GUR SEVAK SABHĀ, a society formed at Amritsar on 29 December 1933 by some Sikh intellectuals and educationists to restate Sikh moral and religious values and have these reinstated in the public life of the Panth, then severely riven by rivalries and personal ambitions of the leaders. Bāvā Harkishan Siṅgh, Principal of the Gurū Nānak Khālsa College at Gujrāṅwālā, Tejā Siṅgh and Niraṅjan Siṅgh, both professors at the Khālsā College at Amritsar and Naraiṇ Siṅgh, a professor at the Khālsā College at Gujrāṅwālā, were amongst the sponsors. The group travelled around addressing saṅgats in gurdwārās. Vīchār Saṅgats, i.e. study circles, were convened at different places with the help of local Siṅgh Sabhās. The issues commonly discussed were the administration of the gurdwārās, the means of repairing the schism in the political party of the Sikhs, the Akālī Dal, which was at that time riven into two mutually hostile groups -- one led by Master Tārā Siṅgh and the other by Giānī Sher Siṅgh. For elections to the Shiromaṇī Gurdwārā Parbandhak Committee in 1935, the Gur Sevāk Sabhā was able to persuade the two groups to accept a common list of candidates to be prepared by Bābā Vasākhā Siṅgh a former revolutionary, to halt the continuing feud. In the Sikh convention held in Amritsar (Baisākhī day of 1936) at the time of the visit of Dr B.R. Ambedkar, leader of the so-called untouchables, members of the Gur Sevak Sabhā, notably Bāvā Harkishan Siṅgh, took a prominent hand. In the outcome, several of Dr Ambedkar's followers were converted to the Sikh faith at the Akāl Takht. The ardās on this occasion was said in English-perhaps the first ever public prayer in the language at the Akāl Takht -- by Professor Tejā Siṅgh, a leading member of the Gur Sevak Sabhā. The most memorable task undertaken by the Gur Sevak Sabhā was the preparation of the Śabadārth, an annotated edition of the Gurū Granth Sāhib, which was completed in five years, from May 1936 to September 1941. It was the work primarily of Professor Tejā Siṅgh, Bāvā Harkishan Siṅgh and Professor Naraiṇ Siṅgh lending him a helping hand. The Śabadārth, a landmark in Sikh learning, will remain a permanent monument to the Gur Sevak Sabhā which had only a brief spell of life.

Sarmukh Siṅgh Amole