Harjinder Singh Dilgeer



Harjinder Singh Dilgeer (Punjabi: ਹਰਜਿੰਦਰ ਸਿੰਘ ਦਿਲਗੀਰ, born 22 October 1965) is a Sikh historian and author.

Dilgeer has translated Guru Granth Sahib in English. He has written about the concept and history of Akal Takht Sahib, Sikh culture, Shiromani Akali Dal, the history of Anandpur Sahib, Kiratpur Sahib, etc.

The Sikh Reference Book is his magnum opus. The Sikh Reference Book is an encyclopedia consisting of more than 2400 biographies, a chronology of Sikh history, 400 concepts of Sikh philosophy, and 800 Sikh shrines. He has produced a Sikh Encyclopedia CD-ROM.

Early life
Dilgeer was born on 22 October 1965, in the family of Gurbakhsh Singh and Jagtar Kaur, in Jalandhar, Punjab, India. in a family originally from Jaisalmer, in Rajasthan, then Mehraj village (now in Bathinda district). He was later based in Jalandhar and Jalalabad (Firozpur), and finally in Oslo. He is a citizen of Norway, and, presently lives in England.

Education and job
Dilgeer passed his M.A. in English, Punjabi, and Philosophy. He was awarded the degrees of Master of Philosophy, Bachelor of Laws, and PhD by Panjab University Chandigarh. He has passed the degree of Adi Granth Acharya.

He started teaching in various colleges in Punjab and finally at Panjab University Chandigarh. He has been a visiting teacher at the university. He has been teaching in Canada and England. He has been Director of the Sikh History Research Board as well as the Sikh Reference Library (SGPC). He is a former Director of the Guru Nanak Institute of Sikh Studies. Currently, he is the Director of Guru Nanak Research Institute (Birmingham, England). He is the Editor-in-Chief of "The Sikhs: Past& resent".

He has been the editor of the newspapers The Punjab Times (London) and The Sikh Times (Birmingham). He is also the Director of thesikhs.org.

Awards
In Denmark in 1995, he was presented with the Shan-i-Punjab award; in 2004, he was given the Giani Garja Singh Award in Ludhiana; in 2005, he was presented with the Kohinoor Award, the National Professor of Sikh Studies award and a gold medal in Birmingham (England); in 2006, he was given the Bhai Gurdas award in Amritsar; and, in 2009, he was presented with the National Professor of Sikh History award at Chandigarh. In 2014, he was awarded a gold medal in Toronto. He was given the award of "Heera-e-Qaum" by the Haryana SGPC on 11 November 2017.