His Gurmat Sangeet touched heights of divinity

Pritam Singh

Pritam Singh
Visiting Scholar, Wolfson College,University of Oxford

The coronavirus has taken the life of Bhai Nirmal Singh Khalsa, a truly gifted and legendary exponent of Gurmat Sangeet. He died in a hospital in Amritsar on April 2. What is not true is the news circulated in some media outlets that he had recently returned from the UK and that his infection might have come from there. His family members living in the UK have confirmed that he had visited England about eight months ago, long before coronavirus became a pandemic in the UK and elsewhere.

Born on April 12, 1952, at Jandwala Bhimeshah village in Ferozepur district of Punjab, he would have turned 68 shortly. His death has left millions in Punjab and outside shocked and deeply saddened. He rose to the stature of being a Hazoori Ragi — the most honourable musical title given to a gifted few who get the privilege to present Gurbani daily in the sanctum sanctorum of the Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple in Amritsar).

According to my friend, Prof Rajkumar Hans, a social historian who knew Bhai Nirmal Singh personally, Bhai Sahib came from a poor Dalit-Mazhabi Sikh family background and broke the class and caste barriers to reach the top of musical hierarchy. His formal education was only up to the primary school at a village in Karanpur tehsil of Sriganganagar district in Rajasthan, but he became a learned scholar of Gurbani and Sikh history.

He was particularly sensitive to the economic and educational backwardness of the most downtrodden social groups in Sikh and Punjabi society — Mazhabi Sikhs and Balmikis. In one public lecture that he was invited to deliver to aspiring civil servants from Mazhabi Sikh backgrounds, he talked about his class and caste background, and implored them to break the bonds of economic and social deprivation by education and hard work, and reject the belief sometimes perpetuated by religious preachers even within the Sikh society that one’s fate in life is pre-determined.

His lectures, writings and music invoked the spiritual teachings of Gurbani to highlight the values of egalitarianism. In his musical selections from Gurbani, he paid particular attention to the teachings of anti-caste Bhakti saints such as Bhagat Kabir and Bhagat Guru Ravidas whose poetry is included in the Guru Granth Sahib.

In my family, we have listened to his kirtan for years and recently we have been listening even more when we are confined to the house due to the coronavirus-caused lockdown. His magnificent voice has reverberated in our house, with his music becoming a part of the household atmosphere. His going away feels like a deep personal loss.

We have particularly enjoyed his rendering of Bhagat Kabir (Hari ke naam ke byaapaari: I am a trader in the Name of the Lord), Guru Granth Sahib, page 1123) and that of Bhagat Guru Ravidas (Tohi mohi, mohi tohi antar kaisa: You are me, and I am You — what is the difference between us?, GGS, page 93). In his rendering of Guru Amar Das (Eh sareera mereya, is jag meh ai ke, kya tudh karam kamaiya: Oh body of mine, having come in this world, what good have you earned, page 922) seems now to be a critical self-reflection on his own life.

He certainly lived a richly meaningful life and leaves a musical legacy that will live forever.

He was in the Golden Temple, performing his duties both during Operation Bluestar in 1984 and Operation Black Thunder in 1988 and both times, he narrowly escaped being killed. He performed kirtan for nine hours continuously during Operation Black Thunder because the others who were supposed to relieve him from his duty could not reach the Golden Temple in time. This will, perhaps, go down in history as one of the longest performances by a musician in one go.

In a public speech last year in the UK, he recounted some details of his experiences both in 1984 as well as in 1988 and mentioned that his autobiography would bring out the full details.

He was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2009 for his musical contributions and was the first ragi to have been so awarded. But no such award can match the heights of divinity touched by his rendition of Gurmat Sangeet.

The publication of his autobiography that he had himself titled My Life would be keenly awaited for understanding his social and musical journey, and for his first-hand accounts of conflicts of the 1980s which would be invaluable for a historical record of those momentous events in Punjab’s history.

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