Early life Baba Vadbhag Singh was born at
Kartarpur, a town near Jalandhar, Punjab of the Doaba region in 1716 A.D. He was the son of Baba Ram Singh and Mata Raj Kaur. He was a descendant of Dhir Mal, the first cousin of Guru Gobind Singh. He succeeded to the hereditary
gaddi (religious seat) of
Sodhis of
Kartarpur. After some deliberation, it was decided that the Dhirmalias could re-join the Sikh fold. He created an alliance with
Adina Beg, the last Mughal governor of
Punjab, at his request. The alliance was against the Afghan invaders and occupiers, and included
Jassa Singh Ahluwalia. In the
Battle of Mahilpur (1757) Sodhi was one of the generals of the Sikh army which was aided by Adina Beg. A hard-fought battle occurred which the Sikhs and Adina Beg won despite Afghan use of
light artillery. After the battle the
Sikh forces attacked
Jalandhar and defeated resistance that was put up. Sodhi had Jalandhar destroyed and looted in revenge for what happened in Kartarpur. Sodhi dug up the body of Nasir Ali, the faujadar of Jalandhar, and had it dragged. Nasir Ali was involved in the Kartarpur episode. He also burned the corpse. He further defiled the tomb with pork. Muslim women were seized and were converted to
Sikhi after which they could marry any
Sikh they pleased.
Death After the battle Sodhi lived Mairi for the remainder of his life. He died on 31 December 1761. A shrine now stands at this location. == Shrine ==