SANTA SINGH JATHEDAR, BHAI

SANTA SINGH JATHEDAR, BHAI (1897-1921), shahid of Nankana Sahib, was the son of Bhai Nand Singh and Mat Prem Kaur of Darauli village in Jalandhar district. They were weavers by profession. Santa Singh`s grandfather, GuJjar Singh, as well as his father had received the vows of the Khalsa. The family migrated to the Lower Chenab Canal Colony at the close of the century and settled as cloth merchants at Shahkot, a market town in Sheikhupura district. Santa Singh leamt to read Gurmukhi at home.

Bhai Santa Singh received the rites of the Khalsa at the hands of Bhai Mahitab Singh Bir and became an active member of Khalsa Baradari, an organization of baptized Sikhs from among the so called low castes uch as Ramdasias and Mazhabis. There were about 40 Akalis in Shahkot itself who chose him their jathedar (chief or leader). He had participated in the liberation of Gurdwara Babe di Ber, Sialkot, Gurdwara Khara Sauda, Chuharkana, and the gurdwara at Gojra.

On receiving the call for the liberation of Gurdwara Janam Asthan, Nankana Sahib, he led a batch of six volunteers from Shahkot. He fell a martyr in the firing on the Akali volunteers inside Gurdwara Janam Asthan on 20 February 1921. The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, Amritsar, set apart a grant of Rs 300 per annum for the martyrs. The Shahkot sangat raised a memorial gurdwara in their honour.

References :

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