Bhai Maharaj Singh Ji, the Freedom Fighter of pre-1857 Uprising

London British Library has a policy of displaying some of the rarest collections in the library on their website. I believe such items are also made public for few days. Or it may be, that one organization, namely, United Kingdom Punjab Heritage Association (UKPHA), is involved in cataloguing Punjabi manuscripts, happens to locate it in the British library.

It seems that somewhere in the month of June 2008, British Library had displayed the belongings and manuscripts of Bhai Maharaj Singh (Sant Nihal Singh Ji), a saint and freedom fighter in pre 1857 period. He had joined with Diwan Mul Raj, Subedar of Multan, as appointed by Maharaja Ranjit Singh, to fight the Anglo Sikh War. Some of the belongings which were displayed were gifted to the library by the decedents of Henry Vanistrat, who, in the capacity of Deputy Commissioner of Jaladhar at that time(Jullundur - as the office record of the British period spell the name of the Demon King, who was son of Samudra and had been killed by Lord Shiva because he had the audacity of going beyond the limits.), had arrested Bhai Maharaj Singh.
The above mentioned activities had been reported by Amandeep Madra (Madra refers to cis Ravi Region in Vedic Period and considered as the real Punjab which had helped Chandragupta Maurya to defeat Dhana Nand of Nanda Dynasty of Pataliputra.) The same story has again became the part of Punjab Newsline on August 20, 2008 and reported by Amandeep Madra Paramjit Singh.

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Disclaimer: I have not verified the facts. I am reporting only what has been access on the mentioned links as accessed and retrieved on August 31, 2008.

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Sources:
Punjab Heritage News: http://www.punjabnewsline.com/content/view/11815/40/" Newly catalogued : The Bhai Maharaj Singh Collection>Newly catalogued : The Bhai Maharaj Singh Collection
Punjab News: Bhai Maharaj Singh Collection is preserved in British Library
Sant Nihal Singh, alias Bhai Maharaj Singh a saint-revolutionary of the 19th century Punjabby M. L. AhluwaliaPublished in 1972, Punjabi University (Patiala) as accessed on Google Books.

A Follow up Report on Insult to Freedom Fighters of 1919

This post has reference to an earlier post "It Requires 87 Years to Become Freedom Fighter".

At the link of Punjab Newsline, there is a report by Jagmohan Singh. The report is more informative and authoritative. It has appeared before I posted the above mentioned report.

It can be said that the Indian Babudom is still suffering from Colonial Mind Set. The Deputy Commissioner of Amristar Shri K. S. Pannu I.A.S. does not understand that they had not lost their lives to obtain compensation for their families. The officer has showed lack of historical thinking while declaring that they had already been compensated.

It is really a sad story that in Mains Paper of 2007, UPSC had asked about the terrorist activities of Bhagat Singh whereas the very concept of "Terrorism" is invention of 1960s International Relations.

The Civil Servant should be sensatized on the Indian History. They should be made to attend the Referesher Courses in History as an inseparable part for earning their next scale. Guru Nanak Dev University Amritsar regularly conducting such referesher courses. The services of the university should be availed by the local administration as well as the Punjab Government.