Rattan Singh Jaggi
A Patiala scholar of Punjabi and Hindi literature known for his commentaries on Sikh scripture, honoured with the Padma Shri in 2023. He died in 2025.
Rattan Singh Jaggi was a scholar of Punjabi and Hindi literature whose special field was Gurmat and the literature of the Bhakti movement. He was named for the Padma Shri in 2023 in the field of literature and education, from Punjab [1].
Six decades of scholarship
Jaggi was born on 27 July 1927 and gave more than 60 years to the study of medieval literature [2]. He retired in 1987 as professor and head of the department of Punjabi literary studies at Punjabi University, Patiala, and kept writing well into his nineties [2].
His 1962 doctorate was a critical study of the Puranic compositions in the Dasam Granth, and in 1973 he received a DLitt for work on Guru Nanak’s life and teachings [2]. In 2000 he published a five-volume commentary on the Dasam Granth, and he came to be regarded as an authority on the text [2].
Commentaries and encyclopaedias
He wrote several books on Guru Nanak, and for the 550th anniversary of Guru Nanak’s birth the Punjab government published his edition and explanation of Guru Nanak’s hymns in Punjabi and Hindi [2]. He compiled a reference dictionary of Punjabi literature in 1994, a five-volume history of Punjabi literature, an encyclopaedia of the Guru Granth Sahib in 2002 and an Encyclopedia of Sikhism in 2005 [2]. In 2013 he completed Bhav Prabodhini Teeka, a detailed commentary on the Guru Granth Sahib, and in 2017 brought out a Hindi edition [2].
His Punjabi transliteration and translation of Tulsidas’s Ramcharitmanas won the Sahitya Akademi award in 1989 [2]. He also received the Punjab government’s highest literary honour, the Punjabi Sahit Rattan, in 1996 [2].
Jaggi died in Patiala on 22 May 2025 after a brief illness [3][4].
Sources
- [1] Padma Awards 2023: list of awardees — Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. Accessed 21 October 2026.
- [2] Padma Awards 2023: citation for Rattan Singh Jaggi — Padma Awards, Government of India. Accessed 21 October 2026.
- [3] Renowned Sikh scholar Dr Rattan Singh Jaggi dies at 98 — The Tribune. Accessed 21 October 2026.
- [4] Padma Shri Dr Rattan Singh Jaggi passes away; cremation on May 23 in Patiala — Babushahi. Accessed 21 October 2026.
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