ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>MAYY&#256 SI&#7748GH BH&#256&#298 (1862-1928)</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="MAYY,SIDGH,BH*,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">&#65279MAYY&#256 SI&#7748GH, BH&#256&#298 (1862-1928), spelt as M&#257y&#257 Si&#7749gh in contemporary English writings, was a leading figure in the Si&#7749gh Sabh&#257 awakening. He was born in 1862. Little is known about his early life, except that after his school. years he joined the Railways at Lahore as a clerk. There he came in contact with Bh&#257&#299 Jaw&#257hir Si&#7749gh under whose influence he joined the &#256rya Sam&#257j. At the same time, he started attending <i>d&#299v&#257ns</i> under the auspices of Sr&#299 Gur&#363 Si&#7749gh Sabh&#257, established in Lahore in 1879. After the estrangement of the Sikhs from the &#256rya Sam&#257j in 1888, he, along with Bh&#257&#299 Jaw&#257hir Si&#7749gh and Gi&#257n&#299 Ditt Si&#7749gh, threw himself whole-heartedly into the Si&#7749gh Sabh&#257 movement. He remained associated with the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 D&#299w&#257n, Lahore, and was its staunchest supporter during the days of intense rivalry which developed between it and the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 D&#299w&#257n, Amritsar. Even his marriage, in 1889, to the daughter of Gi&#257n&#299 Parduman Si&#7749gh of the noted Gi&#257n&#299 family of Amritsar did not affect his loyalty to the Lahore D&#299w&#257n. In 1892, he was elected its joint secretary.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Bh&#257&#299 Mayy&#257 Si&#7749gh was known for his executive talent. Bhagat Lakshman Si&#7749gh, a &#8216contemporary describes him as a "frail, thin man, and not ungainly in appearance with heaps of brains," and as "a man of high character [who] had a great organising power and, what is more, a gift of the gab to a remarkable degree." He was a good speaker, wielded a facile pen in both Urdu and Punjabi and had a considerable knowledge of English. As he became more deeply involved in Si&#7749gh Sabh&#257 work, he gave up service with the railways and set up a book store, Punjab Book Depot. He was appointed editor of the <i><u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 Gazette</i>, a weekly newspaper in Urdu, which started publication in 1885, but resigned his position on 10 December 1886. In 1884, the Punjab Government decided to have a comprehensive Punjabi-English dictionary prepared. Mayy&#257 Si&#7749gh was entrusted with the project.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; He laboured at it for ten years and the work saw the light of day in 1895 under the title <i>The Punjabi Dictionary</i>. On 1 May that year <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 Press was restarted and Mayy&#257 Si&#7749gh became its manager. On 5 January 1899, Bhagat Lakshman Si&#7749gh floated the first Sikh English newspaper, <i>The <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257</i>, and Mayy&#257 Si&#7749gh was asked to lend his name to it as editor and publisher. After the death of Gi&#257n&#299 Ditt Si&#7749gh, Mayy&#257 Si&#7749gh took up the editorship of the <i><u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 A<u>kh</u>b&#257r</i>, which he continued to publish until, consequent upon the decline of <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 D&#299wan, Lahore, owing to the death one after another of its leaders &#8212 Sir Attar Si&#7749gh (d. 10 June 1896), Bh&#257&#299 Gurmukh Si&#7749gh (d. 24 September 1898) and Gi&#257n&#299 Ditt Si&#7749gh (d. 6 September 1901), the paper withered and finally folded up in 1905. Besides his newspaper writing, Bh&#257&#299 Mayy&#257 Si&#7749gh has left two publications - <i>Maz&#257m&#299n <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 Dharam Par</i>, a collection of essays in Urdu on Sikh religion published in 1889, and <i>Kalg&#299dhar Prak&#257sh</i>, a tract in Punjabi on Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh published in 1904. Bh&#257&#299 Mayy&#257 Si&#7749gh had also served as a member of the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 College Establishment Committee set up in 1890 as well as of the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 College Council formed in 1892. After the closure of the <i><u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 A<u>kh</u>b&#257r</i>, he fell into oblivion. He opened a shop for the sale of Indian drugs in Lahore, where he died on 8 March 1928.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"><i><u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 A<u>kh</u>b&#257r</i>. 18 December 1886<BR> <li class="C1"><i>Asal&#299 Qaum&#299 Dard</i>. 5 April 1928<BR> <li class="C1"> Barrier, N.G., <i>The Sikhs and Their Literature 1849-1919</i>. Delhi, 1970<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Jagj&#299t Si&#7749gh <br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>