Khalsa College

Sikh leaders always realized the importance of good quality education. Several efforts were made by many Sikh educationists and intellectuals to achieve this objective. The Singh Sabha leaders worked persistently to make this dream true and start a college especially for the higher education of the Sikhs and other communities within Punjab. The British government supported this idea and the Khalsa College Establishment Committee was established in 1890.

Colonel W.R.M. Holroyd, the then Director of Public Instruction, Punjab was appointed as president and W. Bell, Principal of Government College, Lahore was made secretary of the committee. A committee of 121 members was constituted which had prominent Sikh personalities like Diwan Gurmukh Singh of Patiala, Gurdial Singh Mann of Nabha, Bhai Attar Singh, Bhai Kahn Singh, Bhai Jawahar Singh and Professor Gurmukh Singh.

This committee approached the Sikh princes for the help and support to start the college. Maharaja of Patiala donated generously for the noble cause and he was honored as the patron of the college. Similarly, Maharaja Hira Singh of Nabha and Maharaja Jagatjit Singh of Kapurthala also helped financialy with open hearts for this purpose.

When everything was going fine, a controversy arose between the Khalsa Diwans of Amritsar and Lahore over the location of the planned college as both the Diwans wanted to have the college in their respective cities. However, the Khalsa Diwan of Amritsar managed to submit a 2,000 feet long petition signed by more than forty five thousand signatories in front of the Establishment Committee in favour of Amritsar. The then Lt-Governor of Punjab, Sir James Lyall finally chose Amritsar over Lahore.

The committee chose the present location as it was away from the busy life of the city but at the same time it was close enough for the students of the city to travel daily. The foundation stone of the Khalsa College was laid on 5th March, 1892 by James Lyall in Amritsar over the huge 300 acre campus on the GT Road (Amritsar-Lahore highway). The land finalized for the college was just outside the village of Kot Sayed Mahmood which was later renamed as Kot Khalsa.

Though the college was inaugurated in March 1892 but the first batch was started on 22nd October, 1893. The opening ceremony was conducted in the open hall of the school premises with great enthusiasm. Religious prayers and other sacred hymns were sung by the priests followed by Karah Prasad and Langar distributed among the gathering present on the occasion. Many Sikh scholars like Bhai Veer Singh and Professor Ganda Singh have studied here.

Over the years, the Khalsa College acquired the highest status of the esteemed Sikh educational institution and became the pride of Sikhs. Today the college is academically affiliated to Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar established on 24th November, 1969. Many people are under the misconception that the Khalsa College was once the palace of Maharaja Ranjit Singh but it was never a part of any kingdom.

The main building of the college is a work of exemplary Mughal Art influenced by the traditional Sikh and Mughal schools of Architecture. The college was designed by a famous architect Bhai Ram Singh who was also the principal of Mayo School of Arts, Lahore (now National College of Arts, Lahore). Later he was honored for his services with the highest civilian award of British India, the Member of the Victorian Order (Royal Victorian Order).

Today, this institution runs faculties of Life Sciences, Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of Agriculture, Department of Computer Sciences, Law Department, Department of Commerce and Business Administration among others. Apart from classrooms and laboratories, the college has a double storey central library, a spacious conference hall and a seminar room equipped with the latest audio-visual facilities. The campus also has a Gurdwara, a gymnasium, a swimming pool, a health centre with a dispensary, a 220 acre dairy farm for students, a fruit farm, a nursery, a cricket stadium and well maintained play grounds.

The college achieved an important landmark in 1930 when Sikh History Research Department was set up at the college in the memory of historian Late Sardar Karam Singh who was very helpful in preserving the historical monuments and artifacts. This department has some rare and invaluable coins and weapons like Dhaal, Kataar, Chakkar, Bows and Kirpans of the 17th and 18th centuries. Besides the college campus, it also has the Khalsa College for Women, Khalsa College Girls High School, Khalsa College Boys Senior Secondary School and Khalsa College Public School.

Colonel W.R.M. Holroyd was the first president of the Khalsa College Governing Council, Amritsar and Dr. Johan Campbell Oman was the first Principal followed by Professor Kishen Singh as the first Sikh Principal of the Khalsa College. Professor Kishen Singh was a Math professor at the college and took over as Principal on 15th August, 1899 after Dr. John Campbell Oman. The college has produced many prominent and well known scholars, educationists, players, artists, bureaucrats and defence personnel. The corridor of the college displays photographs of all such distinguished personalities.

Eminent hockey players like Colonel Gurmeet Singh, Balbir Singh, Shahzada Khuram, Dharam Singh, Bakhshish Singh, Harbinder Singh, Ram Sarup Passi and Inder Singh have represented India. Former captain of the Indian cricket team Bishen Singh Bedi, Pratap Singh Kairon and Darbara Singh, both former Punjab CM’s, Air Marshall Arjan Singh, General Rajinder Singh Sparrow, General Mohinder Singh Chopra, the first martyr of Kargil Major Baljit Singh Randhawa, world famous eye surgeon Dr. Daljit Singh, Dr. Amrik Singh, Dr. Karam Singh Gill, novelist Mulkh Raj Anand, film director and screenwriter Kidar Sharma, filmmaker and writer Bhisham Sahni, Punjabi singers Amrinder Gill, Ranjit Bawa and many more famous personalities are the alumni of Khalsa College.

The Khalsa College campus has also attracted many Punjabi and Hindi film makers who have shot many videos and scenes for their films here. The outside court scenes of the famous film Veer Zara featuring Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta were filmed here. Another Shahrukh Khan film with Anushka Sharma, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi was also shot at Khalsa College.