ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>SUMER SI&#7748GH B&#256V&#256 (1847-1903)</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="SUMER,SIDGH,BV,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">&#65279SUMER SI&#7748GH, B&#256V&#256 (1847-1903), cleric and schoolman, was born on 17 August 1847 at Niz&#257m&#257b&#257d, a small town in &#256zamga&#7771h district of Uttar Pradesh. His family, originally from Goindv&#257l in the Punjab, traced its ancestry to Gur&#363 Amar D&#257s, third in spiritual descent from Gur&#363 N&#257nak. Sumer Si&#7749gh's grandfather, B&#257v&#257 Krip&#257 Day&#257l Si&#7749gh, was the first in the family to migrate from Goindv&#257l and settle at Niz&#257m&#257b&#257d, where he established a <i>gurdw&#257r&#257</i> on the site of an old Ud&#257s&#299 shrine commemorating the visits of Gur&#363 N&#257nak and Gur&#363 Te<u>gh</u> Bah&#257dur. After him his son, B&#257v&#257 S&#257dh&#363 Si&#7749gh, continued to manage the shrine. Sumer Si&#7749gh showed early promise in the scholarly study of Sikh texts as well as in composing verse in Braj. He subsequently won renown in both fields ---Sikh learning and Hindi poetry. Among his poetical works, <i>Gur&#363p&#257d Prem Prak&#257s</i>, a history of the Gur&#363s in over 16,000 stanzas, is especially notable. Only its tenth ma&#7751&#7693al or section dealing with the life of Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh was published at Lahore in 1882 under the title <i>Gurbil&#257s D&#257svi&#7749 P&#257tsh&#257h&#299 Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh Charitra</i>. A couplet in the exordium shows that the work was taken up at Naj&#299b&#257b&#257d in 1923 Bk/AD 1866 (when the poet was still in his teens), and the mention further of nine other works by the author and of his visit to Amritsar and Lahore in 1937 Bk/AD 1880 shows that the composition of <i>Gur&#363p&#257d Prem Prak&#257&#347</i> was spread over 14 years. A much shorter account of the ten Gur&#363s, the 88-page <i>Gur Kavit&#257v&#257l&#299</i> was published at Amritsar in 1886. Another published work of B&#257v&#257 Sumer Si&#7749gh is <i><u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 Pañch&#257sik&#257</i> (Hindi), Light Press, Banaras, 1877. It is in the style of Sikh <i>rahitn&#257m&#257s</i> or manuals of conduct. His other works remained unpublished although handwritten copies of some of the manuscripts are extant. Among these <i><u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 Shatak</i> is also a <i>rahitn&#257m&#257; Sr&#299 Gur&#363 Charitra Darpan, Bed&#299 Va&#7749sottam Sahasran&#257m</i> and <i>Bed&#299var Doh&#257v&#257l&#299</i> are on the genealogy and life of Gur&#363 N&#257nak; <i>Darda&#7751&#7693an Doh&#257val&#299</i> contains the life of Gur&#363 A&#7749gad. and <i>Darid Dukh Da&#7751&#7693an Doh&#257val&#299</i> the life of Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh; <i>Sikh Samprad&#257ya k&#299 Mukhya Mukhya Gha&#7789n&#257o&#7749 k&#257 Samvatbadh V&#257r&#7751an</i> gives the chronology of the history of the Sikhs ; <i>Sr&#299 Chakradhar Charitra Ch&#257r&#363 Chandrik&#257</i> and <i>Jagat Jaik&#257ri</i> are annotations on the <i>Japu</i>, morning prayer of the Sikhs ; <i>Avichalnagar Mah&#257tam</i> is a translation in verse of <i>Brahm&#257&#7751&#7693a Pur&#257&#7751&#257</i> containing legends concerning places of pilgrimage ; and <i>Vijaya Patra</i> is a translation in Hindi verse of Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh's <i>Zafarn&#257m&#257</i>, a long letter in Persian verse addressed to Emperor Aura&#7749gz&#299b. <i>Sumer Bh&#363&#7779an</i> is a book on rhetorics ; <i>Nitya K&#299rtan Granth</i> is an anthology of hymns from the Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib and <i>Sundar&#299 Tilak</i> a collection of some of the author's own poetical compositions. The <i>Bih&#257r&#299 Satsay&#299 ke kuchchh Doho&#7749 par Ku&#7751&#7693al&#299y&#257&#7749</i> comprises stanzas in <i>ku&#7751&#7693al&#299y&#257</i> metre based on some of the 700 couplets of Bih&#257r&#299, a seventeenth-century Hindi poet.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The language of B&#257v&#257 Sumer Si&#7749gh's writings was Braj, but he invariably used the Gurmukh&#299 script. Sumer Har&#299 and Sumeresh were his pseudonyms. He was well known among the Hindi scholars and poets of his day. His home was in fact a salon for the celebrities of Hindi letters and he counted among his friends poets like Bh&#257ratendu Har&#299sh Chandra and Ayodhy&#257 Si&#7749gh Up&#257dy&#257ya Hariaudh. He was a member of the K&#257sh&#299 Kavi Sam&#257j and K&#257sh&#299 Kavi Ma&#7751&#7693al, two leading literary associations of Hindi poets, and the founder-president of a Kavi Sam&#257j at Pa&#7789n&#257 established in 1895-96. A monthly literary magazine, <i>Samasy&#257p&#363rati</i>, was published by this.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Besides inheriting the charge of Gurdw&#257r&#257 Charan P&#257duk&#257 P&#257tsh&#257h&#299 I and IX at Niz&#257m&#257b&#257d, Sumer Si&#7749gh was from 1882 to 1902 the <i>mahant</i> or chief priest of Ta<u>kh</u>t Sr&#299 Harimandar S&#257hib at Pa&#7789n&#257, one of the five principal seats of religious sanctity for the Sikhs. He was one of the Sikh scholars to whom M.A. Macauliffe (1841-1913) referred for advice the draft of his English translation of the Scriptural texts. B&#257v&#257 Sumer Si&#7749gh also headed the committee of <i>gi&#257n&#299s</i> or Sikh exegetes appointed by R&#257j&#257 Bikram Si&#7749gh of Far&#299dko&#7789 (1842-98) during the 1880's to revise the draft of the first-ever full-scale <i>&#7789&#299k&#257</i> or translation-cum-exegesis in Punjabi of the Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib prepared by Bh&#257&#299 Badan Si&#7749gh of Sekhv&#257&#7749. The first three of the four volumes of this work were published by 1898. B&#257v&#257 Sumer Si&#7749gh did not live to see the publication of the fourth volume; he died of jaundice at Amritsar on 5 March 1903.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Ashok, Shamsher Singh, "S&#257hitya Ratan B&#257b&#257 Sumer Singh, Pa&#7789n&#257," in <i><u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 Sam&#257ch&#257r</i>. Amritsar, August 1938<BR> <li class="C1"> Sukla, R&#257mchandra, <i>Hind&#299 S&#257hitya k&#257 Itih&#257s</i>. Kashi, Sa&#7749vat,1997<BR> <li class="C1"><i>Gurdw&#257r&#257 Gazette </i>. Amritsar, September 1952<BR> <li class="C1"><i><u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 Sam&#257ch&#257r</i>. Amritsar, 30 November 1961<BR> <li class="C1"> Diwakar, R.R., <i>Bihar through the Ages</i>. Calcutta, 1959<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Ved Park&#257sh<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>