KARTAR SINGH KALASWALIA

Giani Kartar Singh (1882 – 22.2.1952) was born at village Kalasawala (district Sialkot, Pakistan). When he was a small boy, he studied a lot of Sikh literature. When he grew up, he joined the British Indian army as a Granthi. After leaving service of the army, he became a Granthi at Darbar Sahib, Amritsar. Here, he started writing the history of the Sikh nation in Punjabi verse. Earlier works of the Sikh history, written by Bhai Santokh Singh, Giani Gian Singh etc. were written in a mixture of Punjabi, Hindi and Braj languages. Giani Kartar Singh wrote several books in pure Punjabi language. His book became popular very soon because of their clarity of language and partly because they were written in Baint, a form of poetry in which Waris Shah had written his Heer, an extremely popular ballad. His works include: Nirankari Jot, Hitkari Jot, Datari Jot, Ujiari Jot, Jagadi Jot, Dalbhanjani Jot, Upkari Jot, Didari Jot, Niranjani Jot, Akali Jot (these ten are the biographies of the Ten Nanaks), Nirbhai Jodha, Ajit Khalsa, Jauhar Khalsa, Parkash Khalsa, Sarkar Khalsa, Darbar Khalsa, Betaj Khalsa, Daler Khalsa, Bir Khalsa, Partap Khalsa, Singhanian Da Sidak (history of the Sikhs from Baba Banda Singh up to 1849), Sudhar Khalsa, Khun-i-Shahidan, Babe-Di-Ber (Gurdwara Reform Movement), Khuni Saal Dian Khuni Holian (1947 killings) and several other verse as well as prose writings. He wrote about 50 books. He died at Amritsar, in 1952.

(Dr Harjinder Singh Dilgeer)