AVTAR SINGH VAHIRIA, polemicist and scholar of Sikh texts, was born on 12 June 1848 at Thoha Khalsa, a village in Rawalpindi district, now in Pakistan. As a small boy, he learnt to recite the Sikh psalms from his mother and maternal uncle, Prem Singh. After he had learnt

JODH SINGH, BHAI (1882-1981), patriarchal Figure for many years in the fields of Sikh theology, education and politics, was born on 31 May 1882 at Ghungrila, in Rawalpindi district, now in Pakistan, the son of Ram Singh and Gulab Devi. Named Ranbir Singh at birth and later called Sant

VIR SINGH. BHAI (1872-1957), poet, scholar and exegete, was a major figure in the Sikh renaissance and in the movement for the revival and renewal of Punjabi literary tradition. His identification with all the important concerns of modern Sikhism was so complete that he came to be canonized as Bhai,

BASANT SINGH, BHAI (d. 1900), one of the founder members of Sri Guru Singh Sabha, Lahore, established on 2 November 1879, worked as its accountant and later became its vice president. Differences between Bhai Basant Singh and other leaders of the Khalsa Diwan, Lahore, originating in the expulsion in April

KAHN SINGH, of Nabha (1861-1938), celebrated scholar and encyclopaedist, was born on Bhadori vadi 10, 1918 Bk/30 August 1861, in a Dhillon Jatt family at the village of Sabaz Banera, in what then used to be the territory of the princely ruler of Patiala. His father, Narain Singh (mother:

BHAGVANT SINGH HARIJI, BHAI (1892-1968), a lover of game, horticulturist and scholar, was born on 15 February 1892 to the erudition of his celebrated father, Bhai Kahn Singh, of Nabha, the creator of the immortal Gurushabad Ratnakar Mahan Kosh. Unobtrusively, and in his characteristically gentle and self abnegating manner, Bhagvant

KAPUR SINGH, SIRDAR, BHAl SAHIB (1909-1986), civilian, parliamentarian and intellectual, was master of manysided learning. Besides Sikh theology, he was vastly learned in philosophy, history and literature. He was born into a farming family, at the village Chakk in Ludhiana district on 2 March 1909. His father`s name was

BIKRAMA SINGH, KANVAR (1835-1887), one of the pioneers of the Singh Sabha movement, was born in 1835. He was the son of Raja Nihal Singh of Kapurthala. As he grew up, he developed interest in classical learning and music. He received several honours and distinctions from the British government.

MAYYA SINGH, BHAI (1862-1928). spelt as Maya Singh in contemporary English writings, was a leading figure in the Singh Sabha awakening. He was born in 1862. Little is known about his early life, except that after his school years he joined the railways at Lahore as a clerk. There

BISHAN SINGH, GIANI (1875-1966), cleric and exegete, was a granthi or priest at the Khalsa College at Amritsar for 30 years. The Khalsa College was then a premier Sikh college excelling in research and publication in the field of Sikh studies. Four of the foremost Sikh scholars of this

MOHAN SINGH VAID, BHAI. (1881-1936), apothecary, writer, collector of books and social reformer, was born at Tarn Taran on Phagun sudil, 1937 Bk/7 March 1881, the youngest of the four sons of Bhai Jaimal Singh (1843-1919), who too was a void (practitioner of  Ayurveda or Indian system of medicine) of

CHELLARAM, BHAl (1904-1964), a well known Sahajdhari Sikh of modern times who sang and preached gurbani, the Guru`s inspired word, with a rare love and devotion, was born in a Sindhi family of Hyderabad (Sindh) on 3 May 1904, the son of Dr Tekchand Rachumal Mansukhani and Chettbai. Chellaram`s