ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>KAP&#362R SI&#7748GH SIRD&#256R BH&#256&#298 S&#256HIB (1909-1986)</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="KAPjR,SIDGH,SIRDR,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">&#65279KAP&#362R SI&#7748GH, SIRD&#256R, BH&#256&#298 S&#256HIB (1909-1986), civilian, parliamentarian and intellectual, was master of many-sided learning. Besides Sikh theology, he was vastly learned in philosophy, history and literature. He was born into a farming family, at the village Chakk in Ludhi&#257&#7751&#257 district on 2 March 1909. His father's name was D&#299d&#257r Si&#7749gh. Sird&#257r Kap&#363r Si&#7749gh received his Master's degree, first class first, at the prestigious Government College, Lahore, after which he went to Cambridge to take his Tripos in Moral Sciences. He was a distinguished linguist and had mastered several of the languages of the east and the west. Besides English which he could spin around his fingers with extraordinary subtlety and finesse, he had facility in Persian and Arabic as well as in Sanskrit.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In addition to these, he claimed easy acquaintance with such discrete fields as astrology, architecture and space science. In spite of his knowledge covering many disparate areas, Sird&#257r Kap&#363r Si&#7749gh's principal focus was Sikh literature and theology. He was a stickler for accuracy of fact and presentation. He stood up foursquare to any misrepresentation or falsification of any shade of Sikh thought and belief. He was most vigilant and unbending in this respect.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; He was selected into the Indian Civil Service and served in various administrative posts in the cadre. In 1947, he was appointed deputy commissioner of K&#257&#7749g&#7771&#257. He was particularly irked by the growing narrow politics of the government biased against the Sikhs. What incensed him most was a circular letter dated 10 October 1947, issued by the state governor, Chand&#363 L&#257l Trived&#299, warning district authorities in the Punjab against what was described as the criminal tendencies of the Sikh people. Kap&#363r Si&#7749gh filed a strong protest against this utterly wild accusation. He thereby invited the governor's wrath. Charges were brought against him which led to his dismissal from the service.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Sirdar Kap&#363r Si&#7749gh became an ardent supporter of the Ak&#257l&#299 demand for a Punjabi-speaking state. After a brief stint as Professor of Sikhism under the authority of the Ak&#257l Ta<u>kht</u>, he joined active politics. In 1962, he was elected to the lower house of Indian Parliament and a member of the Punjab Vidh&#257n Sabh&#257 (State Legislative Assembly) in 1969. He was forthright in speech and an unrelenting critic of government's policies where they crossed the path of the Sikhs. As a Sikh ideologue he was the moving spirit behind the Anandpur S&#257hib resolution adopted by the Shiroma&#7751&#299 Ak&#257l&#299 Dal in 1973, which like several other of his pronouncements became a crucial enunciation of modern Sikh political formula and policy.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; A very stirring Sikh document of the modern period was the Presidential address given at Har&#299 Si&#7749gh Nalv&#257 conference convened at Ludhi&#257&#7751&#257 on 14 July, 1965. Although it was nowhere specified, all important Sikh political or intrinsically scholarly documents of this period bear the imprint of Kap&#363r Si&#7749gh's penmanship. In sonorous phrase, the conference resolution said :</p> <blockquote class="C1"><p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1. This Conference in commemoration of General Hari Si&#7749gh Nalwa of historical fame reminds all concerned that the Sikh people are makers of history and are conscious of their political destiny in a free India.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2. This Conference recalls that the Sikh people agreed to merge in a common Indian nationality on the explicit understanding of being accorded a constitutional status of co-sharers in the community, which solemn understanding now stands cynically repudiated by the present rulers of India. Further, the Sikh people have been systematically reduced to a sub-political status in their homeland, the Punjab, and to an insignificant position in their motherland, India. The Sikhs are in a position to establish before an impartial international tribunal, uninfluenced by the present Indian rulers, that the law, the judicial process, and the executive action of the State of India is consistently and heavily weighted against the Sikhs and is administered with unbandaged eyes against Sikh citizens.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;3. This Conference, therefore, resolves, after careful thought, that there is left no alternative for the Sikhs in the interest of self-preservation but to frame their political demand for securing a self-determined political status within the Republic of Union of India.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</blockquote></p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The author's name is not mentioned here, but it is clearly the handiwork of Sird&#257r Kap&#363r Si&#7749gh. The Shiroma&#7751&#299 Gurdw&#257r&#257 Parbandhak Committee's publication at the time of the Nira&#7749k&#257r&#299 attack on the Sikhs is described thus :</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;THEY MASSACRE SIKHS</p> <blockquote class="C1"><p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;A White Paper</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;by</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Sikh Religious Parliament</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee)</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</blockquote></p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Sird&#257r Kap&#363r Si&#7749gh, besides being an extraordinarily learned man, was a prolific writer. In addition to his <i>Par&#257&#347arpra&#347na</i>, in English, which ranks as a classic on Sikh philosophy, his other works include <i>Hash&#299sh</i> (Punjabi poems), <i>Saptasri&#7749g</i> (Punjabi biographies), <i>Bahu Vist&#257r</i> (Punjabi essays), <i>Pu&#7751&#7693r&#299k</i> (Punjabi essays on culture and religion), <i>Mans&#363r al-Hallaj</i> (monograph on a Suf&#299 saint), <i>S&#257ch&#299 S&#257kh&#299</i> (memoirs), <i>Sacred Writings of the Sikhs</i> (a UNESCO publication), <i>Me Judice</i> (English miscellany), <i>Sikhism for Modern Man, Contributions of Guru Nanak, The Hour of Sword</i>, and <i>Guru Arjun and His Sukhmani</i>.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Sird&#257r Kap&#363r Si&#7749gh died after a protracted illness at his village home in Jagr&#257o&#7749 in Ludhi&#257&#7751&#257 district on 13 August 1986.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Kap&#363r Si&#7749gh, <i>S&#257chi S&#257kh&#299</i>. Jalandhar, 1972<BR> <li class="C1"><i>Par&#257&#347arpar&#347na</i> Amritsar, 1989<BR> <li class="C1"> Dilg&#299r, H.S., <i>Shiroma&#7751&#299 Ak&#257l&#299 Dal</i>. Chandigarh, 1980<BR> <li class="C1"> The <i>Aj&#299t</i> Jalandhar, 14, 24 and 25 August 1986<BR> <li class="C1"><i>The Tribune</i>. Chandigarh, 14 August 1986<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Major Gurmukh Si&#7749gh (Retd.)<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>