Sant Bishan Singh Muralewale
ਸੰਤ ਬਿਸ਼ਨ ਸਿੰਘ ਮੁਰਾਲੇਵਾਲੇ
Teacher of the Guru Granth Sahib, born 1852, who settled at Murale and in the Taksal's own list named Sundar Singh Bhindranwale as the next head; sources date his death 1905 or 1908.
Sant Baba Bishan Singh Muralewale was a teacher of the Guru Granth Sahib who settled at Murale in what is now Pakistan, where about 200 students lived and studied, and who in the Damdami Taksal's own account of its leaders appointed Sant Giani Sundar Singh Bhindranwale as the next head. The Taksal's website says he was born in 1852 at Bohith in Gujrat, now in Pakistan, to Lal Dev and Ratna Devi, a family that had not yet taken Amrit.
The website says he learned Gurmukhi through the company of Gursikh saints, learned Japji Sahib by heart, and had visited many Sikh and Hindu holy places by the age of thirteen. At 21, in Amritsar, he decided to join the Khalsa Panth and took Amrit at the Akal Takht. It says he then spent about nine years studying Sanskrit, yoga and grammar under Pandit Tara Singh and Pandit Sadhu Singh, and later became a main sevadar of Sant Giani Harnam Singh Bedi, from whom he learned the Guru Granth Sahib, the Dasam Granth and the history of the Gurus.
In the Taksal's account
- After Sant Ameer Singh died, the sangat of Murale asked him to settle there for good. About 200 students were training as kathakars, kirtanis and readers of Gurbani.
- His students named on the page include Sant Giani Sundar Singh Bhindranwale, Sant Baba Prem Singh Muralewale and Sant Baba Bhagat Singh Ghebewale.
- He ran a langar open at all times, gave two hours of katha at Amrit vela, ground the flour for the degh himself each day, and was known for keeping the Kakkars strictly.
- Before he died he appointed Sundar Singh as the next Jathedar of the Damdami Taksal.
The date of his death differs between sources. The Taksal's website says he died in 1905, aged 53, after an Akhand Path was completed. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism's entry on Sundar Singh says Sundar Singh reached Murala on 8 March 1906 to study under him and gives Bishan Singh's death as 28 January 1908. The Encyclopaedia's table of the Taksal's teaching line lists Giani Bishan Singh of Murala after Sant Harnam Singh and before Sant Sundar Singh.
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Sources
- Sant Baba Bishan Singh Ji Muralewale (page on the Taksal's leaders), Damdami Taksal (Jatha Bhindran, Mehta), the Taksal's own website. damdamitaksal.com
- Sundar Singh, Sant Giani (entry in the Encyclopaedia, web copy), The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism (ed. Harbans Singh), Punjabi University, Patiala. thesikhencyclopedia.com
- Giani Sampradai (entry in the Encyclopaedia), The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism (ed. Harbans Singh), Punjabi University, Patiala. eos.learnpunjabi.org