KIRPĀL SIṄGH, SIṄGH SĀHIB GIĀNĪ (1918-1993), theologian and writer, was born on 10 June 1918, the son of Bhāī Mall Siṅgh and Bibī Rām Kaur, a Brāṛ Jaṭṭ family of the village of Vairoke in Mogā tahsīl of Fīrozpur district (now in district Farīdkoṭ ). He passed his middle school examination in 1932. For religious instruction, he joined the jathā of Sant Gurbachan Siṅgh Khālsā Bhiṇḍrāṅvāle 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 Akālī Jathā of Fīrozpur during 1954-56. During the illness of Sant Gurbachan Siṅgh Khālsā in 1956-58, Giānī Kirpāl Siṅgh taught at the Bhiṇḍar Kalāṅ seminary. On 2 April 1958 he was appointed granthī (scripture reader) in Harimandar Sāhib, Amritsar. He was nominated to the religious tribunal which tried and punished Master Tārā Siṅgh, Sant Fateh Siṅgh and members of the central executive of the Shiromaṇī Akālī Dal in 1962 for a disciplinary lapse they were taxed with. During 1963-65 he served as acting jathedār of Srī Akāl Takht. On 2 June 1973, he was appointed Head Granthī of Srī Harimandar Sāhib 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 Giānī Gurdiāl Siṅgh Ajnohā, he took over as jathedār of Srī Akāl Takht. Giānī Kirpāl Siṅgh resigned office as Jathedār of Srī Akāl Takht on 24 December 1986.

         Siṅgh Sāhib Giānī Kirpāl Siṅgh, well versed in Sikh lore, was a writer and researcher of repute. His Sam Arth Kosh is a dictionary of Punjabi synonyms. He also wrote a 6 volume commentary on Giānī Giān Siṅgh's Panth Prakāsh, a history of the Sikhs in mixed Punjabi and Braj verse. His detailed account of Operation Blue Star (1984) was being serialized in the Ajīt, a Punjabi daily of Jalandhar, when he died suddently at his residence in Amritsar, on 26 July 1993.

Major Gurmukh Siṅgh (Retd.)