ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>AVT&#256R SI&#7748GH VAH&#298R&#298&#256</TITLE> <style type="text/css"> .BODY { background-color: #EAF1F7; background-image: url('images/gtbh.jpg'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; background-position: center; color: #0066CC;} .C1{text-align: justify;color: #0066CC;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .BIB{text-align: center;color: #000099;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .CONT{text-align: right;color: #FF0000;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} </style><META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="AVTR,SIDGH,VAH*R*"> <META http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></HEAD> <BODY class="BODY" oncontextmenu="return false" ondragstart="return false" onselectstart="return false"> <FONT ALIGN="JUSTIFY" FACE="Tahoma"> <p class="C1">&#65279AVT&#256R SI&#7748GH VAH&#298R&#298&#256, polemicist and scholar of Sikh texts, was born on 12 June 1848 at Thoh&#257 <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257, a village in R&#257walpi&#7751&#7693&#299 district, now in Pakistan. As a small boy, he learnt to recite the Sikh psalms from his mother and maternal uncle, Prem Si&#7749gh. After he had learnt Gurmukh&#299 in his own village, he went to school in R&#257walpi&#7751&#7693&#299. At the age of eight years, he took <i>p&#257hul</i> at the hands of B&#257b&#257 Khem Si&#7749gh Bed&#299. B&#257b&#257 Khem Si&#7749gh was to become the focus of his adult life and, in 1869, he took him as his mentor and dedicated his career to him. He shifted his business to R&#257walpi&#7751&#7693&#299 to be close to his spiritual guide. When a Si&#7749gh Sabh&#257 was formed at R&#257walpi&#7751&#7693&#299 in the early 1880's, Avt&#257r Si&#7749gh was among the first to join it. In 1883, there was a proposal sponsored by B&#257b&#257 Khem Si&#7749gh Bed&#299 in the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 D&#299w&#257n, Amritsar, that Si&#7749gh Sabh&#257s be called Sikh Si&#7749gh Sabh&#257s so that Sahajdh&#257r&#299 Sikhs could also be enlisted as members. The proposal met with opposition in the D&#299w&#257n, but was readily accepted by the R&#257walpi&#7751&#7693&#299 Si&#7749gh Sabh&#257. Avt&#257r Si&#7749gh became assistant secretary, and later secretary of this Sabh&#257. Serious dissensions had cropped up in the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 D&#299w&#257n over the question of giving a special pontifical status to B&#257b&#257 Khem Si&#7749gh Bed&#299. A monthly magazine, <i>Sr&#299 Gurmat Prak&#257shak</i>, was launched from R&#257walpi&#7751&#7693&#299 in Bais&#257kh 1942 Bk/April-May 1885 by the partisans of B&#257b&#257 Khem Si&#7749gh. Avt&#257r Si&#7749gh was its manager-cum-editor. The opponents led by Bh&#257&#299 Gurmukh Si&#7749gh, chief secretary of the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 D&#299w&#257n, Amritsar, set up a separate <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 D&#299w&#257n at Lahore on 10-11 April 1886. At Amritsar Bh&#257&#299 Ga&#7751esh&#257 Si&#7749gh became the chief secretary in place of Bh&#257&#299 Gurmukh Si&#7749gh. He was assisted by Avt&#257r Si&#7749gh, who along with his journal<i>Sr&#299 Gurmat Prak&#257shak</i>shifted to Amritsar. The magazine was made a fortnightly in April 1887. Avt&#257r Si&#7749gh drafted the new constitution for the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 D&#299w&#257n, Amritsar, which was approved on the D&#299v&#257l&#299 day of 1887. His views on Sikh rites and ceremonies were too conservative even for the traditionalist <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 D&#299w&#257n of Amritsar, and he had serious differences with its new chief secretary, Gi&#257n&#299 Sard&#363l Si&#7749gh. Avt&#257r Si&#7749gh and his supporters formed a separate association called Anin Sikh&#299 d&#299 Sa&#7749gat Bh&#257&#299ch&#257r&#257, parallel to Sard&#363l Si&#7749gh's <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 Sat Sa&#7749gat Sabh&#257. In 1894, Avt&#257r Si&#7749gh Vah&#299r&#299&#257 brought out <i><u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 Dharam &#346&#257stra: Sa&#7749sk&#257r Bh&#257g</i>. To secure the approval of the <i>takhts, gurdw&#257r&#257s</i> and of the leaders of the Panth, the work was subsequently enlarged and published in 1914 under the patronage of &#7788ikk&#257 S&#257hib So&#7693h&#299 R&#257m Nar&#257in Si&#7749gh J&#299, as <i><u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 Dharam &#346&#257stra</i>, with a sub-title in English, <i>Sikhs' Religious National Law</i>.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;In 1898, Avt&#257r Si&#7749gh formed Chald&#257 Vah&#299r, a moving band of preachers, to tour villages and towns exhorting Sikhs to preserve the prevalent religious ceremonial and not to be 'misled' by the 'new-fangled' ideas of the Si&#7749gh Sabh&#257. The Vah&#299r which earned him the epithet Vah&#299r&#299&#257, leader of the marching column, lasted for two years. Thereafter Avt&#257r Si&#7749gh returned to preaching his ideas through the printed word and produced his 8 volume <i><u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 Sudh&#257r Tar&#363</i> (the Tree of Sikh Reformation) and a series of other books and pamphlets. The death of B&#257b&#257 Khem Si&#7749gh Bed&#299, on 10 April 1905, deprived him of his principal patron. It was a personal calamity for him as well as a loss to the Sikh Panth, which he lamented in the <i>Shok Pattar</i>, or statement of grief, published in 1905. He shifted his residence back to R&#257walpi&#7751&#7693&#299 and spent the rest of his days in comparative oblivion. But he kept up with his writing. His <i>Gur Darshan &#346&#257stra</i>, a work interpreting the teachings of the Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib according to his own conservative views, was published in 1916.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Jagj&#299t Si&#7749gh, <i>Si&#7749gh Sabh&#257 Lahir 1873-1902</i>. Lahore, 1974<BR> <li class="C1"> Dhillon, Gurdarshan Si&#7749gh, "Character and Impact of the Si&#7749gh Sabha Movement on the History of the Punjab, " unpublished Ph. D. thesis.<BR> <li class="C1"> Nripinder Si&#7749gh, <i>The Sikh Moral Tradition. </i> Delhi, 1990<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Jagj&#299t Si&#7749gh <br></p><BR> </font> <img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""> </HTML></BODY>