ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>&#7788H&#256KUR SI&#7748GH SANDH&#256&#7748V&#256L&#298&#256 (1837-1887)</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="lHKUR,SIDGH,SANDHDVL*,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">&#65279&#7788H&#256KUR SI&#7748GH SANDH&#256&#7748V&#256L&#298&#256 (1837-1887), one of the founders of the Si&#7749gh Sabh&#257 and a scion of the Sandh&#257&#7749v&#257l&#299&#257 family, who master-minded the campaign for the restoration of Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Duleep Si&#7749gh to the throne of the Punjab, was son of Lahi&#7751&#257 Si&#7749gh, who in the reign of Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh enjoyed the title of Ujjal-d&#299d&#257r, Nirmal buddh, <i>Sard&#257r-i-b&#257-waq&#257r</i> (resplendent presence, pure of intellect, the Sard&#257r with prestige marked). Born in 1837, in a Punjab which was soon to fall into chaos as a result of courtly intrigue and murder, &#7788h&#257kur Si&#7749gh was a mere child of six at the time of his father's death. As he grew up, he was given appointment by the British as extra assistant commissioner for Amritsar district. He was also nominated a member of the Golden Temple managing committee. In this capacity, he observed how Sikh religion had been corrupted by the accretion of customs and rituals contrary to the teachings of the Gur&#363s. He also felt concerned about the general state of the Sikh community. In 1873, occurred an event which gave a decisive turn to his career. Four Sikh pupils of the Mission High School in Amritsar declared their intention of abjuring their faith in favour of Christianity. &#7788h&#257kur Si&#7749gh called in Amritsar a meeting of some of the leading Sikhs of the day, including B&#257b&#257 Sir Khem Si&#7749gh Bed&#299, a descendant of Gur&#363 N&#257nak, Ka&#7749var Bikram&#257 Si&#7749gh of Kap&#363rthal&#257, and Gi&#257n&#299 Gi&#257n Si&#7749gh of Amritsar. This Sikh meeting laid the foundation of a society called the Sr&#299 Gur&#363 Si&#7749gh Sabh&#257.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&#7788h&#257kur Si&#7749gh became the first president of the Si&#7749gh Sabh&#257. Apart from religious reform among the Sikhs, the Si&#7749gh Sabh&#257 ushered in a new cultural consciousness in the Punjab. It aimed especially at the development of modern education. &#7789h&#257kur Si&#7749gh remained at the helm of affairs of the new society for a whole decade. He was a distinguished scholar of Persian and Punjabi, well versed in Indian as well as in Muslim lore.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Because of his independent views, &#7788h&#257kur Si&#7749gh was deprived of his position as extra assistant commissioner. In 1883, his estate was placed under a court of wards. The same year he received from Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Duleep Si&#7749gh living as a ranked British noble in London after being deprived of the throne of the Punjab, a wire inviting him.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Before his departure for England in 1884, &#7788h&#257kur Si&#7749gh visited the Ta<u>kh</u>ts, the principal Sikh shrines--at Amritsar, Anandpur, Pa&#7789n&#257 and N&#257n&#7693e&#7693--to pray for the prosperity of Duleep Si&#7749gh&#8217s cause. Accompanied by two of his sons, Narindar Si&#7749gh and Gurdit Si&#7749gh, a <i>granth&#299</i> or Scripture-reader, Part&#257p Si&#7749gh, and three servants, he reached London, where he stayed as the guest of Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Duleep Si&#7749gh. He daily read out from the holy Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib to the Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 and instructed him in the tenet of Sikhism. Under his influence, Duleep Si&#7749gh determined to rejoin the faith of his forefathers.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;In August 1885, &#7788h&#257kur Si&#7749gh returned to the Punjab. Duleep Si&#7749gh himself decided to return to his motherland and left England on 31 March 1886 to settle down quietly in Delhi. He invited &#7788h&#257kur Si&#7749gh to meet him at Bombay and arrange for his reinitiation into Sikhism, but the government refused him permission to go to Bombay. Furthering the cause of Duleep Si&#7749gh was now &#7788h&#257kur Si&#7749gh's sole concern. To win support for him, he sited secretly the Indian princely states and the Sikh shrines. Major Evans Bell's book, <i>The Annexation of the Punjab and the Maharajah Duleep Singh</i>, exhibiting the illegality of British occupation of the Punjab, was widely circulated. &#7788h&#257kur Si&#7749gh had the book translated into Punjabi by his friend Part&#257p Si&#7749gh, the <i>granth&#299</i> and published by another supporter, D&#299w&#257n B&#363&#7789&#257 Si&#7749gh, of Aft&#257b-i-Punjab Press.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&#7788h&#257kur Si&#7749gh was now the most suspicious character in the eyes of the government. In intelligence reports and other government papers, he was described as "a troublesome person&#8230 the friend and inciter of Duleep Singh." Yet he made good his escape into Pondicherry on 6 November 1886. His home in the Rue Law de Lauristan became the centre of activity against the British. &#7788h&#257kur Si&#7749gh received correspondence from Duleep Si&#7749gh through the French post office. Through the same medium he sent to him his letters and the Indian newspapers such as <i>The Times of India</i> and <i>Madras Times</i>. He laid out a fairly extensive system of communication in the Punjab, and had a continuous stream of visitors in Pondicherry including, occasionally, soldiers from the Indian Army.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Envoys came from Duleep Si&#7749gh as well. From Russia, he sent to &#7788h&#257kur Si&#7749gh a seal and letter in token of his appointment as prime minister to his <i>emigre</i> government. But the latter had not long to live. He suddenly fell ill and died on 18 August 1887. His ashes were taken to his ancestral village of R&#257j&#257 S&#257&#7749s&#299. His sons continued to live in Pondicherry the eldest, Gurbachan Si&#7749gh, receiving from Duleep Si&#7749gh the title of prime minister.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Griffin, Lepel, <i>The Punjab Chiefs</i>. Lahore, 1890<BR> <li class="C1"> Harbans Singh, <i>The Heritage of the Sikhs</i>. Delhi, 1983<BR> <li class="C1"> Ganda Singh, ed., <i>History of the Freedm Movement in the Panjab (Maharaja Duleep Singh Correspondence)</i>. Patiala, 1972<BR> <li class="C1"> Jagj&#299t Singh, <i>Si&#7749gh Sabh&#257 Lahir</i>. Ludhiana, 1974<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Gudi&#257l Si&#7749gh <br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>