<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>TEJ&#256 SI&#7748GH HAZ&#362R&#298&#256 BH&#256&#298 (1879-1922)</TITLE>
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<p class="C1">&#65279TEJ&#256 SI&#7748GH HAZ&#362R&#298&#256, BH&#256&#298 (1879-1922), also known as B&#257b&#257 Tej&#257 Si&#7749gh Mai&#7749ga&#7751, a noted Sikh preacher and social reformer, was the son of Bh&#257&#299 Lakhm&#299 D&#257s, a Sahajdh&#257r&#299 Sikh of the village of Mai&#7749ga&#7751 in Jehlum district, now in Pakistan. After his early education in the village <i>gurdw&#257r&#257</i>, he studied at the Mission High School at R&#257walpi&#7751&#7693&#299 and later joined government service as a store keeper in the Supply Department. He came in contact with a holy man, Sant Murl&#299 D&#257s, under whose influence he resigned his job to devote himself to religious pursuits. He first reorganized the Si&#7749gh Sabh&#257 in his own village and started preaching under its auspices the ideals of Sikh reform. He reclaimed many from the laxity of belief and practice they had fallen victim to and administered to them the vows of the initiation. He himself had received the baptism at the hands of the venerable Sant Atar Si&#7749gh. He joined the Chief <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 D&#299v&#257n and, as a preacher on its cadre, travelled extensively throughout the country. At the famous <i>d&#299v&#257n</i> at Bak&#257pur, in Jalandhar district, at which a Muslim family received the rites of the <i><u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257</i> Bh&#257&#299 Tej&#257 Si&#7749gh was one of the Pañj Pi&#257re or the five chosen who conducted the ceremony.</p>
<p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Bh&#257&#299 Tej&#257 Si&#7749gh was deputed by the Chief <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 D&#299w&#257n to travel to the South and meet the priest of Ta<u>kh</u>t Sachkha&#7751&#7693 Sr&#299 Haz&#363r S&#257hib at N&#257nde&#7693, who had refused Sard&#257r Sundar Si&#7749gh Maj&#299&#7789h&#299&#257 entry into the inner sanctuary on the ground that he had not been baptized at the shrine. He argued with the Haz&#363r S&#257hib ministers and convinced them that Sikh baptism wherever received had the same sanctity and that no distinction could be made between Sikh and Sikh on the grounds of where the ceremony was performed. From the priests he now had a standing invitation to visit Sr&#299 Haz&#363r S&#257hib on the occasion of Hol&#257 every year. They addressed him as "Huz&#363r&#299&#257" i.e. one who had been granted the citizenship of Sr&#299 Haz&#363r S&#257hib. The word got added as a suffix to his name.</p>
<p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Besides being a powerful orator and debater, Tej&#257 Si&#7749gh was a writer. He published five books in Punjabi, namely <i>Sahajdh&#257r&#299 Sikh, Dase Gur&#363 Ikk R&#363p San</i> (all ten Gur&#363s reflected one spirit); <i>Ham Hindu Nah&#299&#7749</i> (We are not Hindus); <i><u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 Panth</i>; and <i>Sr&#299 Abchalnagar S&#257hib de Adbhut Darshan</i>, an account of his pilgrimage to Ta<u>kh</u>t Sachkha&#7751&#7693 Sr&#299 Haz&#363r S&#257hib.</p>
<p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Bh&#257&#299 Tej&#257 Si&#7749gh died on 1 January 1922.</p>
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BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Pi&#257r Si&#7749gh, <i>Tej&#257 Si&#7749gh Samundr&#299</i>. Amritsar, 1975<BR>
<li class="C1"><i>SiIver Jubilee Book</i>. Amritsar, 1935<BR>
<li class="C1"><i>Si&#7749gh Sabh&#257 Lahir d&#257 Ik Adut&#299 Sevak</i>. Delhi, n.d.<BR>
</ol><p class="CONT">Part&#257p Si&#7749gh Gi&#257n&#299<br></p><BR>
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