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SADHU SuNDAR SINGH is a Sikh by birth. The Sikhs are, for various reasons, of peculiar interest. Arising first as a religious sect resolved to reform abuses and .to lead men back to a simpler purer worship, they eventually developed into an organized military power. Through four centuries they have had many and bitter experiences, but pride of race, love of arms, and a stiff clinging to their religious doctrines, are to this day their great characteristics.
Cunningham, in his History of the Sikhs, says :—
During the sixteenth century whilst the Punjab was a scene of endless contention for power amongst foreign races, the religious sect of the Sikhs, humble in its origin, unpretending in its primitive character, silently arose amidst the tumult of arms, and in spite of persecution laid the foundations of a great state.
The home of the Sikhs is “‘ The Country of the Five Rivers,” and a remarkable circumstance of the population’of the Punjab is the comparative paucity of the Sikhs in a country once ruled by them. The Sikhs do not form a numerous sect, yet their strength is not to be estimated by numbers, but by their unity and energy of religious fervour and warlike temperament. They will dare and endure much ; they are not easily discouraged by defeat ; and they look forward hopefully to the day when the double mission of Nanak and Govind Singh shall. become a dominant religion.
Some further account of the Sikhs will be found at the end of the book, and from it will be seen some of the national and religious influences: under which Sundar Singh was born. Captain Cunningham says :— ~
A Sikh chief is not more distinguished by his stately person and manly bearing than a minister of his faith is by a lofty thoughtfulness of look, which marks the fervour of his soul, and his persuasion of the near presence of the Divinity.
In religious faith and worldly aspiration they are wholly different from other Indians.
From such a stock sprang Sundar Singh. His father was Sirdar Sher Singh, a Sikh by descent, and to this day a wealthy landowner in Rampur, in the State of Patiala, where on September 3, 1889, Sundar was born ; the youngest son in the family, but called to a higher destiny than them all. One of the family is Sirdar A. Nath Singh, commander of an Indian force in one of the Sikh States, while others have risen to even higher distinction still.
As a child Sundar was brought up in the lap of luxury. Every year as the hot. weather drew on, he was taken with the family to spend the summer in the cooler air of the Himalayas, usually to Simla.
His mother was a refined and gifted lady; very broadminded in her sympathies. She was on friendly terms: with the American Presbyterian Mission ladies, and permitted their visits to her home. From his earliest days the relationship between Sundar and his mother was of the tenderest character. He was the youngest of the family, and he seldom left her side. She would often say. to him, “ You must not be careless and worldly like your brothers. You must seek peace of soul and love religion, and some day you must become a holy sadhu.”
So frequently did he hear such words as these from his mother’s lips that he never contemplated any other life than this of which she spoke. Wherever she went her little son accompanied her, and she never ceased to teach him the best things she knew. By the time he was seven years of age he had learnt the. Bhagavadgita from beginning to end in Sanskrit. And then, at the age of fourteen, Sundar lost his dearest earthly friend. How he missed her gentle companionship no one knows, but to-day when he speaks of her his voice grows tender, and he believes that were she alive she would be satisfied to see him living and working as he is this day