SIKH MILITARY HEROES

GANDA SINGH DATT

Sardar Bahadur Risaldar Major Ganda Singh Datt (1830 - July 1903) was a decorated soldier in the British Indian Army, who served in the 19th Bengal Lancers also known as Fane's Horse.

MILITARY CAREER & AWARDS

Ganda Singh was a Muhiyal (Mohyal) born into a Hindu family but brought up as a Sikh, a practice often followed in Muhiyal families at the time. He belonged to the village of Zaffarwal Dattan in Tehsil Rayya of District Sialkot. He enlisted as a Dafadar in 1852 and served as a soldier over 50 years. He received the Indian Order of Merit for having saved the life of Sir Robert Sandeman at Lucknow at the time of the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857. Subsequently, in the Second Anglo-China War, he saved the life of Sir Charles MacGregor as well.

Later in the Afghan Campaign of the British Indian Army, he participated in the famous march to Kandahar

 

and distinguished himself in the Battle of Kandahar, becoming an Honorary Captain. He was eventually appointed ADC to Lord Roberts of Kabul and Kandahar, VC, the then Commander-in-Chief of the British Indian Army.

He was rewarded with large tracts of agricultural land, and the village Ganda Singh Wala on the periphery of Amritsar is named after him. He was president of the first All India Mohyal Conference held in 1902 at Lahore, and was among the select veteran Indian soldiers presented to the British Royals in the Coronation Durbar held in Delhi in January 1903.

 FAMILY BACKGROUND

Ganda Singh's extended family featured many other eminent persons as well. His cousin Bakshi Prem Singh Vaid was a decorated soldier in the British Indian Army as well, and so was his son Bakshi Tirath Ram Vaid. His maternal grandson Dr. Baldev Singh Vaid was a famous neurologist who was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Indian government, and whose son-in-law KK Bakshi was a decorated Air Vice Marshal of the Indian Air Force. Sardar Sant Singh Datt PCS who was appointed Chief Resident of Kalsia State was his grand nephew, whose son Lt. Gen. Kalwant Singh was a senior officer in the Indian army. 

 

INDIAN GADARI BABAS

GANDA SINGH 'GADARI BABA'


Ganda Singh (Phangureh), district Hoshiarpur (1883–18 March 1958) was one of the original freedom fighters and ghadarites. He was the son of Nikka Singhof Pandori, Hariana, Hoshiarpur

In 1907, Ganda Singh moved to North America aboard the S.S. Monteagle where he took part in various movements for national independence. There he also lived among the pioneers of the Indian revolutionary movement.

While returning back from America aboard the S.S. Korea and then the Tosa Maru ship in the year 1914, he was arrested along with veteran ghadarites Baba Sohan Singh Bhakna and Pandit Jagat Ram Haryanvi. He was first kept in Central jail, Muktsar, then taken to Lahore, and then he was thrown into Camp jail,Kainthalpur. He was freed on 26 June 1916 and then sent to his village and put under house arrest. At that time, he was supervised by Deputy Commissioner of Hoshiarpur Raja Narindernath.

Later, the Special Tribunal sentenced him to four years in prison under section 124 A and 125. This sentence started in 1919 and he was kept in Lahore jail. Then, under the Montego Chelmsford Scheme he was freed in January 1920.

He was arrested again in May 1922 and Pir Gyasuddin, a first class magistrate sentenced him to one and a quarter years in prison along with a fine of one hundred rupees under section 17 B of the Chelmsford Law Amendment Act. After that, he was sentenced to nine months imprisonment in the case of Black Turban Movement. He was sent to Dera Ghazi Khan jail . After some time he was transferred to Rohtak jail and in 1924 he was freed. While he was returning to his village after completing his sentence, he was arrested from Sham Chaurasirailway station in the Babbar Akali case. After a while, this case was dismissed and he was again arrested in the famous Anarkali bomb case. Besides Ganda Singh, involved in this case were the famous Hari Singh Jalandhari, Banta Ram Pandori Phangureh, Mistry Famanshia and Mela Ram Bagera. This case went on in the Special court of Lahore for more than four years. In this case, except for the Government/official witnesses, everybody got rigorous imprisonment sentences for 30 years each and a fine of Rupees Five hundred each. This was appealed in the high court.

Ganda Singh went on to become the chief of Hoshiarpur district congress and Civil naming authority along with the district magistrate of Hoshiarpur again sentenced him to one year imprisonment. He served this imprisonment in the Kasoor jail.

In 1932, after coming out of jail he started a school for girls' education in hisr village. At the time, there was no system in place for girls' education in the area and the common people were against girls getting educated. He then started to spend a lot of time in the care and well being of his six children. At this time a lot of political workers used to come to him for advice and he would infuse enthusiasm in them and serve them.

In 1949, for the violation of clause 144, the Hoshiarpur magistrate sentenced him and Harnam Singh Tundilat to one year imprisonment along with a fine of Rupees hundred. The fact of the matter is Baba Ganda Singh's life was a life of a true freedom fighter and he had to face much agony for taking part in the movement of national independence.

Baba Ganda Singh Phangureh died on 18 March 1958. In his remembrance, the inhabitants of the village have constructed a gate/corner on the main street to remember Baba ji by.

SIKH HISTORIANS

Dr.GANDA SINGH

Dr Ganda Singh (1900-1987) is the celebrated Sikh historian, who by his sustained and pioneer work in the field of historical research, initiated new trends in Sikh historiography and who, by his critically important work, became a vital and pervasive influence in historical learning in the field of Sikh Studies, He was born on 15 November 1900, at Hariana, an old town close to the city of Hoshiarpur in Punjab. His father's name was Sardar Jawala Singh. He got his initial education in the village mosque,later shifting to the primary school. He passed the middle standard examination from DAV (Dayanand Anglo-Vernacular) Middle School, Hoshiarpur, and his matriculation from Government High School in the same town. He joined the Forman Christian College at Lahore, but soon left it to enlist in the army (1919). He served at the Supply and Transport Corps Base Depot, Rawalpindl, and at the divisional office at Peshawar before he was attached to the Mesopotamia Expeditionary Force, Basra, in 1920 and later to the British Royal Army Pay Corps, also at Basra, in 1921. There he had his thigh torn by a bullet shot and he was hospitalized. After recovery he was repatriated to India, but had been mistakenly reported dead to his family. This led to a dramatic situation. When he suddenly appeared at the door of his home in the village late one evening, he was taken for a ghost and was refused admittance. As he was recognized the following morning at the doorstep of his house, the family's horror turned into jubilation.

Ganda Singh did not stay at home for long. He went back to Mesopotamia (now Iraq) and then to Iran, to join the Anglo-Persian Oil Company at Abadan as accounts officer. At Abadan, he came under the influence of the British scholar, Sir Arnold Wilson, who besides his official duties as General Manager of the company was working on his Bibliography of Persia . Young Ganda Singh now aspired to prepare a bibliography of his native Punjab. On his return to Punjab towards the end of 1930, he first worked on the editorial board of Phulwari, a Punjabi monthly published from Lahore. One long-lasting friendship he picked up there was with Bhagat Lachhman Singh, a Sikh reformer and educationist. He however missed the opportunity to meet Karam Singh, the historian, then very enthusiastic in promoting the cause of Sikh history. Karam Singh died before Ganda Singh could meet him.

In October 1931 began Dr Ganda Singh's long and fruitful career as a researcher and historian. The Khalsa college at Amritsar placed him in charge of its newly-created Sikh History Research Department, which position he occupied till 1949. During this period he travelled extensively, rummaging various public libraries, archives and private collections throughout India in quest of material on Sikh history, enriching the library of his department and also brought out several books and tracts based on these. 

In 1949, he came to Patiala where he was appointed Director of Archives and Curator of Museum under the Government of PEPSU (Patiala and East Punjab States Union). In 1950, he received the additional charge of Director of the Punjabi Department. His thesis on Ahmad Shah Durrani earned him the degree of Doctor of Philosophy from the Panjab University in 1954, as well as much applause from scholars and historians among whom was Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, a leading Indian savant of the day.

Dr. Ganda Singh was principal of the Khalsa College, Patiala, when he was invited by Punjabi University, Patiala, to organize its Department of Punjab Historical Studies. He set up Punjab History Conference in 1965 which became a very active forum for the discussion of matters relating to Punjab history. In l967, he launched the university's journal, the bi-annual The Punjab Past and Present of which he was the editor and which gathered high repute and much prestige over the years.

In 1938, he had been appointed a corresponding member of Indian Historical Records Commission of Government of India, and was a full member of the Commission from 1950 to 1956. He was nominated member of Punjab Regional Committee for the Survey of Historical Records, Government of Punjab, Lahore, and of Indian Historical Records Commission, Government of India. He was secretary of the Committee for the History of Freedom Movement in PEPSU, Patiala, and chairman of the Regional Records Survey Committee for History of Freedom Movement, Shimla / Patiala, from November 1957 to December 1962. He held membership of Asiatic Society, Calcutta, Indian Institute of Historical Studies, Calcutta, Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, London, and Itihas Sanshodhak Mandal, Poona. He presided over the medieval section of Punjab History Conference session of the Institute of Historical Studies, Calcutta, held at Shillong in 1974 as well as over its 13th session held at Panaji (Goa) in 1975. In 1974, he presided the 35th session of Indian History Congress at Jadavpur.
Dr. Ganda Singh was a prolific writer in addition to scores of research papers, booklets and pamphelets, he published over two dozen full-length volumes of great historical value. Dr. Ganda Singh's magnificent work was widely acknowledged and lauded in his lifetime, and he received honours from a number of professional institutions and associations. The Punjab Government invested him with the award for literature on 31 March 1963, and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, Amritsar, paid its tributes on 28 March 1964. On 19 December 1964, Muslim University, Aligarh, conferred on him the "degree of D. Litt. honoris causa". Sikh Educational Conference honoured him during its 52nd annual session held at Kanpur on 25-27 October 1974, and Punjabi University, Patiala, at the annual session of the Punjab History Conference held during November 1976. The University also brought out during the same year an anthology, Essays in Honour of Dr Ganda Singh, lovingly edited by his old pupil Professor Harbans Singh (Editor of Encyclopaedia of Sikhism from where many documents have been sourced on this site). The University also awarded him the degree of Doctor of Literature at its 15th convocation held on 25 February 1978. The Indian History Congress during its Silver jubilee session held at Panaji (Goa) on 5-7 November 1987, honoured him as one of the five distinguished historians of India. The Government of India honoured him with the award of Padma Bhushan in 1983.

In the course of his long career as a researcher and scholar, Dr. Ganda Singh had acquired a vast personal collection of rare books, maps, documents and manuscripts which occupied several rooms of his modest residence on the Lower Mall at Patiala. This precious treasure is now the property of Punjabi University, Patiala, to which institution he donated the entire collection. Dr. Ganda Singh died at Patiala on 27 December 1987.