba Balbir Singh.
He is the 14th Chief of Budha Dal. He was born in Patiala in 1964 in the house of Baba Asa Singh and Bibi
Kulwant Kaur Ji. He joined Budha Dal when he was 10 years old and was a Hazuri sewak from 1977 to 1996.
He was an activate associate of his predecessor Singh Sahib Baba Santa Singh Ji. The present Jathedar has
an excellent knowledge of Gurbani, Sikh history and is well versed in horse riding and other martial arts. In
fact, he has trained many of the Punjab Police personnel in these arts. He is actively carrying forward the
activities started by his predecessor. One of these activities is to provide education facilities to the children of
Nihangs. He has plans to open more schools as to provide best of the facilities to these children. The schools
already existing including the one at Patiala are doing very well under his stewardship. We hope and pray
that in this new century, he will prove a role-model who can lead the Budha Dal into new horizons
