Works
Vir Singh began taking an active interest in the affairs of the Singh Sabha Movement. To promote its aims and objects, he launched the Khalsa Tract Society in 1894. The tracts produced by the Khalsa Tract Society introduced a new style of literary Punjabi.The Khalsa Tract Society periodically made available under the title Nirguniara, lowcost publications on Sikh theology, history and philosophy and on social and religious reform. Through this journal, Vir Singh established contact with an ever-expanding circle of readers. He used the Nirguniara as a vehicle for his own self expression. Some of his major creative works such as Sri Guru Nanak Chamatkar and Sri Guru Kalgidhar Chamatkar, were originally serialized in its columns.
In literature, Vir Singh started as a writer of romances which are considered forerunners of the Punjabi novel. His writings in this genre - Sundari (1898), Bijay Singh (1899), Satwant Kaur (published in two parts, I in 1900 and II in 1927), were aimed at recreating the heroic period (eighteenth century) of Sikh history. Through these novels he made available to his readers, models of courage, fortitude and human dignity.
The novel Subhagji da Sudhar Hathin Baba Naudh Singh, popularly known as Baba Naudh Singh (serialized in Nirguniara from 1907 onwards and published in book form in 1921) shares with the epic Rana Surat Singh (which he had started serializing in 1905), Vir Singh's interest in the theme of a widow's desperate urge for a reunion with her dead husband.
Soon after the publication of Rana Surat Singh in book form in 1919, he turned to shorter poems and Lyrics. These included Dil Tarang (1920), Tarel Tupke (1921), Lahiran de Har (1921), Matak Hulare (1922), Bijlian de Har (1927) and Mere Salan Jio (1953). Through these works, he paved the way for the emergence of the Punjabi poem.
In November 1899, he started a Punjabi weekly, the Khalsa Samachar. He revised and enlarged Giani Hazara Singh's dictionary, Sri Guru Granth Kosh, originally published in 1898. The revised version was published in 1927. He published critical editions of some of the old Sikh texts such as Sikhan di Bhagat Mala (1912), Prachin Panth Prakash (1914), Puratan Janam Sakhi (1926) and Sakhi Pothi (1950).
An important work was Vir Singh's annotation of Santokh Singh's Sri Gur Pratap Suraj Granth, published from 1927 to 1935 in fourteen volumes.
Awards
He was honored with the Sahitya Academy Award in 1955 and the Padam Bhushan Award in 1956Demise
Vir Singh died in Amristar on June 10, 1957. The portion of his commentary on the Adi Granth - nearly one half of the Holy Book - he had completed was published posthumously in seven large volumes.Books by Bhai Veer Singh- You can click on the following links to buy books from
http://www.jsks.co.in/Bhaivirsingh.htm
| Books by Bhai Vir Singh |
