SAMMAN SINGH, BHAl
SAMMAN SINGH, BHAl (1896-1921), one of the Nankana Sahib martyrs, was born in Savan 1953 Bk/July August 1896, the son of Bhai Pala Singh and Mai Man Kaur of Bandala village in Amritsar district. The family later settled in Chakk No. 71 Bandala Bachan Singhvala in Lyallpur district. Samman Singh learnt to read Gurmukhi at the village gurdwara where he was also admitted to the vows of the Khalsa Panth. He served in the 92nd Battalion during the Great War (1914-18) for about four years.
After his release from the army, he joined the campaign for the reform of shrine management. He and his elder brother, Pritam Singh, registered themselves as Akali volunteers. When the call for action came on 19 February 1921, Pritam Singh was away visiting some relation, but the youngest of the seven brothers, Bara Singh, offered to take his place. Both Samman Singh and Bara Singh joined the jatha of Bhai Lachhman Singh and fell martyrs in the compound of Gurdwara Janam Asthan on the morning of 20 February 1921. Both brothers dying as bachelors, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee sanctioned a pension in the nam of their mother.
References :
1. Shamsher, Gurbakhsh Singh, Shahidi Jivan. Nankana Sahib, 1938.