Background
Pundit Tara Singh was born into a Sikh family.
Pundit Tara Singh was born into a Sikh family.
Foreign further learning he went to Amritsar and also to Kashi where he studied Sanskrit and Vedic literature. He also attended the Arddha Kumbha 1861 at Haridwar. Sant Attar Singh (1822–1927) also studied from a Nirmala sect during this time.
At the age of twenty he left his village, which was near Qadian, and he arrived at the Niramala dera of Sant Gulab Singh at Kurala, Hoshiarpur. He then spent some time in the Bengali city of Shantipur. He was now a renowned scholar and had accumulated some fame throughout the region.
The Maharaja of Patiala, Maharaja Narinder Singh (1824–1862) gave patronage to him after which Tara Singh came to Patiala and established his own Nirmala dera by the name of Dharam Dhuja and began doing scholarly work.
In 1875 Pundit Tara Singh was made the Sri Mahant (head) of the Nirmal Pachchayati Akhara (Kankhal), the central organisation of the Nirmala section Sri Gur Tirath Sangrah
Maharaja Narinder Singh of Patiala commissioned to Pandit Tara Singh Narotam to compile a comprehensive list of all the gurudwaras commemorating the life and work of the Gurus.
This work was entitled Sri Gur Tirath Sangrah and published in 1884. Pundit Tara Singh provided the descriptions of 508 different locations and Hemkunt was of one of these.
Finding Hemkunt
Using clues from the Bachitar Natak to reveal Guru Gobind Singh"s tap asthan (place of meditation) such as the place was named Sapatsring (seven peaks) and was on or near Hemkunt Parbat (lake of ice mountain) he set out to explore the Garhwal Himalayas and his search took him to Badrinath and to the nearby village of Pandukeshwar, near the present-day Gobind Ghat.
Pundit Tara Singh conforms to the Nirmala school of thought. In the Mahan Kosh it is written that Pandit Tara Singh believes that the Sarbloh Granth was produced by Bhai Sukha Singh the head Granthi of Patna Sahib from a manuscript given by an Udasi from Jagannath (Orissa) who said it was Guru Gobind Singh"s writing. Pandit Tara Singh also believes that the entire Dasam Granth was written by Guru Gobind Singh.