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Was born on 10 June 1918, the son of Bhai Mall Singh and Bibi Ram
Kaur from the village of Vairoke in Moga tahsil of Firozpur district
(now in district Faridkot). He passed his middle school examination
in 1932. For religious instruction, he joined the jatha of Sant
Gurbachan Singh Khalsa Bhindranvale on 15 February 1939 and studied
with him Sikh Scripture, philosophy, theology and history. In 1944
he set up a group of his own to preach gurmat (Sikh religious tenet).
Simultaneously he started taking interest in politics and became
general-secretary of the district Akali Jatha of Firozpur during
1954-56. During the illness of Sant Gurbachan Singh Khalsa in 1956-58,
Gian! Kirpal Singh taught at the Bhindar Kalan seminary. On 2 April
1958 he was appointed granthi (scripture reader) in Harimandar Sahib,
Amritsar. He was nominated to the religious tribunal which tried
and punished Master Tara Singh, Sant Fateh Singh and members of
the central executive of the Shiromani Akali Dal in 1962 for a disciplinary
lapse they were taxed with. During 1963-65 he served as acting jathedar
of Sri Akal Takht. On 2 June 1973, he was appointed Head Granthi
of Sri Harimandar Sahib which position he held up to 16 April 1983.
In 1980-81 he visited the United Kingdom on a preaching tour, and
on the sudden demise of Giani Gurdial Singh Ajnoha, he took over
as jathedar of Sri Akal Takht. Gian! Kirpal Singh resigned office
as Jathedar of Sri Akal Takht on 24 December 1986.
Singh Sahib Gian! Kirpal Singh, wellversed in
Sikh lore, was a writer and researcher of repute. His Sam Arth Nosh
is a dictionary of Punjabi synonyms. He also wrote a 6-volume commentary
on Gian! Gian Singh's Panth Prakdsh, a history of the Sikhs in
mixed Punjabi and Braj verse. His detailed account of Operation
Blue Star (1984) was being serialized in the Ajat, a Punjabi daily
of Jalandhar, when he died suddently at his residence in Amritsar,
on 26 July 1993.
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