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Kartar Singh Sarabha Biography: Age, Career, Family and More

F4U Editorial Desk • Updated September 29, 2026 • 6 min read

Quick Info

Date of birth24 May 1896

Age19 Years (at time of death)

BirthplaceSarabha, Punjab Province, British India

ProfessionFreedom Fighter

NationalityBritish Indian

Marital statusUnmarried

FamilyFather: Mangal Singh; Mother: Sahib Kaur; Only son

Kartar Singh Sarabha Biography

Kartar Singh Sarabha was a young Punjabi Sikh revolutionary and an active member of the Ghadar Party. Born in 1896 in Sarabha village, he became involvedin

Early life and background

Kartar Singh Sarabha was born on 24 May 1896 in the village of Sarabha in the Punjab Province of British India. He was the only son of Mangal Singh and Sahib Kaur and was raised in his ancestral village after the early death of his father. Kartar completed middle-standard schooling at Malwa Khalsa High School in Ludhiana and later finished his matriculation while staying with relatives in Cuttack, Odisha.

As a teenager he traveled to the United States in July 1912 with the intention of pursuing further studies. Records about his enrolment at the University of California, Berkeley, are inconsistent: some accounts place him in student circles at Berkeley and connected to the Nalanda club of Indian students, while other contemporary college records do not list his name. During his time in America he is reported to have worked in mills and to have encountered the harsh treatment faced by Indian immigrants, an experience that intensified his political convictions.

Career

In San Francisco Kartar joined the newly formed Ghadar Party, established on 15 July 1913 by Indian expatriates who aimed to end British colonial rule in India. He quickly became one of the party’s most energetic members. He helped produce the Punjabi Gurmukhi edition of the party’s newspaper, The Ghadar, and contributed articles and patriotic poetry intended to inspire Indians at home and abroad.

Kartar learned arms and related skills while in North America and used those abilities to support the party’s plans. When the First World War began, the Ghadar leadership saw an opportunity to foment revolt in India. In late 1914 Kartar travelled from North America to India with other Ghadar activists. He met Indian revolutionary leaders and communicated plans for uprisings among soldiers and civilians.

A planned uprising in February 1915 was betrayed by an informer and many revolutionaries were arrested or otherwise thwarted. Kartar and several comrades were ordered to leave India, but he returned instead, driven by a sense of duty to his fellow revolutionaries. He resumed work to raise support and spread the call for revolt in Punjab, activities that led to his arrest by a member of the British Indian Army in March 1915.

During his trial Kartar refused to characterize his actions as mere conspiracy. He framed them as an open challenge to colonial rule and asserted the legitimacy of resisting oppression. He rejected calls to recant and took responsibility for the movement’s actions. Held in Lahore Central Jail, he attempted to escape but was discovered; while imprisoned he reportedly gained weight, an observation noted by contemporaries as a sign of his resilience.

On 16 November 1915 Kartar Singh Sarabha was executed by hanging in Lahore Central Jail. He was 19 years old.

Public profile

Kartar Singh Sarabha is remembered as one of the young, committed figures of the early revolutionary movement against British rule. His work with the Ghadar Party—editing and writing for The Ghadar newspaper and organizing among the diaspora and in India—marked him as a prominent voice for armed resistance during that period.

His example influenced later Indian revolutionaries; Bhagat Singh kept a photograph of Kartar Singh Sarabha and called him a hero and a companion. That connection has been cited by family members of Bhagat Singh and by later commentators as a sign of Kartar’s continuing symbolic importance to succeeding generations of activists.

Latest updates

Historical accounts note the Ghadar Party’s multilingual newspaper began publication on 1 November 1913 and that the party’s activities in 1914–1915 culminated in plans for coordinated uprisings that were largely suppressed after an informer revealed details to the authorities. Kartar’s return to India after being ordered to leave, his subsequent arrest, and his conduct at trial are consistently recorded as central episodes in his brief life as a revolutionary.

Kartar’s personal details—birth on 24 May 1896, place of birth in Sarabha village, schooling in Ludhiana and Cuttack, parents’ names, and execution on 16 November 1915 in Lahore—remain the core factual elements preserved in historical records and retellings of the Ghadar movement.
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Recent Work

The Ghadar (Gurmukhi edition)

Contributed articles, poetry and helped administer and operate the Ghadar Party's Punjabi newspaper.

1913
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Career Highlights

  1. Active member of the Ghadar Party from its early days in San Francisco (1913)
  2. Contributor and administrator for the Gurmukhi edition of The Ghadar newspaper
  3. Traveled from North America to India in 1914 to assist revolutionary efforts
  4. Arrested in 1915 and executed in Lahore Central Jail at age 19
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Frequently Asked Questions

When was Kartar Singh Sarabha born?

24 May 1896

What is Kartar Singh Sarabha known for?

Freedom Fighter

What is Kartar Singh Sarabha’s marital status?

Unmarried