Karam Singh (historian)

Karam Singh (1884-1930), pioneer of Sikh research in Sikh history was born on 18 March 1884, the son of Jhanda Singh (a Dhillon Jat), and Mai Bhisan Kaur, at Jhabal village 15 km west of Tarn Taran in the Amritsar district of Punjab. The family that claimed descant from Bhai Langhah, a prominent Sikh contemporary of Guru Arjan dev ji and Guru Hargobind, later shifted to chakk no.29 Janubi in shahpur (sargodha) district where Jhanda Singh on his retirement as daffadar (sergeant) from risala awwal (first cavalry) was granted 50 acres of land in the newly opened lower Jhelum community. Having received his primary education at Jhabal, Karam singh attended the school village and went on to matriculate from the Khalsa collegiate school, Amritsar, and then joined the Khalsa college, but left before taking a degree, devoting himself to life’s passion-research in the history of Punjab. Karam singh, considered oral history an important tool of research, left his studies in December 1905, only four months before the final examinations for graduation immediately to meet some of the old men still living who had been witness to the happenings of the Punjab under Sikh rule, and record their testimony. In 1907 he made out plans to go to Mecca and Baghdad in order to gather information about Guru Nanak dev ji’s visit to those places for centuries earlier and joined a hajji party as a Muslim( for no non-Muslim could take that pilgrimage), but had to return from Baghdad.

Works

Karam Singh began publishing the results of his research. The traditionalists schools opposed his critical and scientific approach, this left the young historian no patronage and he found himself in financial strain. In his effort to be economically independent, he put to use his knowledge of ayurvedic (indigenous Indian) system of medicine and opened an apothecary’s shop, Sanyasi Ashram, at Sargodha. In 1910 one of his friends, Kavala Singh, took him to Patiala where with the help of Sardar (later Sir) Joginder Singh, then home minister of that state, was appointed state historian. He later wrote a biography of Baba Ala singh (1692-1765), the founder of Patiala state, and also prepared Punjabi readers for school children. In 1921-22 he took on lease fairly wide tract of land in Noya gaon in Nanital district of Uttar Pradesh where he experimented farming with the help of modern mechanical implements, but not at the cost of his research. He continued visiting public libraries at distant places such as Patiala, Budaun, Darbhangra, Aligarh and Calcutta, and took extensive notes from books and manuscripts bearing on Sikh history. A large number of these notes were published in "Phulwari", a Punjabi journal, during 1926-1930. Singh edited the Sikh Itihas magazine edition of January 1930. On 22 December 1929, at a meeting held at Akal Takht, Amritsar established the "Sikh Historical Society" of which Karam singh historian (epithet popularly suffixed to his name) had been appointed secretary. At the same time the management of Khalsa College, Amritsar planned to set up a department of historical search under Karam singh historian. But he was taken ill with tuberculosis. In august 1930 he had a severe attack of malaria. He was removed from Naya gaon to Tarn Taran for treatment, but an attack of pneumonia soon after soon after reaching there hastened the end which came on September 1930.A work which marked a turning point in Sikh historiography and which is typically illustrative of Karam Singh's methods of analysis was his kattak ki visakh (n.d., republished, Patiala, 1912) in which he subjects the Janam sakhi materials to critical scrutiny and arrives at the conclusion that Guru Nanak Dev ji was born in the month of baisakh (April) and not, as not as traditionally believed, in kattak (October-November). Among his other published works besides numerous articles in phulwari are jivan britant banda bahadar (1907), jiwan srimati bibi sada kaur (1907), Jiwan britant maharaja ala singh (n.d., republished tarn Taran, 1918), bib harnam kaur (1907), Kes ati sikhi, Gurpurb nirnaya, Chitthian te prastav (1923), Banda kaun si and Amar khalsa (1932).The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak committee has brought out a collection of his works under the title Karam singh historian di itihasik khoj.

=Family= His father Sardar Jhanda singh, worked as a tradesman besides being a Daffadar (Sergeant). He earned a profit and made a handsome sum of money.

Singh was married three times. First he married to a woman of the village of Bhakna in Amritsar district of Punjab. She soon passed away and went to god’s abode to have a long rest. He had no children with his first spouse. He was then married to a woman of the village of Bohona near Moga in Punjab. They were both then by grace of god given birth to three children:1. Sardar Ranbir singh2. Sardar Randhir singh3. Sardar Ranjit singh

Sardar Ranbir settled in Bassi Pathana but he passed away in 2004. Sardar Randhir singh was studying in Ambala high school hostel but passed away in 1924. Sardar Ranjit singh joined the police and later started agriculture but in 1967 his life got entangled with woes and he passed away after a short tenure of illness.

He was then married to Mata Prem kaur, a lady of the village of Maksoodar in Ludhiana district of Punjab, However she passed away in 1926 leaving behind four sons:1. Sardar Jagjit singh 2. Sardar kuldip singh 3. Sardar Surjit singh4. Sardar Malkiat singh

Out of the four sons, three died and only one was spared life by god but that too after some short tenure of illness in childhood. But destiny did not spare him too. He was not blessed with a child my almighty. Now he is settled in phase 7 of Mohali.

Qualities

He was the sage of Punjab in his era. Blessed with power of doing untiring hard work, power of bearing all woes, and power of having a firm determination of serving his community. This reason that the renowned people of Punjab like Dhani Ram Chatrik, Bhai Jodha Singh, Sardar Hira singh Dard, Sardar Jawala singh and the list goes abiding.He once said “I have never ever considered the errors in my writings. Making my writings impressive and enriched with vocabulary is a talk of free time but my objective in life is to make a clear road of Sikh history in front of my readers. I am indulged in agriculture from dawn to dusk and after this to do language mistakes in my writings is a not a big deal.”

This reveals his virtue of humility that even after such good writings and his back breaking hard work he was so down to earth. Even today readers appreciate his work and many have followed his spontaneous style of writing. He has been known for his way of writing articles after the release of book Amar Khalsa. Worked as a historian, as a producer of ayurvedic medicine, as a painter, as an agriculturist where he produced new types of seeds he passed away at a very small age of 46 years but left behind immortal imprints in whole of the Punjab. Sikh community will always realize the absence of such a great devotee.

References

*1. http://www.sikhpoint.com/religion/sikhcommunity/KaramSingh.htm
*2. Karam Singh historian Jiwan ate rachna (By:Bhupinder singh Grover)
*3. Karam Singh historian di itihasik Vartak (By:Jasbir singh)
*4. Gurjit Singh dhillon(grandson of Karam singh historian)
*5. Karam Singh historian di itihasik khoj (By:Hira singh Dard)
*6. Fulwari Karam Singh number, October-1930, Amritsar.BY:-MANJOT SINGH DHILLON (GREAT GRAND SON OF SARDAR KARAM SINGH HISTORIAN)