In the ever growing westerization, local cultures specially the folk cultures are at the receiving end. Definitely, the loss would have been much more had Dr.Sohinder Singh Wanjara Bedi's efforts to restore the Punjabi folklore would have been un-accomplished. His colossal task of production of Punjabi Lokdhara Vishvakosh (Encyclopaedia of Punjabi Folklore and Culture) in eight big volumes was attempted single-handed by this scholar of folklore disciplines popularly known as Wanjara Bedi, after Bhai Kahan Singh Nabha, who compiled “Mahan Kosh”, a single volume, and, that too, with the help of state resources, in the 19th century.

Born on November 28, 1924, Dr Bedi was a multi-faceted personality - a poet, a critic and above all, a folklorist. His contribution to the discipline of folklore is two-fold: he gathered relevant information from different places between Peshawar and Delhi and then carried out an analytical study of all this. A summary of his contribution: Folk Literature - “Punjabi Diyan Lok Kahanian”, “Lok Akhde Han”, “Punjab Da Lok Sahit”, “Punjab Di Lokdhara”, “Baatan Mudh Qadeem Diyan” and “Punjab Diyan Janaur Kahanian”. Folkloric study of literature - “Guru Nanak Ate Lok Parvah” and “Guru Arjan Bvni wich Lok Tatt”, “Madhkaleen Punjabi Katha : Roop Te Parampra”, and “Lok Prampara Da Sahit” (edited).

But, over and above, his greatest contribution in the area of Punjabi culture and folklore is the compilation of “Punjabi Lokdhara Vishavkosh”. To quote a Russian Indologist D. Serebryakov, “Never before was Punjabi folklore presented in so detailed a way and with so minute exactness.” He also launched research journal Parampara, in folklore in September, 1977.

His commitment to the folklore discipline was proved by the fact that he had spent all that he had earned, on the advancement of this discipline. After retirement from Dayal Singh College, Delhi, which he had joined after Partition, his prolonged illness crippled him both physically and financially. He had been bed-ridden for the past 17 years.

Honoured with a number of awards from institutions like the Bhartiya Sahitya Academy, the Punjabi Sahit Akademi, Delhi, the Languages Department, Punjab, the Haryana Punjabi Akademi, the Punjab Arts Council, and the Punjabi Akademi, Ludhiana, Dr Bedi had a great satisfaction in the fact that some budding scholars whom he had helped flower have the capacity and will to keep his torch burning. A few of them are Dr Nahar Singh (P.U. Chandigarh), Dr Karamjit Singh (Kurukshetra), Dr Bhupinder Singh Khaira (Patiala) and Dr Joginder Kairon and Shahryar (Amritsar).

Dr Bedi was of the view that each scholar of Punjabi ought to research at least one aspect of folklore. His belief was that the creative writers who wrote anything by keeping themselves aloof from folklore failed to get recognition from the masses. That was why his passion for the discipline had become a devotion and its search an ideal. For him folklore was a pledge. With the demise of Dr Wanjara Bedi on the intervening night of August 26 and 27 at his residence in Rajouri Garden, Delhi, an era of the second generation of scholars engaged in collecting, editing and analysing folklore material has come to an end. The earlier generation was that of the European scholars. The works of Dr Bedi will continue to enlighten the scholars of this discipline in the present generation.