Dr. (Bhai) Harbans Lal Principal Sardar Satbir Singh left for heavenly abode on August 17, 1994, in Patiala, Punjab where he was attending an important meeting’ along with Sardar Gurcharan Singh Tohra, President of Shiromni Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee. Ar the time of his demise, Principal Satbir Singh was in his early sixties. Sardar Satbir Singh was a poor an gursikh who feared the tithe of the most prolific Sikh writer of his time and who at the same time steadfastly stood for the Charhdi Kala Of Khalsa Panth.
The elder brother of Sardar Satbir Singh, Sardar Inderpal Singh, was ‘one of the fifteen students, who had ‘originally founded the All India Sikh ‘Students’ Federation (AISSF) in ‘Lahore, Pakistan, in 1944, It was in 1945 that I developed contacts with Sardar Satbir Singh when we were Still in high schools several hundred miles apart. He went to the Khalsa High School in Jehlum, Pakistan, at the same time when I was attending Khalsa High School at Hari pur Hazara in the North Western Province of Pakistan, I actually met Satbir at the end of 1945. During my visit to Amritsar in 19461 had the first opportunity to spend significant amount of time with Saibir, I represented Sikh students of North West Frontier Province at the annual session of the All India Sikh students Federation held in Amritsar, 1 was accompanied by three other delegates from my province, They included Sardar Harbans Singh (deceased), Sardar Gurbachan Singh, Capt. Manmohan Singh who later became known for being the first Indian who conquered the mount Everest. Both, Satbir and 1 spoke at that session and our theme was to promote ways to bring Sikh youth and Sikh intelligentsia into active community roles. We were concerned that all of the Sikh leaders of the time were aging and would leave us one day. A cadre of Sikh students must be prepared to replace their leaders when such an opportunity would arise. Both of us spent considerable time together to prepare our speeches. Sardar Saroop Singh shared his views with us before finalizing his presidential address. The audience applauded his speech when Satbir called upon the Sikh leaders to get the Sikh Raj returned to the Sikhs from British Government before they quit India. He emphasized that it was the responsibility of the Sikh leaders and Sikh elders. It was they who handed over the Sikh kingdom to the British Empire, It was their obligation to ask for its return before the British quit India, Master Tara Singh who was also sitting O11 that stage responded with affirmative nod to Stair’s call. This was highly applauded by the audience with Jaikaras.
Sardar Satbir Singh was born in Jehlum; His father’s name was Sardar Harnam Singh who was a timber merchant. His mother’s name was Bibi Ranjit Kaur. SARDAR Hammam Singh was fond of books on Sikhism and had accumulated a large number of books in his library. This provided a scholarly environment for him at an early age in his own home; His parents were deeply religious people. As ‘a young man, Principal Satbir Singh had the opportunity to spend time with Sikh leaders such as SARDAR Ishar Singh Majhail and Master Tara Singh who were close family friends. However, Satbir spent most of his time in the company of the AISSF leadership.
When Principal Satbir Singh was a student in college, he began to actively participate in Sikh polities and particularly the Akali movement, When the Punjab Government began to issue warrants for arrest for the Akali workers many of the Sikh students had to go underground, Thus they were able to take the responsibility of guiding the movement from underground when Akali leaders were placed behind bars. That was the time when most of the responsibility of leadership fell upon the leaders of AISSF as the Akali leaders were kept behind bars. An Akali was not even allowed to edit tie only Sikh newspaper in. Punjab, Dr. Jaswant Singh Neki who was Vice-president of AISSF had to take over the editorship of daily Ajit from Amritsar, Asa part of that movement, warrants were 1S sued for the arrest of Satbir Singh. He had to go underground, It did interfere in his studies, but also had given him a chance to study Sikh history. And scriptures, during that Peond, both of us toured U.P. extensively to expand AISSF in the schools and colleges outside of Punjab. As 4 result, cities like Kanpur, Lucknow and Agra became active centers for the AISSF activities. Somehow, arrest. warrants in Punjab did not affect us in U.P. Because he was not allowed to enter Punjab, after finishing his B.A. degree, Satbir joined M.A. classes at Kanpur where his brothers had flourishing business. He finished his M.A. in history from Agra and became # Lecturer at Lyallpur Khalsa College Jullundur in 1953.
Principal Satbir Singh also studied at Khalsa College, Amritsar, where he was entwined in religious education and interpretation of Gurbani. He came under the influence of well-known theologians and scholars namely, Prof. Sahib Singh, Principal Jodh Singh, and Prof, Ganda Singh, He began to spend a lot of time with Gurbani so much so that in a few years 10 follow he had learned most of the Guru Granth Sahib by heart.
When he joined Lyalipur Khalsa College at Jullundur as a lecturer, Satbir did a remarkable job in nourishing the Federation in that institution and in inculcating the love for Gurbani and Sikh traditions among the Sikh youth in Punjab. For several years he remained a critical force behind the training camps of AISSF. He was elected president of AISSF on January 13, 1954 at the fifth Annual Session held at Ludhiana. He asked me to join the central executive committee of AISSF as its Vice President, which was an honor that I gladly accepted. He wanted to groom me for higher responsibility after the expiration his tenure. He served the Federation in that capacity until November 31, 1954, when I was elected the President of AISSF. He was one of those who proposed my name for that responsibility.
Satbir Singh and cl the Punjabi Suba movement. He was the some other arrested along with ‘other federationists including Sardar Bhai July 4, 1955, and remained in Ferozepur jail for about two and a while in the jail, he half month. While in the jail he organized religious gatherings and Gurbani study classes for all those arrested. His emphasis has been to building personal and national character based on Gurmat, philosophy. He has been a member of SGPC since 1959 where he was originally appointed as a member of SGPC from U.P. by Master Tara Singh. At SGPC he is known for his central role in planning of the centennial celebrations, activating dharam Parchar committee and providing close counsel to the SGPC president, Sardar Gurcharan Singh Tohra. He has also been a guiding brain behind the publication works) ‘of the Punjab & Sikh Bank, This wag, a gigantic project undertaken by Dr, Inderjit Singh of the Punjab & Sindh, Bank to reproduce Sikh Art and pub, lish the Sikh history and religious. themes in art form. Partap Singh Kairon, then chief minister of Punjab, did not like Principal Satbir Singh’s participation in the Punjabi Suba Struggle. He wrote to the college management and asked them to give Sardar Satbir Singh two options: cither to apologize for his past conduct or leave the collogue. If they failed 10 do so, he threatened 10 cancel the grant that was given to the college by the government. Sardar Satbir Singh refused to apologize and preferred to be terminated. After this incident, he went to Kanpur and did some business. Then professor Sahib Singh wrote him a letter and Urged him to resume his research in Gurmat. He returned from Kanpur to become the Principal in Khalsa College, Yamuna agar, and later on, to become the Director of Gurmat College, Patiala, He resigned that position to spend all of his time in writing. During the eighties he had to leave his property and home from Yamuna nagger and move to Patiala for his activities, He was often invited to visit outside India for Gurbani missions. His visit to USA in 1981 was a Successful visit. Later he wanted to return and spend time at Sikh centers in the Far East However, Buta Singh, a powerful Congress minister, used his influence to prevent Satbir from going abroad. For instance, he was invited to lay the foundation stone of the gurdwara building in Bangkok, but Satbir was not issued a passport.
A full impact of Sardar Satbir Singh Contribution to the Sikh Literature will be felt for years to come. He was a great scholar and a prolific writer of his time. There is no Sikh journal or other periodic publication that is devoid of a paper by Sardar Satbir Singh. He was a regular contributor to journals like Gurmat Parkash and Sach Khand Patrika., From his very high school days, he set out to rewrite the Sikh history and Sikh theology in the light of changing time and needs, During our casual meetings this topic came up again and again, It was felt that unless appropriate literature was available the coming generation would not be proud of their rich heritage. It was also felt that the educated class among Sikhs Was going astray running after their worldly ambitions and not enough attention was paid to producing Sikh literature, He was very eager that I join him in undertaking gigantic writing projects. However, like everyone else, I remained too busy in my own profession and did not attend to his advice, In the past few years ho had again urged me to undertake extensive writing and, in response, | gave him my promise to begin writing on Gurmat topics only a few months ago, May Waheguru bless his soul for inspiring $0 many towards the path of the Gurus.
Satbir has written more than 22 books ‘on Sikhism in Punjabi. Some of them are: Sau Sawal (recently translated into English by Jasbir Singh) Sada It has (2 parts) Balio Charag Puri Hoi Karamaat Kudrati Noor Khalse Di Vaasi Ashtam Balbira Partakh Hari Purkh Bhagwant Rashia Rekat Sidhant Te Shatabdian Rabab to(n) Nagara For the past several years, he has been spending his entire time in writing. He wrote a book on every Sikh Guru. Many of his books yet are not published and may be published posthumously. More recently he was working on contribution of the Sehajdhari Sikh saints of post Guru Time in propagating Gurmat For example; he was tracing the history of the followers of Bhai Kanyah who ‘were very active in establishing Sikh Sangats at various places. One of his ambition was to see the history of AISSF write, His writings illustrate that he had acquired deep knowledge of Sikh history and Gurmat philosophy. Dissemination of Gurmat philosophic was his sincere commitment to the Khalsa Panth and remained committed to this till his last breath.
His contribution in interpreting Guru Granth Sahib is very significant; He wrote “Saar Visthar” of Guru Granth Sahib (short description of Guru Granth Sahib) in four volumes, In addition, he has written detailed interpretation of Guru Granth Sahib in 14 volumes.
Satbir Singh’s books provide a new glimpse at the Sikh history and the lives of Guru Sahiban and ancient Sikhs, His style of writing is simply marvelous, and He essentially rewrote in more modern and contemporary language many classical books on Sikh history. His writings were greatly appreciated by the community. When “Poori Hoi Karamat” (biography of GuruRam DassJi) was published and released on October 19, 1981, all major newspapers in Punjab (and outside Punjab) such as Daily Ajit, Akali Patrika, Tribune (English), Indian Express, Charhdi Kala Marg, etc., devoted special editions to honor the publication. Siropas (Sikh robe of honor) were bestowed upon Principal Satbir Singh by the Jathedar of Akal Takhat, Jathedar Gurdial Singh Ajnoha and SGPC. Principal Satbir Singh’s loss is a big loss to the entire Khalsa Panth, Sardar Satbir Singh was an institution within himself and all of us will miss him a great deal. Dr. Harbans Singh Lal is Professor and Chairman, Department of Pharmacology, University of North Texas Health Science Contract Fort Worth, Texas. The author is thankful to Sardar Tarlochan Singh of San Jose for providing much of the material at a very short notice.
Article extracted from this publication >> September 16, 1994
