Harbans Singh

Harbans Singh (March 6, 1921 – May 30, 1998) was an educationist, administrator, scholar and the editor-in-chief of the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism. He was respected for his contributions to Sikh scholarship and Punjabi literary studies and had a vital and pervasive influence in the field of religious studies, with special reference to Sikhism.

Harbans Singh was born on 6 March 1921 in the village of Kotha Guru in the Bathinda district of the Punjab. His mother, Roop Kaur, belonged to the Sodhi family and traced her ancestry to the Hari Singh Nalwa clan. She deeply influenced his religious sensibilities. He received his schooling at Khalsa Secondary School at Muktsar. Thereafter, much to the disappointment of his parents, he refused to attend Medical School, and joined the Khalsa College in Amritsar, where he became President of the Khalsa College Students Association, Editor of the Darbar, and President of the Khalsa College Hockey Club. He received both his undergraduate and graduate degrees from this premier Sikh institute. The College authorities were so familiar with his academic potential that they offered him his first academic position even before his exam results were out. Harbans Singh started his career as a lecturer of English at the Khalsa College in Amritsar in 1943. His daughter, Nikky-Guninder Kaur Singh, is Crawford Professor of Religious Studies at Colby College in Maine, USA.

In 1944 he joined the Brijindra College at Faridkot as head of the department of English. Soon thereafter the Maharaja of Faridkot took him on lien from the Punjab State Education department. He wrote his first book on the history of the State of Faridkot depicting its rulers’ sponsorship and enshrinement of Sikh traditions. During that initial phase he also wrote a history of the Sikh rule under Maharaja Ranjit Singh – the first major book on the Maharaja and his times by a scholar other than the European travelers and political observers. In 1958 he rejoined his position with the Punjab State Education Department and became Principal of Government College, Muktsar. During his tenure he wrote his book on Aspects of Punjabi Literature.

In 1960 he became the Member-Secretary of the Punjabi University Commission with Maharaja Yadvindra Singh of Patiala as the President. The Commission was instrumental for creating the Punjabi University to advance Punjabi language, literature, and culture. The Hebrew University in Israel is the only other University founded on language. Though extremely busy with the administrative demands of the growing University, he kept up with his scholarship, writing important books, including Guru Gobind Singh (which was translated into 14 Indian languages) and The Heritage of the Sikhs (one of the most popular of his titles, which went to several editions with significant additions and revisions). In 1964 he was invited by the United States Government to study the administrative functioning and educational system of universities in the US. He compiled his impressions of this visit in the form of a book Higher Education in America (1966), which has been appreciated for its informative and educative value and its insights on continuing education – this last became the cornerstone of the Evening Studies program at the Punjabi University.

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