HIRA SINGH RAGI, BHAI

HIRA SINGH RAGI, BHAI (1879-1926), eminent exponent of Sikh devotional music, was born in 1879 at Faruka, in Shahpur district, now in Pakistan. His father`s name was Bhai Bhag Singh and mother`s Satbharai. Bhag Singh was well versed in classical music and played string instruments such as sdraizgi and tails. Hira Singh joined the middle school at Sahival, but soon left it to study the religious texts with Bhai Mahna Singh of  Faruka. He learnt music from his father who performed kirtan in the village gurudwara.

At the age of 15, he was married to Bibi Bhavari (renamed Prem Kaur). He attended the Nirarikan Darbar at Rawalpindi and Namdhari Darbar at BhainI, and subsequently joined the jathd of Sant Atar Singh in whose company he also went on a pilgrimage to Sri Abchal Nagar Hazur Sahib, Nandcd.In 1897, he settled down, with his wife, at Amritsar, working with the Khalsa Tract Society which brought him under the influence of Bhai Vir Singh and deepened his study of the Sikh scriptural writings. He started to learn playing the harmonium from Mahant Takht Singh.

His father soon joined him in Amritsar and the two formed a rdgi jathd, or choir, which soon became the most famous ensemble reciting kirtan at Sikh gatherings. Hira Singh led the kirtan interspersing it with exposition of the sacred verse, as his father accompanied him on the tdus. He joined the Chief Khalsa Diwan founded in 1902, and worked tirelessly towards promoting its programme of religious and social reform and of education among Sikhs. By his tartan and discourses, he kept vast audiences spellbound. Many entered the Sikh fold under his influence.

The story is told of Haji Muhammad Miskin who was among the audience listening to Bhai Hira Singh`s kirtan in Gwallor in 1925. The Haji had very diligently manufactured a rare piece of art a whisk made of 1,45,000 strands of sandalwood fibre which he desired to present as an offering at an appropriate place of worship. He felt so moved that he accompanied Bhai Hira Singh to Amritsar and, on his advice, offered the precious article at the Golden Temple. The whisk is still preserved in the Golden Temple loshdkhdnd or treasury.

Bhai Hira Singh was one of the principal fundraiscrs for the Sikh Educational Conference which set up schools in many parts of the Punjab. He helped to found in 1908 a Khalsa high school at Faruka which after the partition of 1947 was restarted in Ambala Cantonment. In the middle of 1924, Bhai Hira Singh was taken ill with cancer of the stomach. He died at Dehra Dun on 2 September 1926.

References :

1. Aviar Singh, Rhai, and Gurcharan Singh, Gurbani Sangit. Patiala, 1976
2. Singh Sabha Patrika (Bhai Sahib Ragi Hira Singh Vishesha Ank). Amritsar, 1979