Sant Jawala Singh, Scholar, Author and Theologian: Difference between revisions

Sant Jawala Singh

JAWALA SINGH, SANT (18781938), a pious and learned SIKH who also worked as a royal tutor for a time, was born at the village of DhamTari Kalari, in Hoshiarpur district of the Punjab, on 26 October 1878. He learnt to read Gurmukht and the Sikh Scripture at the hands of an Udasi priest, GianT Prem Das, and continued further religious study under different scholars and theologians, including Sant Khaan Singh Virakat of Sukkho in Rawalpindi district (now in Pakistan). The death register of the Municipal Committee of PATIALA where he died shows him, in the parentage column, as chela or disciple of Sant Gulab Singh. Such was Sant Jawala Singh`s reputation as a scholar that he was in 1905 appointed to instruct Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala (1891-1938), then a young prince of 14, in Sikh texts and doctrine. Brought up in the austere way of a Nirmala sadhu, Sant Jawala Singh now adopted the attire of a courtier, though he remained at heart a deeply religious person. Collection of rare articles became one of his hobbies. He also wrote humorous verse in Braj. However, none of his writings has survived, except a sixpage Siharfi Veddnt Svarup Bodhm, published in 1892. It is an acrostic in PUNJABI, in baint metre, based on letters of the Persian alphabet. Sant Jawala Singh died at Patiala on 24 March 1938 in a stampede occurring in the funeral procession of Iris own pupil, Maharaja Bhupinder Singh. BIBLIOGRAPHY Ganesha Singh, Mahant, Nirmal Bliushcin nrthdl Itihfis Nirmal Jihfkh. Aniritsar, n.d. Gs.S.

JAWALA SINGH, SANT (18891957). widely revered for his piety especially among SIKHS in total Doaba region of the Punjab, was born on 1 May 1889 at Lagari, a village in Hoshiarpur district. His parents, Narain Singh and Raj Kaur, were known as highly religious persons. Jawala Singh was there twin son. He received instruction at the village primary school and at the gurudwara. Tall and of athletic built, he joined the army on 5 January 1907 as a soldier in the 35th Sikh Battalion. It was during his service at Rawalpindi that lie came in contact with Sant Aiya Singh, spiritual successor to saint Sant Karam Singh of Hoti mardan, a village near Mardan cantonment in the NorthWest Frontier Province. He formally became disciple of Sant Aiya Singh on 5 March 1911. Jawala Singh saw action in France during World War I, but resigned from the army on 1 January 1917 and Joined the derd at Hot! to devote himself to a life of contemplation and service. At the persuasion of Sant Harnam Singh of his native Hoshiarpur district and with the permission of his religious mentor, Sant Aiya Singh, Jawala Singh returned home to the Doaba in December 1918 and settled in a lonely place between the villages of Harkhowal and Pandori Bibi, about 11 km southwcst of Hoshiarpur. Santgarh, the name by which his dera came to be known, attracted Sikhs in increasingly large numbers. They came drawn by Sant Jawala Singh`s pious manner and by the simplicity and lucidity of his religious discourses. Thousands received the rites of KHALSA initiation at his hands, among them being Maharaja Yadavinder Singh, ruler of Patiala state. Sant Javala Singh supported the Akali and Babar AKALI movements and set himself staunchly against the heresy preached by the Parich Khalsa Diwan of Bhasaur. At his initiative several girders were raised or rebuilt at Sikh holy places, such as ANANDPUR, PATNA and Talvandi Sabo. Sant Jawala Singh died at Domc 1I, a village in Kapurthala district of the Punjab, on 13 November 1957.