Mian Goverdhan Singh (8 August 1928 – 1 March 2003) was a writer and librarian from

Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; Sanskrit: ''himācāl prādes;'' "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a States and union territories of India, state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen Indian Himalayan ...

, India. He is noted for his books on the history, cultural traditions, and historic architectures of Himachal Pradesh. He is also known for having facilitated the research for a number of well-known books, both during and after his tenure as librarian at the State Secretariat Library in

Shimla Shimla, also known as Simla ( the official name until 1972), is the capital and the largest city of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. In 1864, Shimla was declared the summer capital of British India. After independence, the city ...

, Himachal Pradesh.

Life and career

Mian Goverdhan Singh was born on 8 August 1928 at village Shadi in the erstwhile princely state of

Jubbal Jubbal is a tehsil, town and a nagar panchayat in Shimla district in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh which shares its boundary with the state of Uttrakhand towards south-east. Jubbal is recognised as a major apple producing area in Shimla ...

, located in the southern parts of the present-day Himachal Pradesh state. His father, Mian Joban Das, was a 'vakil' (lawyer) to the

Raja Raja (; from , IAST ') is a noble or royal Sanskrit title historically used by some Indian subcontinent, Indian rulers and monarchs and highest-ranking nobles. The title was historically used in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. T ...

of Jubbal. Singh passed out with a BA in Library Service from

Panjab University Panjab University (PU) is an Indian collegiate public state university located in Chandigarh. Funded through both State and Union governments, it is considered a state university. It traces its origins to the University of the Punjab in Lahor ...

in 1955. He was married to Tikam Devi. He served as a librarian, and later as Chief Librarian, at the State Secretariat Library at

for over three decades, till his retirement in October 1988. Singh was instrumental in the development of this library. There, Singh guided and facilitated the research for a number of academic scholars and other writers. He wrote several books on the history, cultural traditions, historic architecture, and economy of Himachal Pradesh. Singh died on 1 March 2003.

Awards and other recognition

* In 1986, Singh was awarded the first ever Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar State Honour, by the

Government of Himachal Pradesh The Government of Himachal Pradesh also known as the State Government of Himachal Pradesh, or locally as State Government, is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. It consists of an executive branch, led by th ...

. * In 1996, Singh was awarded the 'Shikhar Samman' by the Himachal Pradesh Academy. * Singh's book ''Art and Architecture of Himachal Pradesh'' (1983) has a Foreword by the British travel writer

Penelope Chetwode Penelope Valentine Hester Chetwode, Lady Betjeman (14 February 1910 – 11 April 1986) was an English travel writer. She was the only daughter of Field Marshal Lord Chetwode, and the wife of poet laureate Sir John Betjeman. She was born at Alders ...

. Chetwode's grand-daughter, Imogen Lycett Green, notes that Singh was a friend and facilitator for Chetwode's research in the Himalayas of Himachal Pradesh. * Singh's book ''Festivals, Fairs, and Customs of Himachal Pradesh'' (1992) has introductory notes by the Himachali historian O.C. Handa. The chapter 'Folkdances' in Handa's own book ''Western Himalayan Folk Arts'' (2006) begins with an anecdote related to Singh and his home in Jubbal. * Mark Elmore calls Singh's book ''Festivals, Fairs, and Customs of Himachal Pradesh'' a classic work on these subjects, in his book ''Becoming Religious in a Secular Age'' (2016). * V. Verma dedicated his book ''Shimla Hill States in the 19th Century'' (2008) to Singh. * Singh was among the deceased litterateurs of Himachal honored and commemorated at an event organized by the Himachal Academy and Accord India and supervised by

S.R. Harnot S.R. Harnot born 22 January 1955) is a creative writer from Himachal Pradesh, India. He is noted for his numerous poems, short stories, and novels in Hindi and Pahadi. He has received multiple awards on the state, national, and international lev ...

in Shimla, over 25 December 2021 till 2 January 2022. * A number of writers on Shimla and Himachal Pradesh have acknowledged Singh's singular contributions towards facilitating the research for their books or articles, and guiding them to rare and obscure materials. This list includes, among many others, Sir Patrick Leigh Fermor (1979), Raaja Bhasin (1992), Chetan Singh (1998), and Mark Brentnall (2004). * The book ''Himachal - Past, Present & Future'' (1975), which contains three chapters by Singh, has been archived online by

archive.org The Internet Archive is an American non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including websites, software applic ...

Controversy

Singh's English-language book ''Himachal Pradesh: History, Culture, and Economic Condition'' was in controversy in August 2021, over its allegedly derogatory remarks on

Gurjar The Gurjar (or Gujjar, Gujar, Gurjara) are an agricultural ethnic community, residing mainly in India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, divided internally into various clan groups. They were traditionally involved in agriculture, pastoral and nomadic ...

women. On 16 August, members of the Gurjar community protested against the book in Mandi, seeking a withdrawal of the book by the Government of Himachal Pradesh. On 19 August, the Gurjar community protested at

Anandpur Sahib Anandpur Sahib, also referred simply as Anandpur (), is a city in Rupnagar district (Ropar), on the edge of Shivalik Hills, in the Indian state of Punjab. Located near the Sutlej River, the city is one of the most sacred religious places in Si ...

, seeking a withdrawal of the book by the Government of Himachal Pradesh and legal action against its publisher, the Minerva Book House of Shimla. Soon afterwards, the

Shiromani Akali Dal The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) (translation: ''Supreme Eternal Party'') is a centre-right Sikh-centric state political party in Punjab, India. The party is the second-oldest in India, after Congress, being founded in 1920. Although there are ma ...

sought the arrest of the book's 'author' and the 'translator'. Singh had died in 2003, and the book had no translator as it had originally been in English. However, 'translator' seemingly referred to C.L. Gupta, who had revised the book for its 2016 reprint. From that period on, as of February 2023, the media had no further coverage on this subject.

Bibliography

* Singh, Mian Goverdhan. (1982). ''Art and Architecture of Himachal Pradesh''. Delhi: B.R. Publishing Corporation. * Singh, Mian Goverdhan. (1992). ''Himachal Pradesh: History, Culture, and Economy''. Shimla: Minerva Book House. * Singh, Mian Goverdhan. (1992). ''Festivals, Fairs, and Customs of Himachal Pradesh''. Delhi: Indus Publishing Company. * Singh, Mian Goverdhan. (1996). ''Himachal Pradesh ka Itihas'' (in Hindi). Reliance Publishing House. * Singh, Mian Goverdhan. (1999). ''Wooden Temples of Himachal Pradesh''. Delhi: Indus Publishing Company. * Negi, J. and Singh, Mian Goverdhan. (1999). ''Himachal Pradesh: Ek Etihasik Sarvekshan'' (in Hindi).

References

{{reflist Scholars from Himachal Pradesh Writers from Himachal Pradesh People from Shimla district 20th-century Indian historians Panjab University alumni Himalayan studies