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32 / Bhai Vir Singh
tun kithon). Equally acute was his awareness of the challenge
it posed to the Indian society (Je eho halriha).
This tractarian movementhad a high cultural potential. It
hada broadeningimpactonthePunjabimindandledtospecific
conceptual and religious formulations of the reformation then
underway. It brought maturity to Punjabi prosewriting and
conjured up an ever-widening readership for the language.
Literacy improved through it and customs such as the
celebration of Gurpurbs cameto beestablished. It providedan
outlet for the productive faculties of Bhai Vir Singh. Out of this
seriesdeveloped atleastthreeofhis majorworks-- GuruNanak
Chamatkar and Guru Kalghidhar Chamatkar, lives
respectively, of Guru Nanak and Guru Gobind Singh, and the
novelBaba Naudh Singh. These three rank as class of Punjabi
literature.
The faith out of whichthe Tract Societywas born led Bhai
Vir Singhto launcha weeklynewspapertheKhalsaSamachar.
The adventofthisperiodicalwas a boonfor Punjabijournalism.
There had been several efforts made before to set up Punjabi
newspapers. The first such newspaper to materialize was
AkhbarSriDarbarSahibwhichappearedfrom Amritsarin 1867.
AlthoughitusedtheGurmukhi script,thelanguagewaslargely
Braj. Gurmukhi type was still not available inAmritsar andthe
paper was lithographed from hand-written copy. But it met
with early demise as did several others which followed. One
Punjabi newspaper which was able to achieve viability was
the Khalsa Akhbar, started from Lahore by Gurmukh Singh
whowasa professorintheOriental College anda leadingfigure
intheSinghSabha. This newspaperstrucka livelypatchwhen
its editorship passed into the hands of Giani Dit Singh, a man
of wide learningwho revelled in argument, never yielding to
anyone a pointinpolemics. He was also a poetandsometimes
wroteleadersandeditiorial commentsinverse. Theperiodical
he served with devotion and brilliance languished after his
death. Bhai Vir Singh's Khalsa Samacharproved not only the
longestlivedPunjabinewspaperbutalsocreatednewappeals
of style and awareness.
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