MAGGHAR SIṄGH, SANT (1890-1924), Sikh divine who attracted a local following, came of a Bhullar Jaṭṭ family of Rāmgaṛh village, near Jagrāoṅ, in Ludhiāṇā district of the Punjab. His grandfather had died fighting against the British in the battle of ‘Alīvāl (28 January 1846) during the first Anglo-Sikh war. Magghar Siṅgh was born on 13 December 1890 to Sobhā Siṅgh and Nand Kaur, a simple peasant couple with a religious bent of mind. He himself grew up a devoted Sikh of pious habits under the influence of Sant Atar Siṅgh of Mastūāṇā. He was tall and sturdily built and enlisted, on 2 January 1911, in the British Indian army as a field gunner, seeing action in France during World War I. After the war was over, he had himself released on 24 November 1919 and returned to his native Rāmgaṛh where he established a gurdwārā and began to preach against the current social evils, recalling to his audiences the simple teachings of the Gurūs. With his kīrtanī jathā or choir who sang Sikh hymns, he travelled round the Mālvā region spreading the Gurū's word. In the Akālī agitation in the early twenties Sant Magghar Siṅgh espoused the cause of the reformers and joined hands with Sant Giānī Sundar Siṅgh of Bhiṇḍar Kalāṅ in launching a campaign for the liberation of the historical shrines at Muktsar and Hehrāṅ.

         Sant Magghar Siṅgh died at village Dherkā in Ludhiāṇā district on 4 December 1924. According to his own wish, his body was cremated the following day near Gurdwārā Ṭāhlīāṇā Sāhib at Rāikoṭ which he had raised in his lifetime.