Giani Sant Singh Maskeen (1934 – 18 February 2005) was a

Sikh Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...

scholar and

theologian Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

known for his expertise of Gurmat and

Gurbani Gurbani ( pa, ਗੁਰਬਾਣੀ) is a Sikh term, very commonly used by Sikhs to refer to various compositions by the Sikh Gurus and other writers of Guru Granth Sahib. In general, hymns in the central text of the Sikhs, the Guru Granth Sahi ...

Early life

Maskeen Ji was born in 1934 at

Lakki Marwat Lakki Marwat or Lakki (Urdu and ps, ) is the headquarters of Lakki Marwat District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Lakki Marwat has become one of the fastest growing cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Lakki Marwat is also the 20th mos ...

(now in Pakistan) to father Kartar Singh and mother Ram Kaur. In 1958 he was married to Sunder Kaur. He had three sons and two daughters. He pursued his primary education at Khalsa School (now in Pakistan) and then went to Government High School. Soon, around the age of 12, he experienced the turmoil of

Partition Partition may refer to: Computing Hardware * Disk partitioning, the division of a hard disk drive * Memory partition, a subdivision of a computer's memory, usually for use by a single job Software * Partition (database), the division of a ...

in 1947, due to which, his family migrated to India and settled in

Alwar Alwar (Pronunciation: Help:IPA/Hindi and Urdu, �lʋəɾ is a city located in India's National Capital Region (India), National Capital Region and the administrative headquarters of Alwar district, Alwar District in the state of Rajasthan. ...

(

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern si ...

). Here, he could not continue his studies due to the language barrier because his education back in Pakistan was in Urdu and

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

. Due to poor living conditions at home, he then started looking for jobs. He worked in a factory for about three months.

Works

He authored more than a dozen books, including ''Guru Chintan'', ''Ras Dhara'', ''Jiwan Jhalkian'', ''Aise Jan Virle Sansare'', ''Brahm Gyan'', ''Gyan Da Saagar'', ''Amrit Manthan'', ''Ratnagar'' and ''Shabad Guru''.

Honours

He was given the title of Panth Ratan, the highest honor awarded by one of the Takhts to an individual for their exceptional services to the Sikh cause and mankind through the message of

. He was also given Bhai Gurdas Gold posthumous award, worth rupees one lakh and, posthumously, the Gurmat Vidya Martand award by

Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee ( SGPC; "Supreme Gurdwara Management Committee") is an organization in India responsible for the management of Gurdwaras, Sikh places of worship in states of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh and the unio ...

Death

Maskeen Ji died on 18 February 2005 due to a heart attack while attending a marriage in

Etawah Etawah also known as Ishtikapuri is a city on the banks of Yamuna River in the state of Western Uttar Pradesh in India. It is the administrative headquarters of Etawah District. Etawah's population of 256,838 (as per 2011 population census) m ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

, India.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maskeen, Sant Singh Punjabi people 1934 births 2005 deaths People from Lakki Marwat District Indian Sikhs Sikh writers