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Bhai Vir Singh
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Bhai Vir Singh Jee (December 5, 1872, Amritsar, - June 10, 1957, Amritsar) was a poet, scholar and theologian and a major figure in the movement for the revival and renewal of Punjabi literary tradition. His contributions were so immense and significant that he came to be canonized as Bhai, the Brother of the Sikh Order, very early in his career. For his pioneering work in its several different genres, he is acknowledged as the creator of modern Punjabi literature.
Early life
Born in 1872, in Amritsar, Bhai Vir Singh was the eldest of Dr. Charan Singh's three sons.
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Bhai Vir Singh Jee (December 5, 1872, Amritsar, - June 10, 1957, Amritsar) was a poet, scholar and theologian and a major figure in the movement for the revival and renewal of Punjabi literary tradition. His contributions were so immense and significant that he came to be canonized as Bhai, the Brother of the Sikh Order, very early in his career. For his pioneering work in its several different genres, he is acknowledged as the creator of modern Punjabi literature.
Early life
Born in 1872, in Amritsar, Bhai Vir Singh was the eldest of Dr. Charan Singh's three sons. The family traced its ancestry to Diwan Kaura Mal, who rose to the position of vice-governor of Multan, under Nawab Mir Mu'ln ul-Mulk, with the title of Maharaja Bahadur. Hi grandfather, Baba Kahn Singh (1788-1878), spent his entire youth in monasteries at Haridwar and Amritsar, acquiring training in traditional Sikh learning. At the age of forty, he got married. Adept in Sanskrit and Braj as well as in the oriental systems of medicine (such as Ayurveda, Siddha and Yunani), Baba Kahn Singh passed on his interests to his only son, Dr. Charan Singh. Apart from being a Braj poet, Punjabi prose-writer, musicologist and lexicographer, Dr. Charan Singh took an active interest in the affairs of the Sikh community, then experiencing a new urge for restoration as well as for change.
In addition to this, Bhai Vir Singh's maternal grandfather, Giani Hazara Singh was a scion of a scholarly tradition that went back to the time of Guru Gobind Singh. He compiled a lexicon of the Guru Granth Sahib, and wrote a commentary on the Vars of Bhai Gurdas. As a schoolboy, Bhai Vir Singh used to spend a great deal of his time in the company of Giani Hazara Singh under whose guidance he not only learnt the classical and neo-classical languages, Sanskrit, Persian and Braj, but also received grounding, both theoretical and practical, in Sikh theology.
He is rightly referred to as "SIXTH RIVER" of Punjab.
The Punjab at the time of Bhai Vir Singh's birth
Bhai Vir Singh was the child of an age in ferment. The extinction of Sikh sovereignty in the Punjab, the decline in the fortunes of Sikh aristocracy, the gradual emergence of urban middle classes, the dissipation of the "national intellectual life" of the Punjab owing to the neglect and decay of indigenous education of the local people from their political destiny aroused among the Sikhs, a concern for survival and for redefining the boundaries of their faith. Further challenges arose in the shape of modernization, of Christian, Muslim and Hindu movements of proselytization and agnostic cults such as the Brahmo Samaj. Parallel to the foreboding about gradual absorption of Sikhism by the Hindu social order, emerged a powerful trend towards Braj classicism in the Sikh literary and scholarly tradition. Mythologization of the persons of the Sikh Gurus, mixing of fiction with historical fact and interweaving of Vedantic and Vaishnavite motifs into the essential Sikh teaching were its typical features. The response arose in Sikhism in the form of several movements: Nirankari(puritanism),Namdhari(militant Protestantism), Singh Sabha (revivalism and renaissance) and Panch Khalsa Diwan(aggressive fundamentalism).
Education and marriage
Bhai Vir Singh had the benefit of both the traditional indigenous learning as well as of modern English education. He learnt Sikh scripture as well as Persian, Urdu and Sanskrit. He then joined the Church Mission School, Amritsar and took his matriculation examination in 1891. At school, the conversion of some of the students proved a crucial experience which strengthened his own religious conviction. From the Christian missionaries' emphasis on literary resources, he learnt how efficacious the written word could be as a means of informing and influencing a person's innermost being. Through his English courses, he acquired familiarity with modern literary forms, especially short lyric. While still at school, Bhai Vir Singh was married at the age of seventeen to Chatar Kaur, the daughter of Narain Singh of Amritsar.
Literary career
Beginnings
Unlike the educated young men of his time, Bhai Vir Singh was not tempted by prospects of a career in government service. He chose the profession of a writer. A year after his passing the matriculation examination, he set up a lithograph press in collaboration with Bhai Wazir Singh, a friend of his father. As his first essays in the literary field, Bhai Vir Singh composed some Geography textbooks for schools.
Awards
He was honored with the Sahitya Academy Award in 1955 and the Padam Bhushan Award in 1956
Language as a means for preserving cultural identity
Bhai Vir Singh Jee stressed that:
- The unique nature of Sikhism could be nourished and sustained by creating an awakening amongst the Sikhs of the awareness of their distinct theological and cultural identity.
- He aimed at reorienting the Sikhs' understanding of their faith in such a manner as to help them assimilate the different modernizing influences to their historical memory and cultural heritage.
Education of the masses was the first requirement for the fulfilment of these objectives. In the meanwhile, the old educational system which had till then served as a channel for communication of the traditional knowledge to the youth of the community had broken down with the withdrawal, under British dispensation, of state patronage to indigenous institutions. Bhai Vir Singh through his single-minded cultivation of the Punjabi language as the medium of his theological, scholarly and creative work, resolved the cultural dilemma which the Sikhs faced at the turn of the century. In this writing lay the beginnings of modern Punjabi prose.
Works
Bhai Vir Singh began taking an active interest in the affairs of the Singh Sabha Movement. To promote its aims and objects, he launched the Khalsa Tract Society in 1894. The tracts produced by the Khalsa Tract Society introduced a down-to-earth literary Punjabi, remarkable for lightness of touch as well as for freshness of expression.
The Khalsa Tract Society periodically made available under the title Nirguniara, lowcost publications on Sikh theology, history and philosophy and on social and religious reform. Through this journal, Bhai Vir Singh established contact with an ever-expanding circle of readers. He used the Nirguniara as a vehicle for his own self expression. Some of his major creative works such as Sri Guru Nanak Chamatkar and Sri Guru Kalgidhar Chamatkar, were originally serialized in its columns.
In literature, Bhai Vir Singh started as a writer of romances which proved to be the forerunners of the Punjabi novel. His writings in this genre - Sundari (1898), Bijay Singh (1899), Satwant Kaur (published in two parts, I in 1900 and II in 1927), were aimed at recreating the heroic period (eighteenth century) of Sikh history. Through these novels he made available to his readers, models of courage, fortitude and human dignity.
The novel Subhagji da Sudhar Hathin Baba Naudh Singh, popularly known as Baba Naudh Singh (serialized in Nirguniara from 1907 onwards and published in book form in 1921) shares with the epic Rana Surat Singh (which he had started serializing in 1905), Bhai Vir Singh's fascination with the theme of a widow's desperate urge for a reunion with her dead husband.
Soon after the publication of Rana Surat Singh in book form in 1919, he turned to shorter poems and Lyrics. These included Dil Tarang (1920), Tarel Tupke (1921), Lahiran de Har (1921), Matak Hulare (1922), Bijlian de Har (1927) and Mere Salan Jio (1953). Through these works, he paved the way for the emergence of the Punjabi poem.
Even the first play written in Punjabi, Raja Lakhdata Singh (1910) came from the pen of Bhai Vir Singh.
In November 1899, he started a Punjabi weekly, the Khalsa Samachar. He revised and enlarged Giani Hazara Singh's dictionary, Sri Guru Granth Kosh, originally published in 1898. The revised version was published in 1927. He published critical editions of some of the old Sikh texts such as Sikhan di Bhagat Mala (1912), Prachin Panth Prakash (1914), Puratan Janam Sakhi (1926) and Sakhi Pothi (1950).
Monumental in size and scholarship was his annotation of Bhai Santokh Singh's magnum opus, Sri Gur Pratap Suraj Granth, published from 1927 to 1935 in fourteen volumes covering 6668 pages.
Demise
After Sri Gur Pratap Suraj Granth, Bhai Vir Singh began work on what would prove to be his last project. This was a detailed commentary on the Guru Granth Sahib. He devoted himself unsparingly to the commentary, but it remained unfinished. A lifetime of unrelieved hard work and the weight of advancing years began to tell at last . In early 1957, signs of fatigue and weakness appeared. He was taken ill with a fever and died at his home in Amritsar on June 10, 1957. The portion of the commentary - nearly one half of the Holy Book - he had completed was published posthumously in seven large volumes.
Another Tribute by Dr. P.S.Chottala
The future generations in India may find it hard to believe that such a man as Bhai Vir Singh Jee (Some write his name as Bhai Veer Singh Jee) was born in the land of five rivers that is Punjab. Looking to his life’s work, wisdom and writing, he can be called a versatile genius. He was a great poet, philosopher, writer, social and religious reformer, journal and, above all, a mystic, humanist and a spiritual leader. He was, in fact, an institution in himself. His books and writings contain such a flow of spiritual wisdom and inner inspiration that Bhai Vir Singh has been called "the Sixth River of Punjab" by the great Harindranath Chattopadhayay, who said "In the land of five rivers, Bhai Vir Singh may well be said to be the sixth; for he has always been known to his people as a river of culture and learning, one who has flowed for several years like a nourishing influence into their lives and sustaining them."
Self effacing, "Padma Bhushan" Dr. Bhai Vir Singh lived a life full of years and full of honours, but with all his learning and erudition with spiritual heights, he was so modest and humble that none of his works bear his name. He seldom spoke from a platform or attended a public meeting, but his presence and his conversation had a magnetic effect on all those who came in contact with him. His famous poem "Violet Flower" (Banafsha) translated by Dr. Gopal Singh, shows the real nature of this saintly poet :
- Let my blossoms live in solitude,
- Sheltered by mountain’s ledge,
- Let no evil eye feast its lust on me;
- I lie on world’s edge.
- I seek to live in solitude.
- And wither and cease;
- But the eyes of the scent crusher seek me,
- And break my peace.
The people and personalities living around during his times felt it in their very souls, while literary rivals were also drawn to him and became admirers. Born on 5th Dec. 1872 at Amritsar, he wrote for seventy long years and his massive writing work, more poetry than historical and social fiction, as also the Dharamik Granths, - the biographies of Guru Nanak, Guru Gobind Singh, the Guru Granth Kosh, and thousands of tracts, pamphlets, taken together constitute a treasure.
The famous journalist historian, Khushwant Singh writing about this poetic-genius, says "He was the man who answered Gita’s definition of ‘VIDYA-VINAY SAMPANN’ i.e. humility which comes from great learning. As people clamoured to see him and hear him speak, he became less and less visible; he never appeared at public functions: he never made a speech; he never allowed anyone to photograph him. Not one of his many books carried his name on its jacket, and he had written more than any Indian dead or alive". Truly the sweet flow from his mighty pen was pure honey for the spiritual soul of the human being.
Apart from the enormous literary output - covering poetry, prose, fiction, drama, history, commentaries, and other things, like dictionaries and explanatory references, his social field work was also amazing. He was founder of Khalsa Samachar, Khalsa Tract Society, and co-founder of great institutions like Chief Khalsa Diwan, Punjab and Sindh Bank Ltd., Sikh Education Conference, hospitals and many other social institutions prospering till date in Amritsar. All this shows his everlasting interest in human social uplift.
Whatever the area of his life’s work and writing he undoubtedly left abiding footmarks of a literary giant. The deepest influence left by his shining contribution, is seen in the revival of Sikh faith, restoring the fearlessness, valour, sense of sacrifice and true Khalsa spirit which was at its zenith in the times of Sikh Gurus and till the end of 18th century. Through his powerful pen, Bhai Vir Singh revived and reconstructed these traits and traditions in Sikhism, that deservedly made him a true Gursikh and a Gursikh who was not only respeced but also revered as a saint. He had a touch of sunrise radiance in his words.
He had yet another role to play. He wrote in Punjabi - and about Punjabis - as also about Punjabiat, but in doing so, he virtually lifted the Punjabi language from the status of a spoken dialect to a classical language that is sweet literary Punjabi, which is prevalent today. Dr. Bhai Vir Singh is therefore rightly and deservingly called the Father of Punjabi language. Now the Punjabi language has become so powerful and expressive that, like Punjabi dishes, it has become very popular throughout our country.
When there is so much to describe and write about this poet of Nature and poet of Man, it is not possible to cover his works or his writings in any measure of justice, in few pages. The present generation would benefit greatly if the opinions of few a eminent persons, about the legend that is Bhai Vir Singhji, are briefly mentioned here for the sake of better understanding of his contribution to our society.
The Poet Laureate, Ruby Altizer Roberts, in a poem specially composed for the Bhai Vir Singh Abhinandan Granth, wrote:
- The lives of generations yet unborn
- Will know his words rising on wings of flame,
- And shout the essence through a wreathed horn,
- While history weaves a halo for his name.
The eminent octogenarian critic and author Khushwant Singh, discovers the mystical ‘TOUCH’, which occurs often in the writing of Bhai Sahib, translated a few line :
- In a dream You came to me
- I leapt to hold You in my embrace;
- It was but a fantasy (noor) I could not hold -
- And my arms ached with longing.
- Then I rushed to clasp Your feet
- To lay my head thereon;
- Even these I could not reach
- For You were high and I was low.
Khushwant Singh, paying a tribute, concludes "Even while he lived, people knew him only through his writings which will live forever. Wherever the Punjabi language is spoken, there will Vir Singh’s name be spoken too. And whenever the Sikhs begin to doubt their faith, there will be Vir Singh’s spirit to inspire them and beckon them to the fold."
Calling him many-faceted literary Titan, the late Dr. Gobind Singh Mansukhani wrote: "Vir Singh is not only rich in thought and feeling, but also in the subtleties of poetic technique. Epic, lyric, Rubai - he attempted with equal success. His verse flow like the sweep of a mighty ocean - eloquent and majestic. He writes spontaneously because he is guided by an inner impulse... His poetry possesses the spontaneity of Wordsworth, the melody of Tagore, the piety of Milton and the mysticism of Yeats. He is remembered today though he liked to be forgotten "like the violet flower." By his versatility, sublimity and divine rapture, he carved out a niche in the heart of Indian poetry. No doubt his name shall live for ever in many small and big things in life."
During his long writing career even before he was thirty, he had attained his spiritual and mystical heights of character and, ever afterwards, he exerted the greatest influence by his contact and active participation with innumerable persons and institutions till the end of his life.
According to Prof. Dewan Singh, "Like Socrates he ‘touched’ the minds of youth by his subtle and imperceptible manner which was of a religio-mystical nature. Bhai Vir Singh’s connection with the Singh Sabha movement and his remarkable literary contribution towards the enhancement of the movement’s aims and ideals are still being assessed and evaluated by research scholars in this field." It has been mentioned (Abhinandan Granth 1954 p.64) The British rulers who had to bear the burnt of Sikh Agitation (called Akali Movement) launched for the liberation of Gurdwaras from the custody of the irreligious and sinful ‘mahants’ reported to the Govt. of India, on the basis of C.I.D. information that Bhai Vir Singh was "the most dangerous Sikh leader" who remained in the background but was great wire-puller and that his stay at Sikh metropolis, i.e. Amritsar, made him "the centre and pivot of all Sikh political and social ferment."
When we consider the views of Prof. R. L. Ahuja: "the concept of God, even if it be regarded as a myth, is indeed a beautiful illusion, a grand myth and a sublime truth of the human mind. Even if God were not a reality, one must agree with Voltaire that we would have to invent one to sustain our life on this planet. The mystic believes that the invisible Creator and the soul of man are akin to each other. According to him "The poetry of love and hope has moods like desire, longing, a glimpse of joy, a sense of separation, hope or disappointment, anguish or fervour, etc. All these notes are struck in Bhai Vir Singh’s poetry of love and optimism." He further adds "Mere Saiyan Jeo My Dear Lord - is considered latest among Bhai Vir Singh’s works. It is not merely a collection of poems but a group of spiritual experiences. It is, indeed, a mystical spiritual autobiography, a story of the soul’s love for the over-Soul."
In a world of easy-going contentment with small things, said Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, Bhai Vir Singh invites our attention to the goal of man’s life:
"They say man is the crest of the wave of life;
But what is man, who is lost in the smoke of the fire that burns within him.
For he is lord of creation only
If he be lord of himself.
Self-mastery cannot be had without pain. Suffering and sacrifice call upon us - not as our enemies but - as our friends. Through sacrifice lies the way to self-conquest, as Bhai Vir Singh exemplifies:
- A piece of charcoal,
- I washed with milk and soap in the hope
- That its black might turn white, But no,
- Till it burned in fire, it did not glow.
The triumph of spirit over flesh is the main theme of Bhai Vir Singh. He was essentially a God-intoxicated soul. But at the same time he was a perfect human being belonging to this real world and worked through out his life for the welfare of the society at large. In the field of practical life his contribution is of such an outstanding nature that it shall be remembered permanently. His work in connection with Khalsa Tract Society, The Khalsa Samachar, the Chief Khalsa Diwan, the Khalsa College at Amritsar, the Sikh Education Society, the Central Sikh Orphanage, the Blind Asylum, and the Homeopathic Hospital at Amritsar are a few examples to prove his deep love for the suffering humanity.
Well-known literary figure, S. Vageshwar describing Bhai Vir Singh as Father of modern Punjabi literature and outstanding interpreter of dynamic faith that is Skhism, elaborates, that "The Punjabi speaking people owe a special debt to him for not only being a path finder in literature striking new lines, but also because he dared to use Punjabi as a medium of expression when it was a fashion to denounce it as a dialect of rustics. He introduced new metres, modern vocabulary, popular similes and rich poetic expressions. He moulded Punjabi language to suit as a vehicle of modern culture. Why, he introduced modern prose, drama and novel which were practically non-existent in Punjabi literature."
Dr. Ganda Singh, one time doyen of historians, calls Bhai Vir Singh a brilliant product of the Sikh renaissance in the Punjab and was an inspiring spirit behind Sikh reform movement for over fifty years during the 20th century. "Bhai Vir Singh had no taste for politics. He did not believe in the politricky ways of the politicians, with duplicity and exploitation as the main characteristics of their social life. He had no axe of his to grind. He was a ‘monotician’, devoted to the mission of his life which could only be fulfilled on his desk in a closed room, far away from the distracting din of political agitations. The twentieth century Punjab was the centre of a number of political and religio-political upheavals, but nothing could draw him out of his religio-social literary work." It was the trimurti of three inseparable friends in different fields of activities. One was Sardar Sunder Singh who came forward on almost all occasions to take active part in religious, social and political fields of service. Second was Sardar Trilochan Singh who devoted himself wholly to the first Bank of the Sikhs, the Punjab and Sindh Bank, in the country. The third was Bhai Vir Singh who confined his activities to the production of inspiring and soul stirring literature for the masses and for the reformists in different fields.
Dr. Ganda Singh further adds, "Bhai Vir Singh was not devoid of patriotic feelings, as some may think. His heart was full of love for his country and his people for whose regeneration he had been working ceaselessly with his pen. And pen, as every one knows, is not unoften stong than sword. It sheds no blood and leaves no scars behind on the body of the opponent to remind him of the hatred and enmity that once existed between the swordsmen. The effect of the pen, of the written word, however, is deeper and more permanent than the cut of the sword. There is no fear its getting septic with the danger of incurability. Those who have read Bhai Vir Singh’s ‘Sundari’, ‘Bijai Singh’, ‘Baba Naudh Singh’, etc. would unhesitatingly testify to the veracity of this statement.
Many research bodies are engaged in probing the depth of his contribution so as to make it possible for the present and the coming generations to know and wonder that such a great personality did exist and worked so much for the cause of true Sikhism. Among these the premier one is Bhai Vir Singh Sadan in the vicinity of Bangla Sahib at New Delhi.
In the end it should suffice to say that he wrote so much and wrote brilliantly, thought so much and thought clearly, worked so hard and worked so sincerely, lived so long and lived so ideally, and he served his own people and served them so selflessly, that he cannot be compared with any man.
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