ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>MOHAN SI&#7748GH VAID BH&#256&#298 (1881-1936)</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="MOHAN,SIDGH,VAID,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">&#65279MOHAN SI&#7748GH VAID, BH&#256&#298, (1881-1936), apothecary, writer, collector of books and social reformer, was born at Tarn T&#257ran on Ph&#257gun <i>sud&#299</i> 7, 1937 Bk/7 March 1881, the youngest of the four sons of Bh&#257&#299 Jaimal Si&#7749gh (1843-1919), who too was a <i>vaid</i> (practitioner of &#256yurveda or Indian system of medicine) of long standing. Mohan Si&#7749gh had no regular schooling after his preliminary education in the Gurmukh&#299 Vidy&#257l&#257 at Tarn T&#257ran. He, however, studied books on Sikh religion and history at home and learnt &#256yurveda from his father and, later, from Sant &#298shar Si&#7749gh and Pa&#7751&#7693it Jai Di&#257l. Early in his life he came under the influence of Si&#7749gh Sabh&#257 enlightenment and founded in 1894 the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 Vidy&#257rth&#299 Sabh&#257, lit. Sikh Students' Association. In April 1905, he established the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 Bhujha&#7749g&#299 Sabh&#257, Sikh Youngmen's Association, which was affiliated to the Chief <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 D&#299w&#257n in 1908 and ultimately merged with the Si&#7749gh Sabh&#257, Tarn T&#257ran, in 1915. Bh&#257&#299 Mohan Si&#7749gh was a member of the committee set up by <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 D&#299w&#257n M&#257jh&#257 to open an institution for training workers to preach religious and social reform among the Sikhs, and when, as a result of the committee's recommendations, <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 Prach&#257rak Vidy&#257l&#257 came into existence at Tarn T&#257ran in November 1906, he was appointed its secretary. In December 1907, the Chief <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 D&#299w&#257n set up the Sikh Handbill Committee to bring out leaflets to propagate Sikh principles. Bh&#257&#299 Mohan Si&#7749gh Vaid, who had already floated a monthly magazine <i>D&#363kh Niv&#257ran</i> (January 1907) and had been a sub-editor of the <i><u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257</i> since February 1905, was entrusted with the writing of the handbills. He brought out 43 handbills during 1908-11 in hundreds of thousands copies in Punjabi, Hindi and Urdu on a variety of topics such as evils of drinking, gambling, ill-matched marriages, caste system and untouchability. He was also an active member of the Temperance Society, and became a municipal commissioner in his home town in 1910 which position he held throughout his life. A member of the Shiroma&#7751&#299 Gurdw&#257r&#257 Parbandhak Committee since 1921, he was arrested on 7 January 1924 after the committee had been outlawed by government on 12 October 1923. He served a two-year term in Mi&#257&#7749w&#257l&#299 jail from where he was released on 20 November 1925. He was again elected a member of the Shiroma&#7751&#299 Gurdw&#257r&#257 Parbandhak Committee in 1930 as well as in 1933.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Bh&#257&#299 Mohan Si&#7749gh was one of the pioneers of modern Punjabi prose who rescued it from the conventional modes, introducing a simple, matter-of-fact style of writing. He wrote nearly 200 tracts and books on topics varying from religion, social reform, medicine and health care to politics, economics and psychology. Besides writing many novels, stories, essays and a couple of plays, mostly didactic in nature, he also published translations or adaptations of some western classics. Some of his more important works (other than those on medicine) are <i>Dampat&#299 Pi&#257r, Ra&#7749g Bara&#7749ge Phul</i> and <i>H&#299re d&#299&#257&#7749 Ka&#7749&#299&#257&#7749</i> (fiction); <i>Birdh Vi&#257h Durdash&#257 N&#257&#7789ak</i> (play); <i>Rabb&#299 Jo&#7771 Mel&#257</i> (mysticism); <i>Karam Yog, Bacon Vich&#257r Ratn&#257val&#299</i> and &#256tmak Unnat&#299 (ethics) ; <i>&#8217Ilm Khy&#257l</i> sub-titled Law of Mentalism (psychology); <i>Ki&#7771e Makau&#7771e</i> (zoology); and <i>Grahi Parbandh Sh&#257star</i> (household economics). One of his pioneering efforts to propagate <i>gurb&#257&#7751&#299</i> among the non-Punjabi readers was the publication in 1928 of the Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib in the Devan&#257gar&#299 script. He was a keen book lover, and a voracious reader. His biographer records that in 1931 at least 26 different papers and periodicals, mostly in Punjabi, were regularly received by him. His collection of books, magazines, pamphlets and newspapers has since been donated by his descendants to Punjabi University, Pati&#257l&#257, and it constitutes a rare bibliographical resource in Northern India.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Bh&#257&#299 Mohan Si&#7749gh Vaid died at Tarn T&#257ran on 3 October 1936.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Dukh&#299, Munsh&#257 Si&#7749gh, <i> J&#299van Bh&#257&#299 Mohan Si&#7749gh J&#299 Vaid </i>, Lahore, 1931<BR> <li class="C1"> Abn&#257sh Kaur, <i> Bh&#257&#299 Mohan Si&#7749gh Vaid ate Pa&#328j&#257bi Sabhi&#257ch&#257r </i>. Patiala, 1982<BR> <li class="C1"> Jagg&#299, Rattan Si&#7749gh, ed., <i> Khoj Patrik&#257 &#8212 Bh&#257&#299 Mohan Si&#7749gh Vaid Simriti A&#7749k</i>. Patiala, 1981<BR> <li class="C1"><i>Bh&#257&#299 Mohan Si&#7749gh Vaid Diary </i>. Patiala, 1985<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Dalip Si&#7749gh Uppal<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>