Scholars salute Bhai Vir Singh's legacy on his 149th birth anniversary

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 5

Poets, scholars and admirers of Bhai Vir Singh, the father of modern Punjabi literature, assembled in the National Capital on Sunday to mark his 149th birth anniversary and recall his glorious legacy.

Gursharan Kaur, the wife of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh; Jaspal Singh, the former Vice-Chancellor of Punjabi University, Patiala; and Patiala MP Preneet Kaur were among those who attended the event hosted by the Bhai Vir Singh Sahitya Sadan, New Delhi, in both the physical and virtual formats.

Former PM Manmohan Singh is President of the Sadan, a premier literary and cultural organisation established in 1958 to further the legacy of the saint poet.

The function commenced with the recitation of Bhai Vir Singh’s poems and readings from his works followed a ‘kirtan’ recital by Bhai Gurmeet Singh Shant, Hazoori Ragi Sri Darbar Sahib, Amritsar, and a literary tribute to the scholar-theologian by Prof Jaspal Singh, currently, Member, National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions.

Prof Singh spoke of the life and times of Bhai Vir Singh and stressed the litterateur’s message of ecological conservation.

Gursharan Kaur later released a special issue of Khalsa Samachar, a weekly founded by Bhai Vir Singh in 1899, along with recent books the Sadan has published, to mark the 400th birth anniversary of Guru Tegh Bahadur.

On the occasion Gursharan Kaur, Preneet Kaur, and Prof Singh jointly honoured three students of the Punjabi Department, the University of Delhi, who received Bhai Vir Singh Gold Medal from the varsity for topping the MA Punjabi course over the past three years.

The awardees Harmit Kaur Nagi, Manpreet Kaur and Anjali Gupta topped MA Punjabi at DU in the academic years 2019, 2020 and 2021, respectively.

A host of Bhai Vir Singh’s admirers joined the event online from India and abroad.

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