Sewaram Singh Thapar was a Sikh writer active during the Singh Sabha movement. He is credited as being the first Sikh to write a work refuting the previous works of Western writers on the topic of Sikh history.
Biography Originally from a sehajdhari background, he became baptized into the Khalsa. He was originally a lawyer and later a District and Sessions Judge.Banga, Indu. “J.S. Grewal on Sikh History, Historiography and Recent Debates.” Journal of Punjab Studies, vol. 20, no. 1/2, Mar. 2013, p. 306. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=102850516&site=eds-live&scope=site. He, alongside Khazan Singh and Bhagat Lakshman Singh, belonged to a group of English-educated and middle-class Sikh writers in the early 20th century whom wrote with the idea that they were correcting previous works by Western writers that they believed misrepresented the Sikhs. Judging previous writers, Sewaram agreed more with Joseph Davey Cunningham and refuted the conclusions drawn on the Sikh religion by Ernest Trumpp. Sewaram Singh authored The Divine Master in 1904, a monograph on Guru Nanak. Sewaram was also part of the seven-member Sikh deputation to London, England on 11 July 1919, alongside, Shivdev Singh Uberoi, Sohan Singh, and Ujjal Singh, where they demanded 33% representation for Sikhs in the Punjab Legislative Council. His son was Major General Harkirat Singh, who was involved with Hemkund Sahib and the Baba Nanak Shrine in Iraq.The Divine Master: Life and Teachings of Guru Nanak Dev by Sewaram Singh, original version in 1904, Rawalpindi; reprinted by Gian Publishing House, New Delhi, 1989, with foreword by Dr. Gopal Singh, Governor of Goa and author of the book titled "History of the Sikh People (1469-1978) and also translator of the entire Sri Guru Granth Sahib into English.Gurdwara in the Himalayas: Sri Hemkunt Sahib by Suparna Rajguru and M. S. Siali, Hemkunt Publishers, New Delhi, 2001.
Bibliography
Anecdotes from Sikh History The Indian Constitution and Parliamentary Sovereignty The Divine Master: A Study of the Life and Teachings of Sri Guru Nanak Dev (Lahore: Gulab Singh & Sons, 1904) A Critical Study of the Life and Teachings of Sri Guru Nanak Dev the Founder of Sikhism (Rawalpindi: Commercial Union Press, 1904) – a new edition was published in 1930 by the Rai Sahib M. Gulab Singh & Sons, Lahore In the Service of Motherland or a Leaf from Sikh History (Rawalpindi: N.I. Works, 1908) Reforms and the Sikhs (Lahore: Mufid-i-'am Press, 1920) Indian Reforms Scheme: Report of the Working of the Sikh Deputation to England (Lahore: Mufid-i-'am Press, 1920)
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