ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>CHARAN SI&#7748GH DR (1853-1908)</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="CHARAN,SIDGH,Person,Person"> <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">&#65279CHARAN SI&#7748GH, DR (1853-1908), poet and musicologist, was born at Amritsar in 1853 (father : K&#257hn Si&#7749gh; mother R&#363p Kaur) and was seventh in descent from D&#299w&#257n Kau&#7771&#257 Mall, an influential eighteenth-century Sahajdh&#257r&#299 Sikh. K&#257hn Si&#7749gh (1788-1878) who was of a retiring disposition had spent some years in the company of wandering ascetics before he was persuaded to give up the life of a recluse and become a householder. In addition to his practice of indigenous medicine, he collected and transcribed Sanskrit manuscripts and wrote verse in Braj thereby laying the foundations of the family's literary tardaition. His son, Charan Si&#7749gh, studied Sanskrit, Braj, Persian and prosody, besides Ayurveda and Westren medicine. A boyhood experience which must have left a deep impression on his mind was the preparation for his benefit of a copy of the Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib in the hand of Suhel Si&#7749gh watched from day to day the large pages being inscribed in handsome Gurmukh&#299 calligraphy. The completion of the work on Ph&#257gun Vad&#299 5, 1918 BK/25 February 1862 was marked by rejoicing and feasting and distribution of charity. He first practised Ayurvedic as well as Western medicine seving from 1 August 1872 to 12 November 1881 in government dispensaries. He resigned the appointment to set up as a private pracitioner and to pursue his literary tastes. He was married in 1869 to Uttam Kaur, daughter of Gi&#257n&#299 Haz&#257z&#257 Si&#7749gh(<i>q. v. </i>), a reputed man of letters, He had four sons of whom Bh&#257&#299 V&#299r Si&#7749gh (1872-1957), the celebrated Punjabi poet and savant, was the eldest and Dr Balb&#299r Si&#7749gh, scientist and scholar, the youngest.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Among his several works, Charan Si&#7749gh's <i>A&#7789al Prak&#257sh</i> is a versified account of B&#257b&#257 A&#7789al R&#257i's life, and the <i>Dasam Gur Charitra</i>, a vignette of Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh. He translated K&#257lid&#257sa's <i>Abhijñ&#257na &#346ak&#363ntalam</i> into Punjabi and started working on two novels (<i>Ja&#7749g Ma&#7771aul&#299</i> and <i>Sh&#257m Sundar</i>) which he left incomplete and which were published posthumously by the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 Tract Society. His <i>Gurmat Sa&#7749g&#299t Nir&#7751aya</i> is a work on the <i>r&#257gas</i> or musical measures employed in the Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib. <i>Sr&#299 Gur&#363 Granth B&#257&#7751&#299 Beor&#257</i> explains the titles of compositions comprising the Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib, and furnishes information about the verse-forms and the <i>r&#257gas</i> or musical measures employed, with details of compositions in each <i>r&#257ga</i> as well as of the individual contribution of each of the Gur&#363s and <i>bhaktas</i>. His <i>Ga&#7771gajj Bole</i> is a book on the Sikh martial <i>patois</i>, and <i>Sr&#299 Mah&#257r&#257&#7751&#299 Shar&#257b Kaur</i>, a book of didactic Punjabi prose. All his works have been published in one volume in the second part of <i>Shr&#299 Charanhari Visth&#257r</i>. Besides composing verse himself, Charan Si&#7749gh presided over a salon of local devotees of the Muse, and took active interest in the rising Si&#7749gh Sabh&#257 movement.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;He died at Amritsar on 13 November 1908.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Balb&#299r Si&#7749gh, <i>Shr&#299 Charanhari Visth&#257r</i>. Amritsar, 1942<BR> <li class="C1"> Harbans Singh, <i>Bhai Vir Singh</i>. Delhi, 1972<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">S. P. Si&#7749gh<br></p><BR> </font> <img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""> </HTML></BODY>