Vir Singh (writer)

Bhai Vir Singh
Bhai Vir Singh, the saint poet whose writings ushered in a new era in modern Punjabi literature
Born	(1872-12-05)5 December 1872 Amritsar, Punjab, British India
Died	10 June 1957(1957-06-10) (aged 84) Amritsar, Punjab, India
Occupation	Poet, short-story writer, song composer, novelist, playwright and essayist.
Language	Punjabi
Nationality	Indian
Education	Matriculation
Alma mater	Amritsar Church Mission School Bazar Kaserian,Amritsar
Period	1891
Notable works	Sundari (1898), Bijay Singh (1899), Satwant Kaur,"Rana Surat Singh" (1905)
Notable awards	Sahitya Academy Award in 1955 and the Padma Bhushan (1956)
Spouse	Mata Chatar Kaur
Children	2 daughters
Website
www.bvsss.org

Vir Singh or Veer Singh (5 December 1872 in Amritsar – 10 June 1957 in Amritsar) was a poet, scholar, and theologian of the Sikh revival movement, playing an important part in the renewal of Punjabi literary tradition. Singh’s contributions were so important and influential that he became canonized as Bhai, an honorific often given to those whom could be considered a saint of the Sikh faith.

Born in 1872, in Amritsar, Bhai Veer Singh was the eldest of Dr. Charan Singh's three sons. Vir Singh’s family could trace its ancestry as far back as to Diwan Kaura Mal, a vice-governor (Maharaja Bahadur) of the city Multan. His grandfather, Kahn Singh (1788-1878), spent a great deal of his youth training and learning traditional Sikh lessons in monasteries. Fluent in Sanskrit and Braj, as well as in the oriental systems of medicine (such as Ayurveda, Siddha and Yunani), Kahn Singh influenced his only son, Dr. Charan Singh, who later fathered Vir Singh, to become an active member of the Sikh community, often producing poetry, music, and writings in hopes of restoring the Sikh community. At seventeen, Bhai Vir Singh himself married Chatar Kaur and had two daughters with her. He died in Amritsar on 10 June 1957.

Singh had the benefit of both the traditional indigenous learning as well as of modern English education. He learnt Sikh scripture as well as Persian, Urdu and Sanskrit. He then joined the Church Mission School, Amritsar and took his matriculation examination in 1891 and stood first all over in the district. Singh received his secondary education at Church Mission High School, and it was while attending school that the conversion of some of his classmates from Sikhism to Christianity that Singh's own religious convictions toward Sikhism were fortified. Influenced by the Christian missionaries' use of and reference to literary sources, Singh got the idea to teach others the main dogmas of Sikhism through his own written resources. Using the skills and techniques in modern literary forms that he learned through his English courses, Singh produced stories, poems, and epics and recorded the history and philosophical ideas of Sikhism.

Singh chose to become a writer. After passing his matriculation examination, he worked with a friend of his father’s, Wazir Singh, and set up a lithography press. His first commission to write and print were geography textbooks for some schools.