Bikrama Singh - As Patron of The Arts and Builder

As Patron of The Arts and Builder

He founded the Khalsa Press Lahore as well as the "Khalsa Akhbar", the first journal for the Sikhs.

He was well versed in Persian, Sanskrit, and Punjabi and a very eminent musicologist a great proponent of Modern Learning and of women's education, he was the Author of "Upma Sar Granth".

He was instrumental in saving the lives of the royal musicians at the Mughal Court of Delhi during the Indian Rebellion of 1857; he gave them shelter at his court in Kapurthala, thus laying the foundation of the Kapurthala Gharana of Hindustani Classical Music.

Bikrama Singh had constructed, as his personal residence, the first French inspired building in Kapurthala, the Elysee Palace. (His example was later followed by the francophile Maharaja Jagatjit Singh, who constructed the famous French inspired Jagatjit Palace at Kapurthala). When he relocated to Jullunder, he built for himself another residence, Bikram Hall; it has since been demolished, though the grounds, now referred to as Bikrampura, still bear his name.

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