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Sketch of Bhagat Puran Singh

Bhai Puran Singh was born at Rajewal, in district Ludhiana, Punjab, India on June 4, 1904 to mother, Mehtab Kaur and father, Chaudhari Chibu Mal, who was from the Hindu faith. During childhood, Bhai ji was a Hindu and his original name was Ramji Das. He started his education at Khanna, Punjab and then later joined Lahore's Khalsa High School. He used to perform "sewa" in Gurdwara Dera Sahib and Gurdwara Shahid Ganj of Lahore where he would help with cleaning, cooking and serving food; he also tended to the aged, infirm and sick who came to the Gurdwaras to pay their respect to Guru Granth Sahib.

In an interview with Bhai Patwant Singh, Bhagat Puran Singh discloses how he became a Sikh. In his early life he use to travel a lot from village to village and would stay overnight at Hindu Temple. One day when he was staying at one such temple, the Brahmins told him to clean the temple and then when he was done that, they sat in front of him and started eating food without offering him anything. The next time, he had to stay at a Gurdwara and the Gurdwara's Bhai ji ("priest") not only gave him food but also a cot and a glass of milk afterwards and all without asking for any sewa (service) for the Gurdwara. Bahi Sahib ji wrote: "Every night 25-30 travellers would come to the Gurdwara to stay; they were all served food from the common kitchen. This culture of the Gurdwaras deeply affected me". Following this incident, Bhagat Puran Singh decided to take Khanda-da-Amrit and became a Khalsa in 1923. Read more .....