Khalsa Tract Society
_by_the_Khalsa_Tract_Society_(20_July_1927).jpg) Title-page of 'Saflata Di Kunji - 8' ("The Key to Success") by the Khalsa Tract Society (20 July 1927) | |
| Formation | 1893 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Vir Singh Kaur Singh |
| Purpose | Sikh religious organization |
| Part of a series on |
| Sikh literature |
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_kept_at_the_village_of_Bhai_Rupa.jpg) |
| Sikh scriptures • Punjabi literature |
The Khalsa Tract Society was an organization created by Bhai Vir Singh and Kaur Singh in 1893 to promote the aims and objects of the Singh Sabha Movement.[1][2] The organization had a large output of tracts over the years that touched upon various subjects.[3]
History
[edit]The genre of Punjabi tract literature arose in the late-19th century and played a vital role in Punjabi socio-religious reforms and engaging in refutation and criticism of religious rivals.[3]
In 1893, Vir Singh helped found the Khalsa Tract Society alongside Kaur Singh (who was the son of Sadhu Singh Dhupia).[note 1][1][2] The majority of the tracts published by the society were authored by Vir Singh.[1] The society published small, cheap volumes on religious and social subjects.[2] Alongside religious topics, with society also published works on other subjects, such as social evils that had sprung up within the wider Sikh community.[1] Keeping in-line with the ideals of the Khalsa Tract Society, Vir Singh would later found the Khalsa Samachar newspaper.[1]
In 1902, the Khalsa Tract Society claimed in its report that up till then, it had published 200 works and distributed half a million copies of these works.[2] By 1911, the organization had produced 400 tract works, with one million copies in-total.[3]
In a discussion between Master Tara Singh and Lala Lajpat Rai, the former suggested to the latter that if he is a true patiot (desh bhagat), then he should study Sikhism in-detail, specifically the Punjabi works published by the Khalsa Tract Society.[4]
It was not the only Sikh tract organization, there was also the Panch Khalsa Society, which by 1910 had printed 125 tracts.[3]
Legacy
[edit]Sikh organizations excelled at tract literature in Punjab during this era, with N. G. Barrier estimating that Sikh organizations had produced 1,200 tract works between the years 1880 and 1915.[3] According to J. S. Grewal, the efforts of the Khalsa Tract Society helped modern Punjabi arise as a language of instruction.[4]
Notes
[edit]- ^ N. G. Barrier gives the year 1894 as the founding year of the organization.
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e Dhillon, Parneet Kaur; Dhanju, Jaspal Kaur (27 April 2023). "5: Revisiting The Khalsa Samachar (1899-1900) – Women's Issues and Concerns". In Malhotra, Anshu; Murphy, Anne (eds.). Bhai Vir Singh (1872–1957): Religious and Literary Modernities in Colonial and Post-Colonial Indian Punjab. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781000867008.
- ^ a b c d Barrier, N. G. (2004). "Sikh Journalism". In Singh, Harbans (ed.). The Encyclopedia of Sikhism. Vol. 4: S–Z (2nd ed.). Patiala Punjabi University. pp. 161–166. ISBN 817380530X.
- ^ a b c d e Mir, Farina (4 July 2010). "Punjabi Print Culture". The Social Space of Language: Vernacular Culture in British Colonial Punjab. University of California Press. p. 84. ISBN 9780520262690.
- ^ a b Grewal, J. S. (March 2018). "3 - Early Life and Career of Master Tara Singh: (1885–1919)". Master Tara Singh in Indian History: Colonialism, Nationalism, and the Politics of Sikh Identity (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 62–85. ISBN 9780199089840.
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