Harchand Singh Longowal was born 2 January 1932, a couple of modest means living in Gidariani, a village then in the princely state of Patiala, but now a part of Sangrur district of Punjab (India). Under the tutelage of Sant Jodh Singh at the seminary in nearby Maujo, he studied Sikh theology and Sikh texts and practised Sikh music. As his teacher was also a member of the Akali movement, it is likely that young Harcharan Singh also imbibed the spirit of political activism at that time. Leaving Maujo at the age of twenty-one, Harchand Singh served as scripture-reader and custodian at the village gurdwara at Heron Kalan, moving the following year to Longowal, a small town 16 kilometers south-west of Sangrur. There, he raised a gurdwara to the memory of celebrated eighteenth-century scholar and martyr, Bhai Mani Singh. In 1962, Harchand Singh was named head of the important historical shrine at Damdama Sahib (Talvandi Sabo), but he took with him the suffix “Longowal” which remained with him for the rest of his life. He affectionately known as "Sant Ji"
Posted on: Tue, 20 Aug 2013 03:30:54 +0000
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