ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>JAV&#256L&#256 SI&#7748GH BH&#256&#298 S&#256HIB (1872-1952)</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="JAVL,SIDGH,BH*,SHIB,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">&#65279JAV&#256L&#256 SI&#7748GH, BH&#256&#298 S&#256HIB (1872-1952), a renowned exponent of the Sikh devotional music, was born in 1872 at the village of Saidpur in Kap&#363rthal&#257 district of the Punjab. His father, Bh&#257&#299 Dev&#257 Si&#7749gh and grandfather, Pañj&#257b Si&#7749gh were in their day celebrated <i>r&#257g&#299s</i> or musicians who recited Sikh <i>k&#299rtan</i> to the accompaniment of <i>sarand&#257</i>, a stringed instrument. Jav&#257l&#257 Si&#7749gh excelled at <i>t&#257&#363s</i>, another stringed instrument, and at harmonium. He had at his command such an abundance of traditional and classical tunes, composition of some of which was traced back to the times of the Gur&#363s themselves, that he did not have to repeat a tune even when singing for weeks on end. He possessed a vast treasure of <i>dhun&#299s</i> or tunes, <i>pa&#7771t&#257ls, r&#299t&#299s</i> or musical styles and traditional compositions.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Bh&#257&#299 Jav&#257l&#257 Si&#7749gh learnt to read Punjabi from B&#257b&#257 P&#257l&#257 Si&#7749gh, a <i>granth&#299</i>, or scripture-reader, in his own village. Then he was sent to the Nirmal&#257 <i>&#7693er&#257</i> or monastery at the village of Sekhv&#257&#7749, in F&#299rozpur district, and put under the charge of B&#257b&#257 Sardh&#257 Si&#7749gh, who taught him music. At the, <i>&#7693er&#257</i>, he also studied the religious texts. For further training in music, B&#257b&#257 Sardh&#257 Si&#7749gh sent him to Amritsar to be under the tutelage of another maestro, B&#257b&#257 Vas&#257v&#257 Si&#7749gh, popularly known as B&#257b&#257 Ra&#7749g&#299 R&#257m Si&#7749gh. After completing his course at Amritsar, Jav&#257l&#257 Si&#7749gh returned to his village, Saidpur. Gradually he made his mark as a leading Sikh musician who was much in demand for performing <i>k&#299rtan</i> at congregations at far-flung places. He subscribed to the Si&#7749gh Sabh&#257 ideology which he zealously preached and, when the Ak&#257l&#299 movement for the reformation of Gurdw&#257r&#257 management got underway, he jumped into it with equal enthusiasm. He courted arrest in the agitation for recovering the keys of the Golden Temple treasury taken away by the British deputy commissioner of Amritsar and in the Jaito <i>morch&#257</i> as a member of the first <i>jath&#257</i> or band of protesting volunteers as well as of the last. He was present at the cremation of the Nank&#257&#7751&#257 S&#257hib martyrs (1921) and, with the holy precincts reeking of blood, he most movingly recited; sitting by the side of the heap of corpses, Gur&#363 N&#257nak's hymn: <i>"kh&#363n ke sohile g&#257v&#299ahi N&#257nak ratu ka ku&#7749g&#363 p&#257i ve l&#257lo</i> -- Paens to blood are being sung, says N&#257nak (such are the times), and the saffron of blood is now the adornment, O L&#257lo! "</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Jav&#257l&#257 Si&#7749gh presided over the first all India R&#257g&#299s Conference held at Amritsar in 1942. He died on 29 May 1952 at his village Saidpur.</p> </ol><p class="CONT">Ardaman Si&#7749gh<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>