Vir Singh's family could trace its ancestry as far back as to Diwan Kaura Mal, a vice-governor (Maharaja Bahadur) of the city Multan.

His grandfather, Kahn Singh (1788–1878), spent a great deal of his youth training and learning traditional Sikh lessons in monasteries.

Influenced by the Christian missionaries' use of and reference to literary sources, Singh got the idea to teach others the main dogmas of Sikhism through his own written resources.

Using the skills and techniques in modern literary forms that he learned through his English courses, Singh produced stories, poems, and epics and recorded the history and philosophical ideas of Sikhism.

Thusly, he would begin a long association with Vir Singh, which would lead to contact with writers, an 11-year career with the Press, and subsequently writing for the Khalsa Samachar, in which Chatrik would hone his poetic skills.

[8]: 13  His contact with Vir Singh turned him into an ardent admirer of the Sikh faith, influencing his syncretic poetic style[8]: 11  that reflected composite Punjabi culture.

Singh argued that Sikhism was a unique religion which could be nourished and sustained by creating an awakening amongst the Sikhs of the awareness of their distinct theological and cultural identity.

He aimed at reorienting the Sikhs' understanding of their faith in such a manner as to help them assimilate the different modernising influences to their historical memory and cultural heritage.

[10] Amidst all this political discontent, Singh sought to revitalize the Sikh culture and religion through peaceful means, by writing a myriad of novels, epics, and poems.

The Khalsa Tract Society periodically made available under the title Nirguniara, low-cost publications on Sikh theology, history and philosophy and on social and religious reform.

His writings in this genre – Sundari (1898), Bijay Singh (1899), Satwant Kaur (published in two parts, I in 1900 and II in 1927), were aimed at recreating the heroic period (eighteenth century) of Sikh history.

Singh also criticized and discouraged religious fanaticism, citing those as victims of their own fears brought on by a fervent and obsessive belief.

In fact, his very first novel was Sundari, which featured Sunder Kaur, a woman who converted from Hinduism to Sikhism and then proceeded to lead a life of adventure in the jungles with a band of Sikh warriors.