DIVAN SINGH, BHAI

DIVAN SINGH, BHAI (1888-1921), one of the Nankana Sahib martyrs, was born in 1888, the son of Bhai Hira Singh and Mat Pan Kaur of Pandori Nij[jaran, in Jalandhar district. The family later shifted to Chakk No. 91 Dhannuana, in the newly colonized district of Lyallpur, now in Pakistan. Divan Singh, an illiterate bachelor, made a name for himself in that area as a wrestler and as an intrepid fighter.

As the Gurdwara reform movement picked up momentum, he took the vows of the Khalsa and decided to join the Jatha or band of Akali volunteers marching towards Nankana Sahib. His companions doubted if he would remain peaceful and keep the vow of nonviolence to which the Jatha had committed itself, but Divan Singh assured them that he would keep his word even in face of the gravest provocation. He was one of those who were burnt to death at Nankana Sahib by the hirelings of Mahant Narain Das. See NANKANA SAHIB MASSACRE

References :

1. Shamsher, Gurbakhsh Singh, Shahidi Jivan. Nankana Sahib, 1938