Prof. Piara Singh Gill‏ – VILLAGE-JAGATPUR

Prof. Piara Singh Gill: Pioneer Educator and Author

Prof. Piara Singh Gill was a renowned linguist, writer and educator, of JagatPur, who did pioneering work in these fields. He belonged to Patti DHUMA, in village JagatPur, district NawanShehar. His father’s name is Mr. Jawala Singh and mother’s name is Mrs. RALI. He had a younger brother Karam Singh Gill and a younger sister PritamKaur.He was born on October5, 1905 and he passed away on June 16, 1981.

Ravinder Prof. Piara Singh Gill- Jalandhar,India – 1972 – Pic. by Jang Bahadur Gill	Prof. Piara Singh Gill & his younger brother Karm Singh Gill – Jagat Pur, India – 1976
Prof. Piara Singh Gill Ravinder Ravi & Charanjit Kaur – Jalandhar, India – December, 1969 – Pic. by Jang Bahadur	Karanjit(Billoo), Bikram, Prof. Piara Singh Gill, Rana & Jang – Jagat Pur(Nawan Shehar), India – 1956
Jang Bahadur Gill, Prof. Piara Singh Gill, Charanjit Kaur & Raj Shergill – Jalandhar, India – December, 1969	Sons Raj, Jang, Karanjit & Ravi(back row) wife Charanjit Kaur & daughter Bikram(front) – Jalandhar, India – December, 2002 – Pic. by Harman
Prof. Piara Singh Gill with elder son Ravinder Ravi -Jalandhar, India – December, 1969 – Pic. by Jang Bahadur	Jang Singh Bahadur Gill, Prof. Piara Singh Gill, Amritpal Shergill and Charanjit Kaur Gill – 1972
Prof. Piara Singh Gill – 1972

Ravinder Prof. Piara Singh Gill- Jalandhar, India – 1972 – Pic. by Jang Bahadur Gill
Prof. Piara Singh Gill was married to Mrs. CharanjitKaur(Ghumman) who served the JagatPurVillage Panchayat, as a Lady Panch, for several years, after 1947.Shebelonged to village Sammrhewal, in district Sialkot. She was born on October 1, 1915 and she passed away on February 12, 2012. Both of them had the following 5 children:
RavinderRavi(Ravinder Singh Gill – Canada), Jang Bahadur Singh Gill(Canada), Bikramjit Kaur (Sandhu – U.K.), Karanjit Singh Gill(Deceased – JagatPur) and Rajrujwant Singh Shergill(U.S.A.)
Prof. Piara Singh Gill(known as GYANI JI) passed his GYANI from HoshiarPurGyani College, around 1925 and started teaching Punjabi, in the Middle School at Khan Khana, district NawanShehar. After teaching here for about 2 years, he moved to Sialkot(now in Pakistan) and joined the Murray College Sialkot, as a teacher of Punjabi language and literature. He taught to the Graduating(B.A.) students for about 20 years, in this college, until the partition of India, in 1947. He was the first and only educator and author of village JagatPur, who taught to the college and the university students, before the partition of India, in 1947. During this time, he also wrote poems, short stories and essays for various Punjabi magazines.
GYANI used to be the highest academic qualification, in Punjabi language and literature, before the partition of India and well upto the beginning of the 1950s. It was equivalent to B.A.(Honours in Punjabi). The Gyani teachers taught, Punjabi, to the college and the university students, upto B.A. level. M.A.(Punjabi) started sometimes in the 1950s, in the independent India.
He co-authored: “NATAK RATNAKAR”, with GyaniKehar SinghAjit(village Herian, district Jalandhar). This was the first book of its kind in the literary criticism of Punjabi Drama. This book won the FIRST PRIZE, from the Lahore Text Book Committee, in 1932. “NatakRatnakar” is regarded as the first Reference Book(HavalaPustak) of Drama in Punjabi.
After partition, he returned to his ancestral village,JagatPur and taught in Khalsa High School, SarhalQazian(NawanShehar), for a short time, before joining the Punjabi and Divinity Departments of the LyallPurKhalsa College, Jalandhar. He taught to the Graduate and Post-Graduate students, in this college and became the Head of the Punjabi Department. He retired from this college around 1972 and started living in Jalandhar.
During this time, he wrote quite a few books of Punjabi Grammar that were published by Dhanpat Rai and Sons, Jalandhar as well as Daulat Ram Sehdev and Sons Jalandhar. These Punjabi Vyakarns were prescribed as courses of studies in Punjab and Haryana. Both publishers also published Supplementary Guide Books, written by him, for the college and university students.
In Murray College Sialkot, prominent Punjabi writers, such as Kapur Singh Ghumman(Playwright) and Dr. Jeet Singh Sital(Director, BhashaVibhag, Punjab) were among his students. In LyallPurKhalsa College, Jalandhar, he taught some of the renowned Punjabi personalities, such as Bharpur Singh(University Registrar/Principal), Mohan Singh Johal(Professor/Principal) Boota Singh(Indian Cabinet Minister/Governor)and Mukhtiar Singh Deol(Deputy Director of Sports, Punjab) etc.
Prof. Piara Singh Gill was a self-made and self-educated man. He did not receive any formal education from any school or college, except GYANI. He passed all school and university examinations, including Matriculation, B.A. and M.A.(Punjabi), as a private candidate. He was the first resident of village JagatPur, who obtained a Master’s Degree, in Punjabi, from the Punjab University, Chandigarh. Mukhtiar Singh Deol and Prof. Gill’s own son and a renowned Punjabi writer Ravinder Ravi soon followed him to become the second and third, respectively, in obtaining the M.A.(Punjabi) Degrees, in village JagatPur.
Prof. Piara Singh Gill was actively involved in the development of village JagatPur, throughout his life. He was the President of the Khalsa High School, SarhalQazian(NawanShehar) Management Committee, for several years. Before the partition of India, he was the President of the Khalsa High School, Babey Di Ber, Sialkot.

Written by: Ravinder Ravi