Bhai Kahn Singh Nabha was born on the 30th August 1861 to Bhai Narain Singh the head of Gurdwara Dera Baba Ajapal Singh, and Mata Har Kaur.


The eldest of three brothers and one sister, bhai kahn singh nabha did not attend any formal schools. Instead his father arranged for his studies in Hindi, Brij Bhasha and Sanskrit from Pandits around Nabha. By the age of 10 he could freely recite both Guru Granth Sahib ji and Dasam Granth Sahib. After all worldly knowledge is pointless without spiritual knowledge


ਕੁੰਭੇ ਬਧਾ ਜਲੁ ਰਹੈ ਜਲ ਬਿਨੁ ਕੁੰਭੁ ਨ ਹੋਇ ॥

ku(n)bhe badhaa jal rahai jal bin ku(n)bh na hoi ||

Water remains confined within the pitcher, but without water, the pitcher could not have been formed;


ਗਿਆਨ ਕਾ ਬਧਾ ਮਨੁ ਰਹੈ ਗੁਰ ਬਿਨੁ ਗਿਆਨੁ ਨ ਹੋਇ ॥੫॥

giaan kaa badhaa man rahai gur bin giaan na hoi ||5||

just so, the mind is restrained by spiritual wisdom, but without the Guru, there is no spiritual wisdom. ||5||


At the age of 20 Bhai Sahib had the urge to learn persian, and despite many peoples protest bhai sahib learned it from Malwis in delhi. 


In 1883, he went to lahore where he assisted Professor Gurmukh Singh, one of the profound leaders of the Singh Sabha movement. 


In 1885, he had a chance meeting with Max Arthur Macauliffe which led to a lifelong friendship. Macauliffe depended a great deal on his advice and guidance in the work he was then doing on Sikh scriptures and on the history of early Sikhi. He took him along to England when his 6 volume, The Sikh Religion was being printed at the Clarendon Press. Such was his admiration for Bhai Kahn Singh that he assigned to him the copyright of the book.


In 1877 he was appointed tutor to Ripudaman Singh the heir to the Nabha State. From here he went on to have several jobs, from the Maharaja’s private secretary, to the judge of the high court. 


In 1898, he published Hum Hindu nahin, a book where he distinguished the many differences between the Sikh and Hindu religion, something that even today still goes unchallenged. 


The “Gurmat Prabhakar”, a glossary of Sikh terminology, concepts and institutions, was published in 1898, and “Gurmat Sudhakar”, an anthology of important Sikh texts, scriptural and historical, in 1899. 


However his most famous work was the Gur Shabad Ratnakar mahan kosh, the Sikh encyclopedia. He spent 14 years vigorously researching the ins and outs of sikhi’s main concepts and prepared a perfect gift for the Panth. A clear succinct and wonderful exposition of sikh history, culture and religion. 


Bhai Kahn Singh passed away on November 24, 1938, leaving behind a rich legacy. Many generations have passed, but this extraordinary scholar still lives through his works. He was given the honorific title of “Sardar Bahadur” in 1933 by the British government.


Even today his works go unchallenged and the RSS have made their attempts to separate him from the Sikh religion, urging Sikhs to adopt western scholars writings instead of Kahn Singh Nabha’s. 


This proves that when a Sikh understands, lives and breathes Gurbani and Sikh ideology, no matter how great your opposition will be you will still emerge victorious.