Text,context, and history: Bhai Vir Singh's Bijay Singh
- Panjabi University: Research Journal Social Sciences
- 29(1,2,3), 2021: p.76-96
This paper illustrates the relationship between literature and history by analyzing Bhai Vir Singh's novel Bijay Singh (1899) as a social document. Its relationship with the author's earlier novel Sundari (1898), which is commonly considered the first Punjabi novel, is also brought out. Both historically and ideologically, Bhai Vir Singh is generally regarded as a product of the Singh Sabha movement which emerged in Punjab in 1873. The larger colonial context, however, is overlooked by scholars which is taken up in this paper. It also shows how Sundari as the seed book is supplemented and complemented by Bijay Singh which may be seen as its sequel.The two novels share the same ideological stance and lay emphasis on distinctiveness of Sikh identity. They share a common historical setting and concern for the future of the Sikhs. But, as a whole, the second novel presents a fuller social picture and a better integrated text. Notwithstanding the avowed apolitical stance of the Singh Sabha movement, the author's. disapproval of colonial situation too is evident. In Bijay Singh it is possible to see the evolution of Bhai Vir Singh's social and political consciousness and also of his craft. – Reproduced