Giani Gian Singh (15.4.1822 – 24.9.1921), son of Sirdar Bhag Singh Dulatt, was born at village Longowal (district Sangrur). He started his career as an employee of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. He was given the job to recite Gurbani to Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Here, he became a student of Giani ram Singh, who taught him the Sikh Scriptures. After the death of Giani Ram Singh, he returned to Longowal. In 1841, he joined service in the Patiala State. In 1845, he worked as an army postman with the unit of Patiala army, which assisted the British, in their war against Lahore Darbar. He also joined the expedition against the rebels of Jind State, in 1849-50. He was wounded in this battle. After this, he was discharged from the army. This resulted into economic disaster. Giani Gian Singh decided to commit suicide. A man named Janaki Das saved him. After this episode Gian Singh was recruited as a Granthi at Patiala. He could not continue his job for a long time and resigned after some time. Later, he became an ascetic. For the next several years, he visited several Gurdwaras and the temples of the Hindus, Jains and Buddhists in India, Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim etc. During this period he came into contact with Pandit Tara Singh Narotam. He helped Tara Singh Narotam in compiling Guru Granth Girarath Kosh, a lexicon of Guru Granth Sahib. By this time he had learnt a lot from his pilgrimage as well as books and the other sources, so he started writing books on Sikh history. His first book was Pant Parkash (1880). Later, he published some more books. His books include: Twarikh Guru Khalsa, Shamsher Khalsa, Raj Khalsa, Gurdham Sangreh, Nirmal Panth Pardipka, Patit Pawan, Twarikh Amritsar, Twarikh Lahore, Suraj Parkash Vartak (abridged version of Bhai Santokh Singh’s Gur Partap Suraj Granth in Punjabi prose) etc. Besides these books of the Sikh studies, he also wrote Itihas Riyasat Bagarian, Bhupindera Nand, Ripudaman Parkash, Punjabi Siharfi, Niti Parkash etc. He died at Nabha in 1921. Writings of Giani Gian Singh have strong influence of the Hindu ideology because he had stayed at the Hindu centres for several years. Like Santokh Singh and Bhai Vir Singh, he too is known as a Nirmala writer. His writings have to be read with caution.
(Dr Harjinder Singh Dilgeer)