SURAIN SINGH, BHAI

SURAIN SINGH, BHAI (1895-1921), one of the Nankana Sahib martyrs, came from Chakk No. 80 Nizampur Mula Singhvala, district Sheikhupura. He was the second of the six children of Bhai Ram Singh and Mai Hukam Kaur. He learnt Gurmukhi from the village priest and was initiated into the Khalsa Panth at a divan held at the nearby village of Nizampur Deva Singhvala. He served for some time in the army during the Great War (1914-18), and after his release reverted to the family occupation of agriculture.

He was member of the village choir and was on 19 February 1921 performing kirtan at a marriage in the village when the call came for the liberation of Gurdwara Janam Asthan, Nankana Sahib. He at once got ready to accompany other volunteers, who joining the Dharovah`Jatha fell martyrs the following morning in the indiscriminate firing by the opponents of reform. The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee settled upon his widow, Bibi Bhag Kaur, a family pension which was stopped on her remarriage.

SURAIN SINGH, BHAI (1898-1921), one of the Nankana Sahib martyrs, was born on 1 April 1898, the son of Bhai Mit Singh and Mai Chand Kaur of Chakk No. 38 Nizampur Deva Singhvala in Sheikhupura district (now in Pakistan). He read Urdu at the village primary school. He learnt Gurmukhi on his own and went through the vows of the Khalsa. As the movement for the reformation of Sikh shrines got underway, he found himself in the thick of it. During the Dharovali conference (13 October 1920), he collected rations for it and served in the Guru ka Langar.

He participated in the liberation of Gurdwara Khara Sauda, Chuharkana (30 December 1920) and also offered himself as a volunteer for the demolished Gurdwara wall in Delhi. On 19 February 1921, he joined the jatha led by Bhai Lachhman Singh of Dharovali and fell a martyr in the firing on it the next morning. See NANKANA SAHIB MASSACRE. He was survived by his mother, wife and a two year old daughter. The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, besides paying off the family`s debt of Rs 410, paid it a pension at Rs 150 per annum.

References :

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