A multi-dimensional colossus
By Harmeet Singh

FEW academicians enjoy the eminence which hallows the personality of Prof Bishan Singh Samundri, founder Vice-Chancellor of Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, who remained at the helm of the university affairs for nine long years, and who left for his heavenly abode on December 9, 1997. His sterling contribution to the building of this university and making it a premier institution of the nation is well known.

Born in a Sandhu Jat Sikh family in Chak No. 140 G.B. , a village near Samundri tehsil, of Lyallpur District (now Faislabad in Pakistan), he inherited the legacy of his illustrious father Sardar Teja Singh Samundri, a legendary figure of Gurdwara Reform Movement. Sardar Teja Singh Samundri willingly laid down his life for upholding the cause of religious liberty in the face of imperial repression. Teja Singh Samundri Hall within the holy precincts of the Golden Temple complex stands today as a living monument, commemorating his immense contribution.

Professor Samundri had his primary education at Samundri School in Samundri tehsil. He passed his matric examination after having studied at Guru Gobind Singh High School, Sarhali, near Rai Burj Ka, his ancestral village. After passing F.Sc. (agriculture) from Khalsa College, Amritsar, he graduated from Punjab Agriculture College, Lyallpur, in 1933 and completed his M.Sc. (agriculture) in 1948 with specialisation in agronomy. In 1957, he was awarded a scholarship to study abroad and this enabled him to secure his Master’s degree in education (with expertise in agriculture extension) from Ohio State University, Columbus, USA. His wife, J.K. Sandhu, who accompanied him to the USA, stayed back for another year to complete her Ph.D. in education. On coming back to India, she took to teaching. She retired as Principal, S.R. Government College for Women, Amritsar.

Professor Samundri started his professional career in the Agriculture Department at Lyallpur as a research assistant in 1934. In 1936, he was appointed a teacher at Punjab Agriculture College, Lyallpur. When after Partition, this college was shifted to Ludhiana, B.S. Samundri was promoted to the post of Assistant Professor in 1948. In 1957, he was selected Professor of Agriculture Extension and was designated as the Head of the Extension Wing of the college in 1962. In recognition of his research activities, he was declared an outstanding researcher of the Department of Agriculture in 1963.

In 1964, Professor Samundri took over as Principal, Khalsa College, Amritsar — a premier institution of the Sikhs. Khalsa College at this juncture was in a sorry state of affairs. Student unrest and mismanagement by the authorities had taken its toll and the effective sophomore strength had been reduced to less than 500. The office of the Principal of the College was, needless to say, no bed of roses either. Members of his family recall that a delegation of Khalsa College teachers on hearing of his appointment as Principal approached him and politely cautioned him against the risk he stood exposed to: there were chances of his good name getting tarnished in the process. But Professor Samundri’s singular reply was that since he had already sought blessings from the Almighty and Guru Ram Das at Harmandar Sahib in Amritsar, there was no going back for him. His faith in God, his fortitude, his commitment to the cause paid rich dividends. The facts speak for themselves as a meagre strength of 500 students was spectacularly raised to 3600 during his tenure as Principal from March 8, 1964, to November 1, 1969. Also significant are the facts that the college excelled both in academics and sports. A number of postgraduate courses in the college were started under his stewardship, and these were MA in political science, English, economics, and M.Sc. in agronomy, horticulture, soil science and agricultural economics. It was at this college that his outstanding leadership qualities and phenomenal managerial skills were given due recognition by the authorities, and he was appointed founder Vice-Chancellor of Guru Nanak Dev University in November, 1969.

The new university which came up in connection with the quincentenary birth celebrations of Guru Nanak was raised by Professor Samundri from scratch. He procured land, obtained funds, supervised its construction and recruited its staff. Despite being a devout Sikh, Professor Samundri was totally non-sectarian in his commitment to academics. He searched for talent all around in order to give the university the best possible faculty. Dr J.S. Grewal, an eminent Professor of history, was persuaded to join this university. Other academic luminaries included Dr J.S. Bains (political science) from Delhi University; Dr K.S. Rai (biology) from the USA; Dr Karam Singh Gill (economics), Member, Planning Commission; Dr Ramesh Kuntal Megh (Hindi) from Panjab University; Dr D.R. Maini (Hindi) from Panjab University; Dr K.R. Bombwall from Kurukshetra University; and A.C. Kapoor, from the Punjab Education Department. A remarkable trait of Professor Samundri was his ability to withstand political pressure howsoever formidable it was.

Academics apart, Professor Samundri has the unique distinction of making sizeable contribution in the field of sports. As a student, he represented his school, college, university and the state of Punjab in hockey. He was a member of the Executive of the Punjab Hockey Association from 1940 to 1956, and Vice-President of the Punjab Hockey Umpire Association from 1940 to 1947, and its President from 1948 to 1956. His abilities as a coach of hockey and as an umpire of this game were widely recognised. His proteges included Olympians like Colonel A.I.S. Dara, Jaffar Iqbal, Ghulam Rasul, Gurcharan Singh Randhawa, Charanjit Singh and Prithipal Singh. The 1964 Tokyo Olympics hockey final was played between India and Pakistan. The captains of both teams, Ghulam Rasul (Pakistan) and Charanjit Singh (India), had been his pupils and had been trained by him in hockey at Agriculture College, Lyallpur.

During his tenure as the Vice-Chancellor of Guru Nanak Dev University, Professor Samundri remained on the Executive Committee of the Association of Commonwealth Universities. After retirement, he was nominated to the Executive Council of Jawaharlal Nehru University and to the Governing Bodies of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute, Barrackpore, and the Jute Technological Research Laboratory, Calcutta. He was also a member of the Board of Directors of Bank of Punjab and was actively associated with Rotary International and the Pingalwara of Bhagat Puran Singh.

Throughout his life, Professor Samundri remained an ideal for the youth because of his puritan and spartan lifestyle. He was a unique combination of precept and profession.

Such was the man who is today fondly remembered by one and all who knew him as a devoted academician, a tough administrator with a kind heart and a noble soul. In his death, Punjab has lost a celebrated son who all his life strove to place the state’s name higher in the annals of history.