Nanak Singh was born to a poor Punjabi Hindu family in the Jhelum district of Pakistan as 'Hans Raj'.

Later, Singh started to write devotional songs, encouraging Sikhs to join the Gurdwara Reform Movement.

This incident impelled Singh to write Khomeini Visayans – Bloody Baisakhi (Punjabi New Year), an epic poem that mocked colonial rule.

He described the savagery and oppression of the British on peaceful Sikhs during the Guru ka Bagh Mocha demonstration in his second poetry collection, Zakhmi Dil.

Singh wrote several novels during his time in jail, including over 40,000 pages in longhand Gurmukhi (Punjabi) script.

His great historical novel, Ik Mian Do Talwaran (One Sheath and Two Swords, 1959), won him India's highest literary honor, the Sahitya Akademi Award, in 1962.

[citation needed] In his novel Chitta Lahu (White Blood), Singh writes, "It seems to imply that in the lifeblood of our society, red corpuscles have disappeared."

In honor of Singh, India's Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral released a postal stamp with his image in 1998.