ਨਾਨਕ ਸਿੰਘ
ਵਿਕਿਪੀਡਿਆ ਤੋਂ
ਨਾਨਕ ਸਿੰਘ
ਨਾਨਕ ਸਿੰਘ ਨੂੰ ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਵਿੱਚ ਨਾਵਲਕਾਰੀ ਦਾ ਪਿਤਾਮਾ ਕਿਹਾ ਜਾਦਾ ਹੈ। ਉਹ ਪੰਜਾਬ, ਹੁਣ ਪਾਕਿਸਤਾਨ ਵਿੱਚ, ਦੇ ਇੱਕ ਹਿੰਦੂ ਪਰਿਵਾਰ ਵਿੱਚ 4 ਜੁਲਾਈ 1897 ਵਿੱਚ ਪੈਦਾ ਹੋਏ ਸਨ। ਗਰੀਬੀ ਕਰਕੇ, ਉਹਨਾਂ ਨੇ ਕੋਈ ਰਵਾਇਤੀ ਵਿੱਦਿਆ ਨਹੀਂ ਪਰਾਪਤ ਕੀਤੀ ਸੀ। ਉਹਨਾਂ ਦਾ ਪਹਿਲਾਂ ਨਾਂ ਹੰਸ ਰਾਜ ਸੀ ਅਤੇ ਬਾਅਦ ਵਿੱਚ ਉਹਨਾਂ ਸਿੱਖ ਧਰਮ ਗਰੈਹਣ ਕਰ ਲਿਆ ਅਤੇ ਆਪਣਾ ਨਾਂ ਨਾਨਕ ਸਿੰਘ ਰੱਖ ਲਿਆ।
ਉਹਨਾਂ ਲਿਖਣ ਦਾ ਕੰਮ ਛੋਟੀ ਉਮਰ ਵਿੱਚ ਬੜੇ ਹੀ ਇਤਿਹਾਸਿਕ ਘਟਨਾ ਨਾਲ ਕੀਤਾ। ਨਾਨਕ ਸਿੰਘ ਜੀ ਨੇ ਗੁਰਦੁਅਾਰਾ ਸੁਧਾਰ ਲਹਿਰ ਵਿੱਚ ਸਿੱਖਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਇੱਕਠਾ ਕਰਨ ਲਈ ਧਾਰਮਿਕ ਗੀਤ ਲਿਖਣ ਸ਼ੁਰੂ ਕੀਤੇ। ਈਸਵੀ 1918 ਵਿੱਚ ਉਹਨਾਂ ਨੇ ਸਿੱਖ ਗੁਰੂਆਂ ਦੀ ਉਸਤਤ ਵਿੱਚ ਪਹਿਲੀਂ ਕਿਤਾਬ ਲਿਖੀ, ਜੋ ਕਿ 100 ਤੋਂ ਵੱਧ ਗਿਣਤੀ ਵਿੱਚ ਵਿਕ ਗਈ।
ਨਾਨਕ ਸਿੰਘ 1971 ਵਿੱਚ ਅਕਾਲ ਚਲਾਣਾ ਕਰ ਗਏ।
ਨਾਨਕ ਸਿੰਘ ਪਹਿਲਾਂ ਧਾਰਮਿਕ ਝੁਕਾ ਰੱਖਦੇ ਸਨ, ਹੌਲੀ ਹੌਲੀ ਉਹਨਾਂ ਨੇ ਸਮਾਜ ਸੁਧਾਰ ਲਈ ਦੇਸ਼-ਭਗਤੀ ਗੀਤ ਲਿਖ ਲੱਗ ਪਏ। ਆਪਣੇ ਸੰਸਾਰ ਪਰਸਿੱਧ "ਚਿੱਟਾ ਲਹੂ" ਵਿੱਚ ਨਾਨਕ ਸਿੰਘ ਲਿਖਦੇ ਹਨ, "ਇੰਞ ਜਾਪਦਾ ਹੈ ਕਿ ਸਾਡੇ ਸਮਾਜ ਦੇ ਖੂਨ ਵਿੱਚ ਲਾਲ ਰਕਤਾਣੂ ਖਤਮ ਹੋ ਗਏ ਹਨ।" ਨਤਾਸ਼ਾ ਤਾਲਸਤਾਏ, ਜੋ ਕਿ ਸੰਸਾਰ ਪਰਸਿੱਧ ਰੂਸੀ ਨਾਵਲਕਾਰ ਲਿਓ ਤਾਲਸਤਾਏ ਦੀ ਪੋਤਰੀ ਸੀ, ਨੇ ਨਾਨਕ ਸਿੰਘ ਨੇ ਨਾਵਲ "ਚਿੱਟਾ ਲਹੂ" ਨੂੰ ਰੂਸੀ ਵਿੱਚ ਅਨੁਵਾਦ ਕੀਤਾ। ਉਸ ਨੇ ਨਾਵਲ ਦੀ ਪਹਿਲੀ ਕਾਪੀ ਨਾਨਕ ਸਿੰਘ ਨੂੰ ਭੇਂਟ ਕਰਨ ਲਈ ਅੰਮ੍ਰਿਤਸਰ ਦੀ ਆਈ।
The following year was a great turning point. The incident in Jallianwala Bagh had a great impact on Nanak Singh. On April 13, 1919, Nanak Singh was present at the at the rally when British troops opened machine gun fire and killed over a thousand people. He got buried under the dead bodies and escaped death when two of his friends were gunned down. This incident impelled Nanak Singh to write blazing poems. He penned 'Khooni Visakhi', an epic poem that mocked the colonial rule and unmasked the cruelty of the British Government. The British Government became extremely concerned about his provocative writing. They immediately banned the book and confiscated every copy of it.
Nanak Singh also participated in India’s independence struggle by joining the Akali movement. attending a peaceful Akali (a Sikh Movement) demonstration at Guru Ka Bagh in November 1922. He began to edit Akali papers that too came to the notice of the British Government. He was charged with participation in unlawful political activities and was sent to Borstal Jail, Lahore. He vividly described the savagery and oppression of the British on peaceful Sikhs during the Guru Ka Bagh Morcha (demonstration) in his second poetry book, ‘Zakhmi Dil’. It was first published in January 1923 and banned within two weeks.
Nanak' Singh pursued a new literary path of writing novels while in jail. He hand wrote over 40,000 pages in long hand Gurmukhi (Punjabi) script. He was recognized with many awards, including Punjab's highest literary award in 1960. His great historical novel, Ik Mian Do Talwaran (One Sheath and Two Swords, 1959) won him India’s highest literary honour, the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1962.
He wrote the novel Pavitar Paapi (Saintly Sinner) in 1942. The novel became immensely popular and won him literary acclaim. It was translated into Hindi and several other Indian languages and was adapted into a smash hit movie in 1968. Currently, the novel is in its 28th reprint in Punjabi. His grandson, Navdeep Singh Suri, translated the book into English.
Quoting The Tribune, “Nanak Singh was the best selling novelist in India for thirty to forty years. He wrote over 50 books including novels and collection of short stories. He made significant contributions to various literary genres. For him character was the determination of incident and incident the illustration of character. His greatest contribution to Punjabi fiction is its secularisation. He depicted excerpts from contemporary life, cloaked with a veil of romantic idealism.”
The direction of his writing changed from religious hymns to patriotic songs to novels of social reform. In his world famous novel "Chitta Lahu", Nanak Singh writes, "It seems to imply that in the lifeblood of our society, red corpuscles have disappeared." Natasha Tolstoy, granddaughter of the World Renowned Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy, translated Nanak Singh's novel "Chitta Lahu" (White Blood) into Russian. She visited Nanak Singh in Amritsar to present the first copy of the translated novel to him.
The late former President of India Giani Zail Singh, helped to bring a copy of "Khooni Visakhi" (Bloody Visakhi) to India from a museum in England.
Nanak Singh’s popularity remains unchanged even in the 21st century. His birth centenary was celebrated in 1997. In his honour, India’s then Prime-Minister Mr. Inder Kumar Gujral, released a postal stamp in 1998.