Sant Sundar Singh Bhindranwale

Sant Giani Sundar Singh was a teacher and expounder of Sikh scripture, and the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism says the Bhindranwale school of Sikh learning took its name from his seat in his native village. He was born at Bhindar Kalan in Zira tahsil of Ferozepur district on 18 August 1883, the son of Khazan Singh and Mahitab Kaur. He began reading the Guru Granth Sahib at ten, learnt Sanskrit from a Brahmin and from two Udasi scholars, and went to the seats of learning of the Malwa region and Amritsar looking for a teacher of Sikh philosophy. He found one in Sant Bishan Singh of Murale, in what is now Pakistan.

The Damdami Taksal's own account says that Sant Bishan Singh tied the dastar of the Damdami Taksal round his head on 13 Magh 1962 Bikrami. On the Taksal's own list of its leaders he stands between Sant Bishan Singh Muralewale and Sant Gurbachan Singh Khalsa, and the Encyclopaedia's table of the Giani lineage places him between Giani Bishan Singh of Murale and Sant Gurbachan Singh Khalsa. The Encyclopaedia says his work was carried on by his successor, Sant Gurbachan Singh Khalsa.

Key moments

• 8 March 1906: he arrived at Murale and studied there until his teacher died on 28 January 1908.
• From 1908: he travelled across the Punjab, above all the Pothohar, the Malwa and the Lower Chenab Canal Colony (Lyallpur and Sheikhupura districts), giving katha, the explanation of the Guru Granth Sahib from beginning to end, and holding gatherings at which seekers took the initiation of the Khalsa. The Encyclopaedia counts 19 such courses on the Guru Granth Sahib and two on the Dasam Granth. The Taksal's account says he completed the katha of the Guru Granth Sahib 21 times.
• He set up permanent teaching centres in gurdwaras at several places, the most important at Bhindar Kalan, at Bopa Rai in Ludhiana district and at Takhtupura in Moga district, and founded the Guru Tegh Bahadur school at Rode near Moga, since raised into a college affiliated to Panjab University, Chandigarh.
• The Taksal's account says he told his students that every Sikh should be skilled in shastar vidya, the use of arms, as well as in Gurbani, so as to defend and protect the needy, and that he had about 1,300 students.
• 1920s: he took part in the Akali agitation, helped to bring the historic shrines at Muktsar and Hehran under the reformists, visited Nankana Sahib soon after the massacre of 20 February 1921, and took part in the Guru ka Bagh morcha of 1922 and the Jaito morcha of 1923 to 1925.
• 15 February 1930: he died of dropsy at Bopa Rai.

He is remembered as the teacher whose pupil Sant Gurbachan Singh Khalsa carried the Taksal's line forward, for his tours of katha on the whole of the Guru Granth Sahib, and for the teaching centres and the school he left behind.