Wikipedia

Kavi Santokh Singh

Kavi Santokh Singh (8 October 1787 – 19 October 1843/1844) was a Sikh historian, poet and writer.[2][3] He was such a prolific writer that the Sikh Reference Library at Darbar Sahib Amritsar was named after him, located within the Mahakavi Santokh Singh Hall.[4] In addition to "Great Poet" (Mahākavī) Santokh Singh was also referred to as the Ferdowsi of Punjabi literature, Ferdowsi wrote ~50,000 verses while Santokh Singh's Suraj Prakash totals ~52,000. [5] Other scholars have thought of Santokh Singh as akin to Vyasa.[6] Gottlieb Wilhelm Leitner in 1883 wrote that, "Santokh Singh of Kantal in the Karnal District, has rendered his name immortal" through the production of his works.[7]

Kavi Bhai
Santokh Singh
Ji Churamani[1]
Miniature painting of Kavi Santokh Singh seated on a terrace that was held by his descendants, circa 19th century
Born8 October 1787
Sarai Nurdin, Punjab (modern-day Kila Kavi Santokh Singh, Tarn Taran district, Punjab, India)
Died19 October 1843/1844
Known forSikh historian, literati and poet
SpouseRam Kaur
Parents
  • Deva Singh (father)
  • Mai Rajadi (mother)
AwardsVillage of Morthali (land grant gifted by the ruler of Kaithal state)

Biography

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Early life

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Santokh Singh was born into a poor yet educated family of cloth-printers on 8 October 1787 in Nurdin village (also known as Sarai Nurdin) near Tarn Taran to the northwest.[2] His father was Deva Singh of the Karir subcaste of the Chhimba caste, and his mother was Mai Rajadi.[2][8] He had an elder brother named Gurmukh Singh.[8] He was associated with the Nirmala sect.[9] His father, Deva Singh, had been well-educated in Gurbani and Vedantic philosophy.[8] In his earliest years, his father was his mentor.[8] After that, he was educated by his uncle, Ram Singh, at Amritsar.[8] Thereafter, he was instructed by the famous Giani Sant Singh in Amritsar after an encounter with the aforementioned.[8] Until the end of the first decade of the 19th century, he had the personal bunga of his teacher, Giani Sant Singh, as his place of residence.[8] He had a strong educational basis in Sanskrit but his command of Persian was lacking.[8]

Association

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According to Pashaura Singh (2003) Santokh Singh is regarded as the first recognized scholar of the Nirmala sect of Sikhism, Pashaura doubts the Nirmala school was in existence during Guru Gobind Singh's reign.[10] This label however requires scrutiny, at no point in any of his writings does Santokh Singh claim himself to be a Nirmala, nor does he even ever mention Nirmalas.[11] Vir Singh (writer) also never associates Santokh Singh with Nirmalas.[12] Rather, because of Santokh Singh's instruction from Giani Sant Singh, his association can be seen to fall under the Giānīan Bungā, a learning institution beginning from Bhai Mani Singh.[13] Giani Sant Singh (1768-1832), the head Giani of Amritsar, was a renowned scholars both inside and outside of Sikh circles.[14] Throughout all of Santokh Singh's works he includes invocations (Mangalacharana) directed at his teacher, Giani Sant Singh.[15]

Later life

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He married Ram Kaur from Jagadhari, who belonged to the Rohilla subcaste, in 1821.[8] After his time spent in Amritsar, he found employment as a katha (religious discourse) performer in the court of the chief of Dyalgarh, Bhagwant Singh, at the Buria estate, where he remained until 1823.[8] In 1829, he came under the sponsorship of the ruler of Kaithal State, Udai Singh.[8] After being impressed by his work, the ruler bestowed a jagir grant, of the village of Morthali, to the author in 1834.[8] He died on 19 October 1843 or 1844, shortly after completing his final work of literature, the Suraj Prakash, which he had presented to the Sikh clergy at the Akal Bunga in Amritsar after completion.[2][8]

Scholarly accomplishments

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Detail of a restored folio of a Sakhi Pothi (anecdote manuscript) attributed to Kavi Santokh Singh

He expounded the Sikh scriptures based on Vedantic and Brahminical understandings.[10] He wrote the Garab Ganjani Teeka to counter the interpretation of Guru Nanak's Japji Sahib composition by the Udasi scholar Anandghan.[10][16] His magnum opus was the Suraj Prakash, completed in 1843, a volumous poetic text which documents in-detail the lives of all the Sikh gurus in fourteen volumes, intended as a sequel to his earlier work, Nanak Parkash.[17] He was the first scholar to elaborate on the Dusht Daman incarnation of Guru Gobind Singh in a previous lifetime, connected to Hemkunt, a tale narrated by the guru in his Bachittar Natak composition.[18]

Assessment and legacy

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Photograph of Haveli Kavi Santokh Singh in Kaithal, taken by Vir Singh, ca.1920's. Re-discovered by Vir Singh, this haveli is where Santokh Singh wrote his Suraj Prakash.

Later Sikh scholars, such as Vir Singh, mention that Santokh Singh's works become the foundation for historical texts written in the late 19th and 20th centuries.[19] Vir Singh (writer) himself would reference and summarize Santokh Singh's work in his own works.[18] Louis Fenech writes:

"Santokh Singh’s massive Gur-Pratap Sūraj Granth, a text that still enjoys great currency among Sikh kathākars despite the fact that it has not been mined to the extent that it deserves by historians of Sikh tradition."[20]

Bhai Vir Singh's respect and admiration for Santokh Singh can be seen throughout his publication, within the introduction of the text or in the footnotes.[21] One example includes context clarifying that Santokh Singh's devotional focus:

“His writings were filled with such praise, faith and devotion to the Guru, in front of which no further proof is required that the Exalted Poet was a fully imbued Gursikh, an esteemed Sikh, and a Gurmukh who was drenched in the love of the Guru.”[22]

Professor Ashanand Vohra, Member of Punjabi Board of Studies, Kurukshetra university, who Santokh Singh's Garab Ganjani Teeka (1829), comparing it with other Sanskrit and Brajbhasha alaṃkāraśāstras, writes:

"The Great Poet Bhai Santokh Singh Ji, the emperor of poetry on the Gurus, the crown jewel of the world's community of poets - as a result of his stand alone poetic practice & Ganges like flow of wisdom, his name will forever remain written in Indian Literature with golden letters."[23]

Harjot Oberoi writes that Santokh Singh's Suraj Prakash "to this day is consulted by Sikh public and religious officiants for an explication of Sikh tenets and the life-stories of the gurus".[24] Karam Singh was highly critical of Kavi Santokh Singh's works, specifically accusing him at taking sources at face value without questioning their historicity and veracity, such as in the case of the Bhai Bala janamsakhi tradition.[25]

Bibliography

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  1. Naam Kosh (1819) - a translation of the Sanskrit dictionary, Amar Kosa, into Braj[8]
  2. Garab Ganjani Teeka (1829) - a translation of the Japji Sahib written in the Sadhukari-language[10]
  3. Balmiki Ramyan (1834) - a translation of the Valmiki Ramayana into the Braj-language[8][26]
  4. Atam Purayan Teeka - a commentary on the Atam Puran of Vedantic philosophy (not extant)[8]
  5. Sri Guru Nanak Parkash (popularly known simply as the Nanak Prakash; 1823) - hagiographic text about Guru Nanak based on the Bhai Bala janamsakhi tradition[27][10][17]
  6. Sri Gur Partap Suraj Granth (popularly known simply as the Suraj Prakash; 1843) - hagiographic text about all the Sikh Gurus in Braj[10][28][17]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Gupta, Hari Ram (1973). History of Sikh Gurus. U. C. Kapur. p. 185.
  2. ^ a b c d Singh, Harbans (1992–1998). The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism. Vol. 4, S–Z. Patiala: Punjabi University, Patiala. pp. 51–52. ISBN 0-8364-2883-8. OCLC 29703420.
  3. ^ Objects of Worship in South Asian Religions: Forms, Practices and Meanings. Volume 13 of Routledge studies in Asian religion and philosophy. Knut A. Jacobsen, Mikael Aktor, Kristina Myrvold. Oxfordshire, England: Routledge. 2014. ISBN 978-1-315-77162-5. OCLC 891384284. In his Japji Sahib commentary, the nineteenth-century hagiographer Kavi Santokh Singh invokes the sword of Guru Gobind Singh alongside the one god and ten gurus.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  4. ^ ":::Welcome to Special Public Libraries | Amritsar:::".
  5. ^ Gursevak Amritsar Magazine, 1935 May, 15th Edition.
  6. ^ Maha Kavi Bhai Santokh Singh (A Collection of Seminar Papers), Professor Harmeet Singh, 1991, page 94.
  7. ^ G. W. Leitner, History of Indigenous Education in Punjab. (Patiala: Languages Department Punjab, 1971). Page 30
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Sagar, Sabinderjit Singh (1993). "1. Bhai Santokh Singh and His Times". Historical Analysis of Nanak Prakash by Bhai Santokh Singh. Vol. 61 (1st ed.). Amritsar, India: Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar. pp. 10–20. doi:10.1017/S0041977X00016165.
  9. ^ Malhotra, Anshu; Murphy, Anne (2023). Bhai Vir Singh (1872–1957): Religious and Literary Modernities in Colonial and Post-Colonial Indian Punjab. Routledge Critical Sikh Studies. Abingdon, Oxon: Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-032-26778-4. OCLC 1365386108. Despite certain differences with the Udasi sect, Nirmala scholars of the early to mid-nineteenth century such as Kavi Santokh Singh, Pandit Tara Singh Narotam, Giani Gian Singh, and Gulab Singh were equally inclined toward Vedantic interpretations of gurbani maintaining that gurbani was essentially an expression of ancient Vedic teachings in the current vernacular (Taran Singh 1980).
  10. ^ a b c d e f Singh, Pashaura (2003). "5. Nirmala Pranali". The Guru Granth Sahib: Canon, Meaning and Authority. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199087730. The origin of the Nirmala sect within the Panth is obscure, although there is some evidence that it existed during the Misal period in the late eighteenth century. There is no evidence to support the traditional claim that Guru Gobind Singh himself deputed five Sikhs to Kashi for Sanskritic learning. The first recognized Nirmala scholar was Kavi Santokh Singh, who wrote the celebrated works Nanak Prakash and Suraj Prakash in the first half of the nineteenth century. He also wrote a commentary on Japji, popularly known as Garbganjani Tika, 'A Commentary to Humble the Pride [of Udasi Anandghan].' Santokh Singh took strong exception to Anandghan's interpretation that Guru Nanak acknowledged six Gurus in a line from Japji. He was also strongly critical of the esoteric interpretation of gurbani presented in the Udasi work. It appears that the scriptural interpretation was one focus of conflict among various sects within the Panth in the nineteenth century. Like Udasis, however, the Nirmala scholars were equally inclined towards Vedantic interpretations of gurbani. They maintained that gurbani was essentially an expression of the Vedic teachings in the current vernacular language (bhakha). In his commentary on Japji, for instance, Santokh Singh frequently employed the Puranic myths and examples from the Vedas to make a point. Basically, he interpreted certain key Sikh doctrines from a brahminical perspective.
  11. ^ Gurbāṇī Dīān Viākhiā Praṇālīān, Taaran Singh, Panjabi University Patiala, 1997. Page 121
  12. ^ Vir Singh, Srī Gur Pratāp Sūraj Granth Jilad Pahilī: Srī Gur Pratāp Sūraj Granthāvalī Dī Prastāvanā. (Chandigarh: Bhasha Vibhaag, 1989).
  13. ^ S.S. Padam, Sikhān Dī Bhagatmālā. (Amritsar: Singh Brothers, 2013). Page 61
  14. ^ Philip Lutgendorf, The Life of a Text: Performing the Ramcaritmanas of Tulsidas. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991). Velcheru Narayana Rao, David Dean Shulma Page 142
  15. ^ Vir Singh, Srī Gur Pratāp Sūraj Granth Jilad Pahilī: Srī Gur Pratāp Sūraj Granthāvalī Dī Prastāvanā. (Chandigarh: Bhasha Vibhaag, 1989).
  16. ^ Mandair, Arvind (2009). Shared Idioms, Sacred Symbols, and the Articulation of Identities in South Asia. Volume 11 of Routledge Studies in Religion. Vol. 11. Michael Nijhawan, Kelly Pemberton. New York: Routledge. p. 76. ISBN 978-0-203-88536-9. OCLC 1082242146.
  17. ^ a b c Mukherjee, Sujit (1998). A Dictionary of Indian Literature. Vol. 1. Hyderabad: Orient Longman. p. 124. ISBN 81-250-1453-5. OCLC 42718918. Gurupratap Suraj (1843; Panjabi) of Bhai Santokh Singh: a lengthy verse-narrative telling the life-stories of the nine Sikh gurus who came after Nanak Dev. It is a sequel to this poet's earlier work on the first guru's life Sri Guru Nanak Prakash (1823). The language of the work is Brajbhasha, written in Gurmukhi script; consists of 51,829 couplets and took the poet ten years to complete.
  18. ^ a b Gurdwara In The Himalayas - Sri Hemkunt Sahib. M.S. Siali, Suparna Rajguru. Hemkunt Press. 2001. pp. 9–10. ISBN 9788170103080.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  19. ^ Vir Singh, Srī Gur Pratāp Sūraj Granth Jilad Pahilī: Srī Gur Pratāp Sūraj Granthāvalī Dī Prastāvanā. (Chandigarh: Bhasha Vibhaag, 1989).Page 80
  20. ^ Fenech, Louis E. 2021. The Cherished Five in Sikh History. Book, Whole. New York: Oxford University Press. Page 112
  21. ^ Singh, Jvala. 2023. ‘Vir Singh’s Publication of the Gurpratāp Sūraj Granth’. In Bhai Vir Singh (1872-1957) : Religious and Literary Modernities in Colonial and Post-Colonial Indian Punjab. Routledge Critical Sikh Studies. New York: Routledge.
  22. ^ Suraj Prakash, Rut 5, chapter 50, verse 20 footnote.
  23. ^ Vohra, Asha Nanda, and Santokhasiṃha. Japujī dā ālaṅkārika saundaraya : Bhāratī alaṅkāra shāsatra ate “Japujī” ṭīkā “Garaba Gañjanī” te ādhārita wiwecanātamaka adhiaina. 1st ed. Rohataka: Jaina Buka Ḍipo, 1975. Print. Page 288
  24. ^ Oberoi, Harjot. 1994. The Construction of Religious Boundaries: Culture, Identity, and Diversity in the Sikh Tradition. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Page 134
  25. ^ Global Sikhs: Histories, Practices and Identities. Routledge Critical Sikh Studies. Opinderjit Kaur Takhar, Doris R. Jakobsh. Taylor & Francis. 2023. ISBN 978-1-000-84732-1. OCLC 1373813226. Karam Singh was highly critical of Kavi Santokh Singh (1787-1843) and Giani Gian Singh (1822-1921), two prolific writers of Sikh histories. The former, Karam Singh argued had taken the Bala Janamsakhi at face value when he wrote his biography of Guru Nanak and the latter had uncritically accepted mythical narratives when he wrote his master narrative of Sikh history in the late nineteenth century. Both Kavi Santokh Singh and Giani Gian Singh are highly respected figures in Sikh historiography and for Karam Singh to question the veracity of their narratives was unprecedented. But in questioning founding figures, Karam Singh was driving home the point home that all historical knowledge is provisional and can be subjected to critique.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  26. ^ Kavi Santokh Singh. Kavi Santokh Singh - Valmiki Ramayana (1834).
  27. ^ Singh, Bhupender (23 December 2022). Baba Nanak Shah Fakir (1st ed.). Blue Rose Publishers. p. 23. ISBN 9789357046602. 6. Nanak Prakas by Santokh Singh: This work on Guru Nanak, written in AD 1823, is based on the janamsakhi ascribed to Bala Sandhu and suffers from the same disqualifications.
  28. ^ "Panjab Past and Present". Panjab Past and Present. 35 (69–70). Department of Punjab Historical Studies, Punjabi University, Patiala: vii. 2004.
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