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Open Research Questions
ਖੁੱਲ੍ਹੇ ਖੋਜ ਪ੍ਰਸ਼ਨ
This archive is not a finished product. This page lists what remains genuinely unresolved, why, what evidence would settle each question, and where it is likely to be found — so a visiting researcher can see exactly where the evidence runs out.
15 questions14 open · 1 partially resolvedno answer is invented
Showing all 15 questions.
The register
openLegacydepends on the 2026 biography
OQ-0What does the 2026 English translation of Dr Piar Singh’s biography say — and what did Piar Singh cite?#
Current evidence
The standard 1975 Punjabi biography now exists in English (released at GNDU, May 2026). This archive has not yet acquired or read it. Its exact printed title, ISBN and launch date are unconfirmed; two press reports give different title word-orders and different dates.
Why unresolved
The volume is not yet in hand. A copy circulating on a document-sharing site carries no evidence of rights clearance and is not used.
What would settle it
A legitimately acquired copy, read against a fixed inspection list of every claim below marked “depends on the biography”, with page numbers recorded for each. Its source apparatus — which archives Piar Singh used in 1975 — may be the most valuable outcome of all.
Likely repository
Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar (publisher); Bhai Gurdas Library, GNDU (catalogue record)
Current treatment
Every claim whose confidence may change is marked research-dependent and keeps its current tier until the book is read and any change is logged.
OQ-2Where was he held at the time of his death — the contested choice between Lahore Fort and Lahore Central Jail?#
Current evidence
He was shifted to Lahore Fort for trial after October 1923 (well supported). Lahore Fort is named as the place of death in a 2026 centenary essay; Lahore Central Jail in Tribune and Babushahi reports of the 2026 book launch and in his grandson’s remarks. One account has him moved from Amritsar jail to the Fort and then to the Central Jail on 25 January 1925.
Conflict
Two named locations, roughly four kilometres apart. No primary record adjudicates between them.
Why unresolved
Every source is secondary. A transfer between the two is exactly what a jail admission register would record, and none has been consulted.
What would settle it
Punjab jail admission and death registers for 1923–1926; the trial record of the fifty-nine; or the Piar Singh biography’s source apparatus once read.
Likely repository
Punjab State Archives (Chandigarh / Patiala); National Archives of India; British Library India Office Records; Punjab (Pakistan) Archives, Lahore
Current treatment
This archive writes “died in custody in Lahore”. Both sites are shown on the Places page and both are marked contested.
OQ-3Did the Sikh Gurdwaras Act 1925, as enacted, extend the vote to Sikh women — and what was its original wording?#
Current evidence
The consolidated statute’s elector provisions are framed in sex-neutral terms (“Every person…”), the definition of “Sikh” carries no sex qualification, and a targeted search of the electoral sections found no sex-based disqualification. The assent date was separately corrected to 28 July 1925 from the statute’s own header.
Conflict
Every accessible text is consolidated as amended — to 1961 and beyond. A provision that is neutral today may have been inserted later.
Why unresolved
Three grounds: the version problem above; the enumerated criteria of the key section could not be read verbatim; and the comparative element (“ahead of Punjab’s general franchise reforms”) is not a question this statute can answer at all.
What would settle it
The Punjab Gazette of 7 August 1925 — the Act as first published, before any amendment.
Likely repository
Punjab State Archives; National Archives of India; British Library India Office Records; GNDU Bhai Gurdas Library; university law libraries with colonial gazette runs
Current treatment
Published as an attributed press claim, examined and left at its current tier.
OQ-8Can the family’s account of his financial sacrifice be documented?#
Current evidence
Family testimony describes a ₹40,000 surety (1921), a mortgage of roughly 50 acres for ₹75,000 toward the SGPC’s Privy Council appeal (c. 1924–25), and a later declined reimbursement.
Why unresolved
Nothing outside the family account has been consulted.
What would settle it
A land mortgage generates a registered deed; a Privy Council appeal generates a case file. Both are potentially locatable. If found, the account moves from family testimony to documented fact and becomes this archive’s original contribution to the record.
Likely repository
Lyallpur / Faisalabad land registration records; Privy Council appeal files (UK National Archives / Judicial Committee records); SGPC accounts
Current treatment
Kept entirely within the family-account register, clearly labelled.
OQ-9Can the contemporary tributes — Master Tara Singh’s and Bhai Vir Singh’s — be located and quoted from their originals?#
Current evidence
Both are reported via 2026 accounts: Tara Singh’s “his whole life was already martyrdom” in Akali te Pardesi; Bhai Vir Singh’s “Param Pavitra Shaheed” in Khalsa Samachar.
Why unresolved
Neither original issue has been consulted; the current wordings are paraphrases at one remove.
What would settle it
Khalsa Samachar for July–August 1926; the relevant issue of Akali te Pardesi.
Likely repository
Bhai Vir Singh Sahitya Sadan, Delhi (Khalsa Samachar runs); Panjab Digital Library (Punjabi periodicals)
Current treatment
Published as attributed paraphrases, never as quotations.
An earlier version of this project’s own research gave 9 July 1925 as the Act’s assent date. The statute’s printed header gives 28 July 1925, and two official reproductions agree.
Why unresolved
The 9 July date is most plausibly the date the Punjab Legislative Council passed the Bill, but that is unverified.
What would settle it
Punjab Legislative Council proceedings for July 1925.
Likely repository
Punjab State Archives; National Archives of India
Current treatment
Not asserted in any form. The corrected assent date is published; the superseded one is recorded as superseded.
OQ-13Did Deva Singh’s Sandal Bar land grant follow his own military service?#
Current evidence
A 2024 Tribune report indicates so — consistent with the standard colonisation-grant mechanism for army pensioners — but the available text is truncated.
Why unresolved
The full report has not been read; no settlement record consulted.
What would settle it
The full 2024 report; Punjab canal-colony land settlement records for Lyallpur district.
Likely repository
The Tribune archive; Punjab (Pakistan) Archives, Lahore; Board of Revenue records
OQ-14Can the April 1923 communal peace work be corroborated?#
Current evidence
A single centenary account describes Akali jathas patrolling the streets after Baisakhi riots and SGPC volunteers seeking reconciliation house to house.
Why unresolved
No contemporary newspaper has been consulted.
What would settle it
Contemporary reporting from April 1923 — The Tribune (Lahore era), the Akali.
Likely repository
The Tribune archive; Panjab Digital Library
Current treatment
Published with attribution. If corroborated, it complicates and enriches the picture of a purely intra-Sikh reformer.
The English translation of Dr Piar Singh’s 1975 biography is the single highest-value dependency on this register. It is not yet in hand, and nothing from it is anticipated or invented here. When a legitimately acquired copy is read, it will be checked against the following claims — each with the book’s wording and page number recorded, and any tier change entered in the change log before it reaches a page. The book is a translated scholarly biography, not a primary record: it can raise a claim where it cites primary evidence, but it does not by itself convert family account into fact.
Claims whose confidence may change once the biography is read
Row for row, the most valuable outcome may be the book’s own source apparatus — the map of which primary documents existed in 1975 and where Piar Singh found them.
Cite this page
Permanent URL
https://tejasinghsamundri.org/research/
Chicago
“Open Research Questions.” Teja Singh Samundri Digital Heritage Archive. Reviewed September 10, 2026. https://tejasinghsamundri.org/research/.
MLA
“Open Research Questions.” Teja Singh Samundri Digital Heritage Archive, September 10, 2026, https://tejasinghsamundri.org/research/.
Plain text
Open Research Questions — Teja Singh Samundri Digital Heritage Archive — https://tejasinghsamundri.org/research/ (page last reviewed 2026-09-10)
BibTeX
@misc{tssresearch2026,
title = {Open Research Questions},
howpublished = {Teja Singh Samundri Digital Heritage Archive},
year = {2026},
month = {sep},
url = {https://tejasinghsamundri.org/research/},
note = {Page last reviewed 2026-09-10}
}
Last reviewed
Each historical claim also has its own stable record URL. Cite the claim record, not this page, when quoting a single statement — the Claim Explorer lists every one. Claim Explorer.