ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>BHAGW&#256N SI&#7748GH GY&#256NEE (d. 1962)</TITLE> <style type="text/css"> .BODY { background-color: #EAF1F7; background-image: url('images/gtbh.jpg'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; background-position: center; color: #0066CC;} .C1{text-align: justify;color: #0066CC;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .BIB{text-align: center;color: #000099;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .CONT{text-align: right;color: #FF0000;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} </style><META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="BHAGWN,SIDGH,GYNEE"> <META http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></HEAD> <BODY class="BODY" oncontextmenu="return false" ondragstart="return false" onselectstart="return false"> <FONT ALIGN="JUSTIFY" FACE="Tahoma"> <p class="C1">&#65279BHAGW&#256N SI&#7748GH GY&#256NEE (d. 1962), prominent <u>Gh</u>adr leader, was born the son of Sarmukh Si&#7749gh of the village of Va&#7771i&#7749g, 15 km east of Tarn T&#257ran in Amritsar district of the Punjab. Their ancestors, Kashm&#299ri Br&#257hma&#7751s, had migrated to the Punjab during the seventeenth century. Bhagw&#257n Si&#7749gh learnt Urdu at the village school and then joined Gurmat Vidy&#257l&#257, a missionary school at Gharj&#257kh, in Gujr&#257&#7749w&#257l&#257 district, from where he passed the <i>gy&#257n&#299</i> examination. He was employed as a teacher in the Gurmat Vidy&#257l&#257, shifting after a short while to <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 School, &#7692ask&#257, in Si&#257lko&#7789 district, where he studied Ved&#257nta under S&#257dh&#363 Har Bil&#257s. He delivered anti - government speeches during the agrarian unrest of 1907-08, and to escape prosecution left India sailing to Penang where he became a <i>granth&#299</i> or Scripture-reader in the <i>gurdw&#257r&#257</i>, but his services were soon terminated owing to his radical views. Bhagw&#257n Si&#7749gh next worked as a <i>granth&#299</i> at the Central Gurdw&#257r&#257 in Hong Kong. Here he was twice prosecuted in 1911-12 and, though he was acquitted on both occasions, he had to leave the colony. He reached Canada in April 1913 under the assumed name of Natth&#257 Si&#7749gh, but was deported by the immigration authorities on the charge of having entered the country under a false name. He was put on a Japanese ship going to Hong Kong, but he managed to escape <i>en route</i> and entered Japan where a unit of the <u>Gh</u>adr Party had been established by Maulaw&#299 Barkatullah. Bhagw&#257n Si&#7749gh and Barkatullah met the S. S. <i>Komagata Maru</i> on its outward journey at the end of April 1914 and addressed its inmates, setting sail soon thereafter for the United States and reaching Yug&#257ntar &#256shram, the <u>Gh</u>adr Party headquarters at San Francisco, on 23 May 1914. With the arrival of Bhagw&#257n Si&#7749gh the control of the <i>gurdw&#257r&#257</i> at Stockton passed from the hands of a moderate management to those of the revolutionaries. He addressed meetings and contributed patriotic and anti-British poems to the <i><u>Gh</u>adr</i>. After the departure of B&#257b&#257 Sohan Si&#7749gh Bhakn&#257 for India on 21 July 1914, Bhagw&#257n Si&#7749gh was elected president of the <u>Gh</u>adr Party. Besides guiding the work at party headquarters, he toured the Philippines, Japan, Shanghai (China) and Panama to enlist volunteers, establish branches and collect funds. In Manila (Philippines) in May 1915, his address was "B. S. Jakh, Post Box 1070. "</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;British government had been bringing diplomatic pressure on the United States to check the <u>Gh</u>adr activity. The U. S. government acted swiftly after it had entered the war (World War I) and on 7 April 1917 took into custody Bhagw&#257n Si&#7749gh and 18 others who were brought to trial at San Francisco. The charge against them was the violation of American Neutrality Law by conspiring to organize the movement in Thailand and Burma in order to weaken one of the allied governments and to send arms and ammunition to them. Bhagw&#257n Si&#7749gh was sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment which he spent in the United States penitentiary at MacNeil Island. After his release, he and his comrades, who were in danger of being deported to India, applied for and were granted political asylum in the United States with the support of an organization known as Friends of Freedom for India. He edited the Punjabi monthly <i>Nav&#257&#7749 Jug</i> (New Age) which was in a way a continuation of the <i><u>Gh</u>adr</i>. Bhagw&#257n Si&#7749gh Gy&#257nee repatriated to India in 1958 on the invitation of Part&#257p Si&#7749gh K&#257iro&#7749, then Chief Minister of the Punjab. He founded the Self-Culture Association of India, with headquarters at Saproon in the Himalayas. He travelled extensively addressing especially students at colleges and universities, his chosen themes being patriotism and national unity.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Sai&#7749sar&#257, Gurcharan Si&#7749gh, <i><u>Gh</u>adar Par&#7789&#299 d&#257 Itih&#257s</i>, Jalandhar, 1969<BR> <li class="C1"> Jagj&#299t Si&#7749gh, <i><u>Gh</u>adar P&#257r&#7789&#299 Lahir</i>. Delhi, 1979<BR> <li class="C1"> Jas, Jaswant Si&#7749gh, <i>B&#257b&#257 Sohan Si&#7749gh Bhakn&#257</i>, Jalandhar, n. d.<BR> <li class="C1"> Khushwant Si&#7749gh, <i>A History of the Sikhs</i>, vol. 2, Princeton, 1966<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Sohan Si&#7749gh Josh<br></p><BR> </font> <img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""> </HTML></BODY>