Bhai Vir Singh.pdf - Vidhia.com

44 / Bhai Vir Singh
was first published,ithas gone into 42 editions totallingmore
than a million copies. For vast numbers of people Sundari has
been a real person, an embodiment of faith, chastity and
courage. They have loved and admired her. They have shed
tears overhertrials andtheyhave heavedsighs of relief at her
providential escapes. Her name has become a byword in
Punjabi homes. Many were inspired by her deeds of chivalry
to initiation into the Khalsa. All this is important. But equally
important is the literary value of the book.
In Sundari are seen the first glimmerings of a new dawn
breakingforth on the horizon of Punjabi literature. Here was a
story realized in an essentially aesthetic conscience
assimilatingwithinitselfthe agonyand grandeur of suffering,
the tribulation and triumph of faith and the orchestration of
verbal flash and rhythm. This was the first book of its kind
writteninPunjabi. It broughtto Punjabiwritingenergyaswell
as sensitivity. It liberalized its scope and admitted to its ranks
undreamt numbers of readers and authors.
In quick succession came two more novels--Bijay Singh
andSatwantKaur(Part II. Both followed Sundariintheme and
style. They were situated in the same period of suffering and
struggle. The method was the same. Each of the novels was
constructed around a heroic figure through whose spiritual
integrityitendeavouredto delineatea wholepeople,its belief,
inspiration and wayof life. Like Sundari, Bijay Singh, the hero
of the novel of that name, is an exemplarycharacter. He is firm
of faith and comes unscathedthrough a series of trials. Not the
least of these is the temptation he is confronted with by the
widowof theMughal governor of Lahore whofalls inlove with
himwhileheis inhercustody. Like Sundariwhospurnsa similar
temptationofferedbythe Mughal officer andsaves herhonour
and religious faith, Bijay Singh rejects the advances of the
Begum who even exempted him from the necessity of
renouncing his faith and embracing Islam if only he would
agree to marry her. Like Sundari, Bijay Singh dies inthe end of
a wound sustained in battle.
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