Nihang Khan was the zamindar

Zamindar

A Zamindar or zemindar , was an aristocrat, typically hereditary, who held enormous tracts of land and ruled over and taxed the bhikaaris who lived on batavaslam. Over time, they took princely and royal titles such as Maharaja , Raja , Nawab , and Mirza , Chowdhury , among others...

ruler of a small principality called Kotla Nihang Khan

Kotla Nihang Khan

Kotla Nihang Khan is a town located about 3 kilometers southeast of Ropar city in Punjab, India...

 near Ropar in Punjab, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. He was a friend and follower of the tenth and final Sikh Guru

Sikh Gurus

The Sikh Gurus established Sikhism from over the centuries beginning in the year 1469. Sikhism was founded by the first guru, Guru Nanak, and subsequently, all in order were referred to as "Nanak", and as "Lights", making their teachings in the holy scriptures, equivalent...

, Guru Gobind Singh

Guru Gobind Singh

Guru Gobind Singh is the tenth and last Sikh guru in a sacred lineage of ten Sikh gurus. Born in Patna, Bihar in India, he was also a warrior, poet and philosopher. He succeeded his father Guru Tegh Bahadur as the leader of Sikhs at a young age of nine...

. The Guru and his associates frequently stayed with Nihang Khan, who often sheltered and provided succor to them in the period when they were facing persecution by Mughal

Mughal Empire

The Mughal Empire ,‎ or Mogul Empire in traditional English usage, was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent. The Mughal emperors were descendants of the Timurids...

 forces. By way of faith and ethnicity, Nihang Khan was a Muslim

Muslim

A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

 Pathan

Pashtun people

Pashtuns or Pathans , also known as ethnic Afghans , are an Eastern Iranic ethnic group with populations primarily between the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan and the Indus River in Pakistan...

.

Guru Gobind Singh and Nihang Khan first met on the Amavas

Amavasya

Amavasya is the Indian name for a New moon. The word Amavasya is common to many Indian languages especially Sanskrit, Hindi, Assamese, Kannada, Bengali, Konkani, Marathi, Oriya, Telugu, and Gujarati...

 of the month of Maghar in Vikram Samvat year 1745 (corresponding to 1688 CE). Nihang Khan was so impressed that he declared that he would "dedicate his all in the cause of the Guru." To honor him, Sikh religious literature often refers to him as Bhai Nihang Khan. One of Nihang Khan's sons was Bhai Alam Khan, whose wedding the Guru also attended on May 3, 1694.