Pandit Tara Singh Narotam (1822–1891) or also Pundit Tara Singh Nawtam was a famous Punjabi scholar who belonged to the

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

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 ...

Nirmala Sect.

Biography

Pundit Tara Singh was born into a Sikh family who were originally Brahmins. At the age of twenty he left his village kahlwan, which was near

Qadian Qadian (; ; ) is a city and a municipal council in Gurdaspur district, north-east of Amritsar, situated north-east of Batala city in the state of Punjab, India. Qadian is the birthplace of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the founder of the Ahmadiyya move ...

, and he arrived at the Niramala ''

dera Dera, Dero, Daro, Dhoro, Dahar or Dehra is a word in several languages of South Asia, whose meaning is 'camp', 'mound' or 'settlement'. It appears in the names of a number of places. Geography India * Dera, Himachal Pradesh * Dera Bassi, Mohali ...

'' of Sant Gulab Singh at Kurala,

Hoshiarpur Hoshiarpur () is a city and a Municipal corporations in India, municipal corporation in Hoshiarpur district in the Doaba region of the Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab. It was founded, according to tradition, during the early part of the ...

. He was now a renowned scholar and had accumulated some fame throughout the region. The

Maharaja of Patiala The Maharaja of Patiala was a maharaja in India and the ruler of the princely state of Patiala, a state in British India. The first Maharaja of Patiala was Baba Ala Singh (1695–1765). Yadavindra Singh became the maharaja on 23 March 1938. H ...

, Maharaja Narinder Singh (1824–1862) gave patronage to him after which Tara Singh came to Patiala and established his own Nirmala dera by the name of Dharam Dhuja and began doing scholarly work. Pundit Tara Singh taught a large group of scholars which include the famous Sikh historian Giani Gain Singh (1822–1921) and Bishan Singh Ji Muralewale of the

Damdami Taksal The Damdamī Ṭaksāl is an orthodox Sikh cultural and educational organization, based in India. Its headquarters are located in the town of Mehta Chowk, approximately 40 km north of the city of Amritsar. It has been described as a seminary ...

Finding Hemkunt

Pundit Tara Singh was the first Sikh to trace the geographical location of

Hemkunt Hemkund Sahib (also spelled Hemkunt), formally known as ''Gurudwara Shri Hemkund Sahib Ji'', is a Sikh place of worship and pilgrimage site in Chamoli district, Uttarakhand, India. It is devoted to Guru Gobind Singh (1666–1708), the tenth ...

Sahib. Using clues from the

Bachitar Natak The ''Dasam Granth'' (Gurmukhi: ਦਸਮ ਗ੍ਰੰਥ ''dasama gratha'') is a collection of various manuscripts in Sikhism containing compositions attributed to Guru Gobind Singh.

to reveal

Guru Gobind Singh Guru Gobind Singh (; 22 December 1666 – 7 October 1708), born Gobind Das or Gobind Rai the tenth Sikh Guru, a spiritual master, warrior, poet and philosopher. When his father, Guru Tegh Bahadur, was executed by Aurangzeb, Guru Gobind Sing ...

's ''tap asthan'' (place of meditation) such as the place was named Sapatsring (seven peaks) and was on or near ''Hemkunt Parbat'' (lake of ice mountain) he set out to explore the

Garhwal Himalaya The Garhwal Himalayas are mountain ranges located in the Indian state of Uttarakhand. Geology This range is also a part of Himalaya Sivalik Hills, the outer most hills of the Himalaya located in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Major peaks ...

s and his search took him to

Badrinath Badrinath is a town and nagar panchayat in Chamoli district in the state of Uttarakhand, India. A Hindu holy place, it is one of the four sites in India's Char Dham Hindu pilgrimage, pilgrimage and is also part of India's Chota Char Dham pilgr ...

and to the nearby village of Pandukeshwar, near the present-day Gobind Ghat.

Gurbani Interpretation

Pandit Tara Singh conforms to the Nirmala school of thought. He presents Sikhism from a

Vedantic ''Vedanta'' (; sa, वेदान्त, ), also ''Uttara Mīmāṃsā'', is one of the six (''āstika'') schools of Hindu philosophy. Literally meaning "end of the Vedas", Vedanta reflects ideas that emerged from, or were aligned with, t ...

orientation, and it being a blend of Sankara and

Ramanuja Ramanuja (Middle Tamil: Rāmāṉujam; Classical Sanskrit: Rāmanuja; 1017 CE – 1137 CE; ; ), also known as Ramanujacharya, was an Indian Hindu philosopher, guru and a social reformer. He is noted to be one of the most important exponents o ...

. . He believed that Guru Nanak Dev was an incarnation of Sri

Vishnu Vishnu ( ; , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism. Vishnu is known as "The Preserver" within t ...

and that

Waheguru ''Waheguru'' ( pa, ਵਾਹਿਗੁਰੂ, translit=vāhigurū, translit-std=IAST) is a word used in Sikhi to refer to God as described in ''Guru Granth Sahib''. The meaning of the word (usually spelled in English as ''Waheguru'') is tradi ...

was another name of Sri Vishnu. He wrote extensively about the meaning of Waheguru in his book Waheguru Shabad-Arth Tika. In the

Mahan Kosh ''Guru Shabad Ratnakar Mahan Kosh'' (Punjabi: ਗੁਰਸ਼ਬਦ ਰਤਨਾਕਰ ਮਹਾਨ ਕੋਸ਼), known by its more popular name of ''Mahan Kosh'' (ਮਹਾਨ ਕੋਸ਼), is a Punjabi language encyclopedia which was compiled b ...

it is written that Pandit Tara Singh believes that the

Sarbloh Granth The Sarbloh Granth or Sarabloh Granth ( pa, ਸਰਬਲੋਹ ਗ੍ਰੰਥ, ', literally 'Scripture of Wrought Iron'), also called Manglacharan Puran or Sri Manglacharan Ji, is a voluminous scripture, composed of more than 6,500 poetic stanza ...

was produced by Bhai Sukha Singh the head

Granthi A Granthi ( pa, ਗ੍ਰੰਥੀ, ) is a person, female or male, of the Sikh religion who is a ceremonial reader of the Sri Guru Granth Sahib, which is the Holy Book in Sikhism, often read to worshipers at Sikh temples called a Gurdwara. The na ...

Patna Sahib Patna City, popularly known as Patna Saheb or Patna Sahib, is a city and one of the 6 Sub-divisions (Tehsil) in Patna district, Bihar, India. Patna City is an old area of Patna. Patna City history belongs to Patliputra. It is regarded as ver ...

from a manuscript given by an

Udasi Udasi (Gurmukhi: ਉਦਾਸੀ ਸੰਪਰਦਾ; ''udāsī saparadā'') is a religious sect of ascetic ''sadhus'' centred in northern India. Becoming custodians of Sikh shrines in the 18th century, they were notable interpreters and spreade ...

from Shri Jagannathpuri (

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...

) who said it was

's writing. Pandit Tara Singh also believes that the entire

Dasam Granth The ''Dasam Granth'' (Gurmukhi: ਦਸਮ ਗ੍ਰੰਥ ''dasama gratha'') is a collection of various manuscripts in Sikhism containing compositions attributed to Guru Gobind Singh.

was written by Guru Gobind Singh.

Published works

He may have written an commentary on the entire SGGS but it is assumed to be lost. His more famous works are Gurmat Nirnay Sagar, Sri Gur Tirath Sangrah and Guru Girarath Kos. Other notable works include a commentary on Bani of the

Bhagat Bhagat is a term used in the Indian subcontinent to describe religious personalities who have obtain high acclaim in their community for their services and devoutness.It is also one of the clan in Mahar caste with clan totem as King Cobrahttp:/ ...

s included in the

Guru Granth Sahib The Guru Granth Sahib ( pa, ਗੁਰੂ ਗ੍ਰੰਥ ਸਾਹਿਬ, ) is the central holy religious scripture of Sikhism, regarded by Sikhs as the final, sovereign and Guru Maneyo Granth, eternal Guru following the lineage of the Sikh gur ...

. * Vahiguru Sabdarth (1862) * Tika Bhagat Banika (1872) * Tika Guru Bhav Dipika (1879) * Sri Guru Tirath Sangrahi (1883) * Granth Sri Gurmat Nirnaya Sagar (1877) * Sabda Sur Kosh (1866) * Akal Murati Pradarsan (1878) * Guru Vans Taru Darpan (1878) * Granth Guru Girarth Kosh (1889) * Prikhia Prakaran (1890) * Tika Sri Raga (1885) * Updesh Shatak Basha * Sehrafi Raje Bharthari * Japji Sahib Steek

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Pundit Tara 1822 births 1891 deaths Punjabi-language writers