Bhagat Puran Singh

He was born on 4 June 1904 at Rajewal in Ludhiana district, according to Pingalwara's biography. He was raised in a Hindu family under the name Ramji Das. His mother was Mehtab Kaur, and his father, Shibu Mal, a moneylender, lost his means after the drought of 1913. The biography credits his mother with paying for his schooling through hard work.

He studied at a school hostel at Khanna from 1916 to 1923 and failed his matriculation. At Lahore he began attending Gurdwara Dehra Sahib, where he received the name Puran Singh. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism gives another motive for his interest, saying he was impressed as a boy by the Maharaja of Patiala's retinue at the Fatehgarh Sahib festival.[Web][EoS]

He took a vow of celibacy and committed himself to service. Pingalwara's history dates this work to 1924. In 1934 a disabled boy of four was left at the gurdwara's gate. He named the boy Piara and cared for him from then on. He later said that Pingalwara might not have existed without him.[Web][Web][EoS]

He reached the refugee camp at Khalsa College, Amritsar, on 18 August 1947, carrying Piara Singh on his back. The camp closed at the end of that year, and he moved from site to site in the city with his patients. The Encyclopaedia says that the Rehabilitation Department gave him a building in July 1952. The home took people of any caste or creed and got them treatment through local hospitals. He also ran a printing press.

The Encyclopaedia reports more than 400 residents in 1978. He returned his Padma Shri after the army's operation at the Harmandir Sahib and the Akal Takht in June 1984. He fell ill in June 1992 and passed away on 5 August 1992. India Post issued a stamp on his centenary in 2004.[Web][EoS][Web][Web]