Rattan Singh was likely born in 1785 and passed in 1846. According to G. S. Mann, it is more likely that Rattan Singh was born " in the middle years of the third quarter of the eighteenth century". His paternal grandfather,
Mehtab Singh Bhangu, was a famous Sikh warrior who assassinated
Massa Ranghar for defiling the Darbar Sahib (
Golden Temple) in Amritsar. He began his work as a historian in 1809, and died in 1846 at the
Battle of Sobraon. Rattan Singh's father, Rai Singh (d. 1810), had married the daughter of Sham Singh (d. 1739), who was the founder of
Karor Singhnia Misal. Rattan Singh was one of four sons born to the couple, with Rattan being the third-born son. Rattan Singh likely had background knowledge and access to Sikh works such as the
Puratan Janam Sakhi (1580's),
Bhai Gurdas' Vaaran (pre‑1630), Sainapati’s
Sri Gur Sobha (pre-1710), and Sukha Singh’s
Sri Gur Bilas (1797). He also had access to non-Sikh sources written in Sanskrit, Bhakha, and Persian. Rattan Singh had a four-village estate (
jagir) centered at Bharhi, located near Ludhiana. Whilst travelling to his estate, Rattan came to learn that a local Ludhiana
munshi named Bute Shah had been employed by the British East India Company to write reports for them on Sikh history. Rattan Singh was very critical about the decision to rely on
Bute Shah to provide writings on Sikh history, as he found Bute Shah to be unknowledgeable, without resources, and without sympathies regarding the subject matter to carry-out the task adequately. Thus, Rattan Singh pleaded to Captain William Murray (1791–1831; public face of the regional army head,
Colonel David Ochterlony) to hear-out his own accounts of Sikh history. Rattan and William likely met several times starting in 1809 to discuss the issue. == Panth Prakash ==