ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>SUNDAR SI&#7748GH MAJ&#298&#7788H&#298&#256 SARD&#256R BAH&#256DUR SIR (1872-1941)</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="SUNDAR,SIDGH,MAJ*lH*,SARDR,BAHDUR,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">&#65279SUNDAR SI&#7748GH MAJ&#298&#7788H&#298&#256, SARD&#256R BAH&#256DUR SIR (1872-1941), statesman and reformer, was the younger son of R&#257j&#257 S&#363rat Si&#7749gh (d.1881). He was born on 17 February 1872 at Maj&#299&#7789h&#257 (31º-38'N, 74º-52'E), a village 18 km northeast of Amritsar (hence the surname Maj&#299&#7789h&#299&#257). He was educated at Government School, Amritsar, and Aitchison College, Lahore, finally joining Government College, Lahore, to pass the intermediate (undergraduate) examination. Soon after leaving college, he joined Sr&#299 Gur&#363 Si&#7749gh Sabh&#257, Amritsar, affiliated to the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 D&#299w&#257n, Amritsar, taking over as its secretary in 1894. In 1895, he became a member of the governing council of the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 College, Amritsar, for the establishment of which he had worked with unsparing energy. He was the secretary of the college council from 1902 to 1912 and president of the council as well as of the college managing committee from 1920 till his death in 1941. Sundar Si&#7749gh was a founder-member of the Chief <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 D&#299w&#257n, established in October 1902, holding the office of secretary from 1902 to1920 and again from 1934 to 1937. In 1932-33, he acted as the president of the D&#299w&#257n. He took a leading part in the founding of the Sikh Educational Conference in 1908, and presided at its annual sessions in 1911, 1924 and 1935. He also inaugurated <i><u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 Advocate</i>, an English monthly, to propagate the policy and activities of the Chief <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 D&#299w&#257n.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Sard&#257r Sundar Si&#7749gh's political career began in 1909 when he was nominated a member of the Viceroy's Legislative Council. In the Council he worked assiduously to steer the Anand Marriage Bill which had been introduced by &#7788ikk&#257 Ripudaman Si&#7749gh of N&#257bh&#257 during his tenure as a member. He was mainly instrumental in having the ban on the carrying of a full-sized <i>krip&#257n</i> or sword by Sikhs as their religious emblem lifted throughout India and Burma and in having a 20 per cent share for Sikhs reserved in government services in the Punjab. On 16 November 1920, he was elected the first president of the Shiroma&#7751&#299 Gurdw&#257r&#257 Parbandhak Committee which office he resigned early during the following year after his election to the Punjab Legislative Council and appointment as an executive councillor and revenue minister in the Punjab Government. At the time of the Round Table Conference, he led a Sikh deputation which met the Commander-in-chief on 8 July 1931 and the Viceroy on 9 July 1931 to present a charter of 17 demands on behalf of the Sikhs to secure protection for them as a minority.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;During the first legislative elections held in 1936 under the Government of India Act 1935, Sundar Si&#7749gh was elected to the Punjab Legislative Assembly from Ba&#7789&#257l&#257 constituency on the nomination of the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 National Party which he and Sir Jogendra Si&#7749gh had founded, and joined, on 1 April 1937, the Unionist Coalition government in the Punjab under the premiership of Sir Sikandar Hay&#257t <u>Kh</u>&#257n as revenue minister. He retained his Cabinet seat until his death at Lahore shortly after the midnight of 1-2 April 1941. The cremation took place at Amritsar on the premises of his permanent residence.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Sundar Si&#7749gh's field of activities extended to commerce and industry as well. He was one of the founders of the Punjab and Sind Bank established at Amritsar in 1908. He was one of the pioneers of sugar industry in India and set up in 1911 a mill at Sard&#257rnagar, in Gorakhpur district of Uttar Pradesh. He was nominated one of the governors of the Imperial Bank of India in 1933. In politics, Sundar Si&#7749gh was essentially a moderate, and he received from the British Government several honours and awards. He was made a Sard&#257r Bah&#257dur in 1911 and Companion of the Indian Empire (C.I.E.) in 1920. He was knighted in 1926. In 1926 the University of the Pañj&#257b awarded him the degree of Doctor of Oriental Learning (D.O.L) <i>honoris causa</i>.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Sundar Si&#7749gh had in 1887 married the daughter of Sard&#257r Bishan Si&#7749gh Ka&#7751&#7693aul&#257, in Ludhi&#257&#7751&#257 district, maternal uncle of R&#257j&#257 Bikram Si&#7749gh of Far&#299dko&#7789. After her death the same year, he married the daughter of Sard&#257r Sir Attar Si&#7749gh of Bhadau&#7771. He had three sons, two of whom Kirp&#257l Si&#7749gh Maj&#299&#7789h&#299&#257 and Surj&#299t Si&#7749gh Maj&#299&#7789h&#299&#257 --entered politics. After Independence, Surj&#299t Si&#7749gh was elected to Parliament and became a deputy minister in Jaw&#257harl&#257l Nehr&#363's government.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Griffin, Lepel and C.F Massy, <i>Chiefs and Families of Note in the Punjab</i>. Lahore, 1940<BR> <li class="C1"> Harbans Singh, <i>The Heritage of the Sikhs</i>. Delhi, 1983<BR> <li class="C1"> Gopal Singh, <i>A History of the Sikh People</i> (1469-1978). Delhi, 1979<BR> <li class="C1"> Khushwant Singh, <i>A History of the Sikhs</i>, vol. II Princeton, 1966<BR> <li class="C1"> Prat&#257p Si&#7749gh, Gi&#257n&#299, <i>Gurdw&#257r&#257 Sudh&#257r arth&#257t Ak&#257l&#299 Lahir</i>. Amritsar,1975<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">N. Iqb&#257l Si&#7749gh<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>