Dhanna Singh (photographer)

Dhanna Singh 'Patialvi' (c. 1893 or 1905 – 2 March 1935) was a photographer of colonial-era Punjab.[note 1][1][2][3][4] He captured hundreds of photographs of Sikh shrines while travelling around on his bicycle and camera in the 1920s and 1930s.[5] He called himself 'cycle yatru' (meaning "cycle pilgrim").[2][6] Travelling over 20,000 miles on his bike, he visited more than 1,600 Sikh sites and captured photographs of many of them.[3][4] The areas in India he visited stretched from Kashmir in the north, Nanded (Sri Hazur Sahib) in the south, Peshawar (Jamrud) in the west, and Assam in the east.[3] In-addition to his photographs, he also recorded travel diaries.[3] His photograph tour was active from 11 March 1930 to 2 March 1935, consisting of nine trips.[3][4]

Biography

Dhanna Singh was born as Lal Singh Chahal in Ghannauri village of Sangrur district in circa 1893 in a Chahal Jatt family as the son of Sundar Singh.[1] After the death of his father when he was around ten-years-old, he was raised in the Rajendra-Deva Yatimkhana orphanage alongside his brother in Patiala, where he received a religious education.[1] He would later work in the royal garage of the ruling Patiala family, getting the job via a connection to Jiva Singh, who had been working there, Lal Singh looked after the vehicles of Maharaja Bhupinder Singh and was a driver.[7][5][1][3] Dhanna Singh was a resident of Changli, Dhuri tehsil, Sangrur district.[4]

During a trip to Nanded in the Deccan, he became influenced by Sant Nidhan Singh, with Lal Singh undergoing the Pahul baptism ceremony and took-on the Khalsa name of Dhanna Singh and retired from his job with the Patiala state.[5][1] He began his cycling tours in the 1920s, with him first travelling to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Bengal, and Assam.[5] The model of bicycle he rode-on was the Elswick Company, No. 56113 H.C.[3] During his trip to Ayodhya, he did not mention the Babri Masjid dispute in his writings but he did record about the Sikh history of the city.[8] He returned to Patiala after three years, with his accounts being recorded in Sikh newspapers, and decided to purchase a camera and learn photography to capture subsequent trips.[1] In 1931, he was mentioned by Nahar Singh in the Khalsa Samachar.[4] Furthermore, he is referenced in the Encyclopedia of Sikhism.[4] He featured in the Phulwari periodical during 1935. After travelling around 25,000 miles on his bicycle as part of his photographic-cycling tour, Dhanna Singh was killed in an accidental discharge of a weapon on 2 March 1935 at Hasokhel village near Mir Ali in Bannu district, North-West Frontier Province.[5][1][3][4]

Collection

Before going on his final expedition, he had left his collection of photographs in the safe possession of mistri Gurbaksh Singh of Patiala, which passed onto Seva Singh, his son, and then onto another family, which donated them to the Panjab Digital Library.[5][1] Dhanna Singh's work remained largely unknown in the years after his death until Chetan Singh (former Director of the Punjab Languages Department), came across his photos and diaries in his family's collection and published them, making them more widely known to the public.[3][4]

Much of the structures and sites that Dhanna Singh photographed have since been demolished or altered due to renovations in the past 60–80 years, no longer resembling their state in the 1930s, making it challenging to identify some of the sites he photographed. However, Dhanna Singh wrote detailed inscriptions on the back of his photographs which provide information on the captured scene.[7][9] His eight diaries and around 200 photographs were digitized by the Panjab Digital Library.[5] Fifteen of Dhanna Singh's two-hundred photographs were presented in a webinar titled De-Freezing 1930's Panjab by Davinder Singh and Daljit Ami on 20 August 2011.[7][9]

  • Photograph of the Naina Devi temple of Bilaspur, taken by Dhanna Singh Chahal 'Patialvi', 1934
  • Photograph of Jamrud Fort, taken by Dhanna Singh Chahal 'Patialvi', 1932
  • Photograph of Gurdwara Patshahi Dasvin in Nadaun, taken by Dhanna Singh Chahal 'Patialvi', 1933
  • Photograph of Gurdwara Kiara Sahib, by Dhanna Singh Chahal 'Patialvi', 3 October 1933
  • Photograph of the hot springs at Manikaran in Kullu district, taken by Dhanna Singh Chahal 'Patialvi', June 1933
  • Photograph of Guru Nanak's "chakki" (hand-millstone) relic at Gurdwara Chakki Sahib, Eminabad, taken by Dhanna Singh Chahal 'Patialvi', 4 October 1932

Notes

  1. ^ His name is alternatively spelt as 'Dhana'.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Singh, Gurmukh. "Encyclopedia of Sikhism (online version) - DHANNĀ SIṄGH, BHĀĪ". Encyclopedia of Sikhism. Punjabi University, Patiala. Retrieved 7 December 2025.
  2. ^ a b Sethi, Chitleen K. (19 August 2015). "THE CHRONICLER OF FAITH - REDISCOVERED IMAGES Tireless man's bicycle journeys across religious shrines seen from his lens 85 years later". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 7 December 2025.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Kahlon, Harpreet Singh (22 November 2020). Kaur, Rajwinder (ed.). "1933 Tōṁ 2019 taka: Gurū nānaka dēva jī dē rāhavāṁ dē dō pāndhī atē virāsatāṁ dī niśānadēhī" 1933 ਤੋਂ 2019 ਤੱਕ : ਗੁਰੂ ਨਾਨਕ ਦੇਵ ਜੀ ਦੇ ਰਾਹਵਾਂ ਦੇ ਦੋ ਪਾਂਧੀ ਅਤੇ ਵਿਰਾਸਤਾਂ ਦੀ ਨਿਸ਼ਾਨਦੇਹੀ [From 1933 to 2019: Two Travelers on Guru Nanak’s Path and the Mapping of Legacies]. Jagbani (Punjabi Kesari) (in Punjabi). Retrieved 23 February 2026.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Kaur, Rajwinder (3 December 2020). "'Āra nānaka pāra nānaka'" 'ਆਰ ਨਾਨਕ ਪਾਰ ਨਾਨਕ' [Nanak on This Side, Nanak on That Side]. Jagbani (Punjabi Kesari) (in Punjabi). Retrieved 23 February 2026.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Sethi, Chitleen K. (20 August 2015). "A Sikh pilgrim's chronicle of gurdwaras across the nation in 1930s". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 7 December 2025.
  6. ^ Jacobsen, Knut A.; Myrvold, Kristina (Jan 15, 2019). "3 Visualizing Sikh warrior, royalties, and rebels: Photography in colonial Punjab". Religion and Technology in India: Spaces, Practices and Authorities. Routledge. ISBN 9781351204774.
  7. ^ a b c "De-Freezing 1930s Panjab Webinar". Panjab Digital Library. September 2011. Retrieved 7 December 2025.
  8. ^ Brar, Kamaldeep Singh (24 January 2024). "How a Sikh traveller in 1930s recorded Ayodhya and tales of Ram in relation with Sikh Gurus". The Indian Express. Retrieved 7 December 2025.
  9. ^ a b "Liv - De-Freezing 1930's Panjab". Sikh Research Institute. 20 August 2011. Retrieved 7 December 2025.

Further reading

  • Singh, Chetan (September 2016). Gur Tirath Cycle Yatra (in Punjabi). Walsall: European Punjabi Saath. ISBN 9788385648038. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: checksum (help)
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