Bhai Vir Singh

Vir Singh (5 December 1872 – 10 June 1957) was a Sikh poet, scholar and theologist of the Sikh revival movement, playing an important part in the renewal of Punjabi literary tradition. He was an important figure of the Singh Sabha movement and is considered the father of modern Punjabi literature.

Vir Singh developed the Punjabi historical fiction genre with his four novels Sundari (1898), Bijay Singh (1899), Satwant Kaur (1900), and Baba Naudh Singh (serialized from October 1917 to December 1921), with the novel genre being imported from Europe. Vir Singh's newfound Punjabi novel genre helped promote Sikh code of conduct in the background of the Singh Sabha movement, focusing on themes of Sikh sacrifice, martyrdom, symbolism, conversion, rites, resilience, and survival during the Mughal and British periods. At seventeen, Vir Singh married Chatar Kaur and had two daughters with her. He died in Amritsar on 10 June 1957.

Education Singh had both the traditional indigenous learning and modern English education. He learnt Sikh scripture as well as Persian, Urdu and Sanskrit. He then joined the Church Mission School, Amritsar and took his matriculation examination in 1891 and stood first all over in the district.

Literary career

Beginnings Singh chose to become a writer. After passing his matriculation examination, he worked with a friend of his father's, Wazir Singh, and set up a lithography press. His first commission to write and print were geography textbooks for some schools. and who inspired him to write poetry in the Punjabi language. The Wazir Hind Press was the main press publishing literature for the Singh Sabha movement, and Vir Singh would purchase it after Wazir Singh passed after illness. Thusly, he would begin a long association with Vir Singh, which would lead to contact with writers, an 11-year career with the Press, and subsequently writing for the Khalsa Samachar, in which Chatrik would hone his poetic skills. Amidst all this political discontent, Singh sought to revitalize the Sikh culture and religion through peaceful means, by writing a myriad of novels, epics, and poems. With the fall of the Sikh Empire and the modernization of Christian, Muslim, and Hindu movements of proselytism, the Sikh faith began to wane until scholars and theologians of the religions, Singh being a leading one, began revitalizing life into Sikhism through their works of literature.

The novel Subhagji da Sudhar Hathin Baba Naudh Singh, popularly known as Baba Naudh Singh (serialised in Nirguniara from 1907 onwards and published in book form in 1921), shares with the epic Rana Surat Singh (which he had started serialising in 1905) Vir Singh's interest in the theme of a widow's desperate urge for a reunion with her dead husband.

Soon after the publication of Rana Surat Singh in book form in 1919, he turned to shorter poems and lyrics. These included Dil Tarang (1920), Tarel Tupke (1921), Lahiran de Har (1921), Matak Hulare (1922), Bijlian de Har (1927) and Mere Sayian Jio (1953). Through these works, he paved the way for the emergence of the Punjabi poem.

In November 1899, he started a Punjabi weekly, the Khalsa Samachar. He revised and enlarged Giani Hazara Singh's dictionary, Sri Guru Granth Kosh, originally published in 1898. The revised version was published in 1927. He published critical editions of some of the old Sikh texts such as Sikhan di Bhagat Mala (1912), Prachin Panth Prakash (1914), Puratan Janam Sakhi (1926) and Sakhi Pothi (1950).thumb Singh's desk in his memorial house at AmritsarAn important work was Singh's annotation of Kavi Santokh Singh's Suraj Prakash, published from 1927 to 1935 in fourteen volumes. This publication of Suraj Prakash would be Vir Singh's single most lengthy endeavor of his life. Singh reflected this belief in his novels, and featured them in a number of strong female characters. In fact, his very first novel was Sundari, which featured Sunder Kaur, a woman who converted from Hinduism to Sikhism and then proceeded to lead a life of adventure in the jungles with a band of Sikh warriors. It was the first novel penned in the Punjabi language. Other important female characters he wrote were Rani Raj Kaur, Satvant Kaur, Subhagji and Sushil Kaur. Even by today's modern standards, these female characters are still considered to be well rounded and an inspiration to both male and female Sikhs alike.

Awards He was honoured with the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1955 and the Padma Bhushan Award in 1956.

1972 Indian stamp commemorating his birth centenary.

Commentary His commentary on nearly half of the Adi Granth was published posthumously in seven large volumes.