ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>KHEM SI&#7748GH BED&#298 B&#256B&#256 SIR (1832-1905)</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="KHEM,SIDGH,BED*,BB,SIR,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">&#65279KHEM SI&#7748GH BED&#298, B&#256B&#256 SIR (1832-1905), one of the founders of the Si&#7749gh Sabh&#257 movement, was born on 21 February 1832 at Kallar, a small town in R&#257walpi&#7751&#7693&#299 district, now in Pakistan. He was a direct descendant, in the thirteenth place, of Gur&#363 N&#257nak. He received the rites of <i>amrit</i> at the hands of the celebrated B&#257b&#257 B&#299r Si&#7749gh of Naura&#7749g&#257b&#257d. His father B&#257b&#257 Atar Si&#7749gh was killed in a family feud on 25 November 1839. Khem Si&#7749gh and his elder brother Samp&#363ran Si&#7749gh inherited <i>j&#257g&#299rs</i> in the Jalandhar Do&#257b along with 41 villages in D&#299p&#257lpur <i>tahs&#299l</i> of Guger&#257, later Montgomery (S&#257h&#299v&#257l) district. On the annexation of the Punjab to the British dominions in 1849, 14 of these villages were resumed by the new government.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; During the uprising of 1857, B&#257b&#257 Khem Si&#7749gh assisted the British in quelling a local revolt in Guger&#257 district. He personally took part in a number of skirmishes, proving himself an excellent marksman with gun and rifle. While accompanying Extra-Assistant Commissioner Berkeley on a drive to reopen communications with Mult&#257n, Khem Si&#7749gh distinguished himself in a cavalry charge on 21 September 1857. The following day he barely escaped death in an ambush in which Berkeley was killed . The Government of India bestowed on him a <i><u>kh</u>ill' at</i> or robe of honour of the value of 1,000 rupees and a double barrelled rifle. His <i>j&#257g&#299rs</i> were enhanced from time to time and, towards the end of his life, his possessions in land in Montgomery district alone amounted to 28,272 acres. He was appointed a magistrate in 1877 and an honorary <i>munsif</i> in 1878. He was made Companion of the Indian Empire (C.I.E.) in 1879, was nominated to the Viceroy's Legislative Council in 1893, and when the Indian Council Act was extended to the Punjab in1897, he was among the first non-official members nominated to the Punjab legislature. He was knighted in 1898 (K.C.I.E.) .</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; B&#257b&#257 Khem Si&#7749gh was sensitive to the decline that had set in Sikh society after the occupation of the Punjab by the British and to the inroads being made by Christian proselytization. The gravity of the situation was brought home to the community dramatically when, at the beginning of 1873, four Sikh students of the Amritsar Mission School proclaimed their intention of renouncing their faith and embracing Christianity. The Sikhs convened a meeting at Amritsar on 30 July 1873, led by B&#257b&#257 Khem Si&#7749gh Bed&#299, Sard&#257r &#7788h&#257kur Si&#7749gh Sandh&#257&#7749v&#257l&#299&#257 and Ka&#7749var Bikram&#257 Si&#7749gh of Kap&#363rthal&#257. As a result of their deliberations, a society called Sr&#299 Gur&#363 Si&#7749gh Sabh&#257 was established at a largely attended gathering on the occasion of Dussehr&#257, 1 October 1873.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Si&#7749gh Sabh&#257s began to spring up at other places as well. A co-ordinating <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 D&#299w&#257n was formed at Amritsar on 12 April 1883, with B&#257b&#257 Khem Si&#7749gh as president and Bh&#257&#299 Gurmukh Si&#7749gh of Lahore as chief secretary. Serious differences, however, soon arose between the two. B&#257b&#257 Khem Si&#7749gh, being a direct descendant of Gur&#363 N&#257nak, was glorified by his followers which was resented by many. At the Bais&#257kh&#299 <i>d&#299v&#257n</i> at Amritsar in 1884, he was given the customary cushioned seat in the presence of the Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib. The group led by Bh&#257&#299 Gurmukh Si&#7749gh protested. A schism arose. B&#257b&#257 Khem Si&#7749gh's supporters were commonly burlesqued as <i>gadail&#257</i> party.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; A separate <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 D&#299w&#257n was set up at Lahore in April 1886. B&#257b&#257 Khem Si&#7749gh, supported by the Patron of the Amritsar D&#299w&#257n, R&#257j&#257 Bikram Si&#7749gh of Far&#299dko&#7789 , secured the excommunication of Bh&#257&#299 Gurmukh Si&#7749gh under the seal of the Golden Temple. This, however, did not help him retain his position among the Sikh masses; henceforth, his influence was restricted to the Po&#7789hoh&#257r region and to some areas in Western Punjab. There he preached among the Sahajdh&#257r&#299s, and brought a large number into the Sikh fold.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Besides the propagation of Sikh faith, B&#257b&#257 Khem Si&#7749gh's important contribution lies in the spread of education among the Sikh masses, especially women. In 1855, the dispatch of the Court of Directors of the East India Company, which initiated a new era in Indian education, was received at Lahore. The following year the Punjab Government established the Department of Public Instruction and planned to open 30 single-teacher primary schools in each district. B&#257b&#257 Khem Si&#7749gh lent his full support to the scheme. He also opened schools on his own in the R&#257walpi&#7751&#7693&#299 division. Out of his immense wealth he gave away liberally for this purpose and at least fifty schools for boys and girls were opened in the Punjab through his help. On the occasion of the marriage of his daughter in 1893, he donated Rs 3,00,000 for religious and charitable purposes. Half of this amount was for setting up a college at R&#257walpi&#7751&#7693&#299. As a beginning, a vocational school was opened there, in early 1894, with provision for training in dyeing, photography, carpentry, tailoring, etc. Provision was made for subsidized board and lodging for poor student.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; B&#257b&#257 Khem Si&#7749gh lived in princely style and enjoyed the reverence of hundreds of thousands of followers in Western Punjab and what later became the North-West Frontier Province. He was on a tour of the latter in the spring of 1905 when he suddenly fell ill. On 8 April 1905, he left Pesh&#257war by rail in a state of serious sickness and feebleness, and died at Montgomery on 10 April 1905.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> N&#257r&#257, H&#299r&#257 Si&#7749gh <i>Pañj&#257b Ratan B&#257b&#257 Khem Si&#7749gh S&#257hib Bed&#299</i>. Delhi, 1972<BR> <li class="C1"> Jagj&#299t Si&#7749gh, <i>Si&#7749gh Sabh&#257 Lahir</i>. Ludhiana, 1974<BR> <li class="C1"> Griffin, Lepel, and C.F. Massy, <i>Chiefs and Families of Note in the Punjab</i>. Lahore, 1909<BR> <li class="C1"> Gurmukh Si&#7749gh, Bh&#257&#299, <i>My Attempted Excommunication from the Sikh Temples and the Khalsa Community at Faridkot in 1897</i>. Lahore, 1898<BR> <li class="C1"> Harbans Singh, <i>The Heritage of the Sikhs</i>. Delhi, 1983<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Gurdarshan Si&#7749gh<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>