Bhai Charan Singh Diriga

Bhai Charan Singh (d. 1921), one of the Nankana Sahib martyrs, was the son of Bhai Gokal Singh and Mai Lachhman Kaur of Diriga village, in Gujrat district. He lost his mother during infancy. His old grandmother looked after him for about five years and was then sent to live with his maternal aunt in a village in Lyallpur district where a childless neighbour Bhai Piara Singh adopted him as his son. He took the vows of the Khalsa at the age of 15. He adopted tattooing as a profession. On 18 February 1921, when he learnt that his adoptive father, Piara Singh, had left home to participate in the liberation of gurdwaras at Nankana Sahib, Charan Singh, too, took a train and joined the Lyallpur jatha at Sangia Hill railway junction. The Jatha was attacked and massacred upon reaching Gurdwara Janam Asthan at Nankana Sahib on the morning of 20 February 1921.

References

1. Shamsher, Gurbakhsh Singh, ShahidiJivan. Nankana Sahib, 1938