Born in Abbottabad, now in Pakistan, in a Sikh family,[2] he is one of the founders of modern Punjabi poetry.

Four crucial events—his Japanese experience, his encounter with the American poet Walt Whitman, his discipleship of Svami Ram Tirath, and his meeting with the Sikh saint Bhai Vir Singh—were influential.

As a student in Japan, he was impressed with the land and its people, and was greatly influenced by the romantic aestheticism of Okakura Kakuzo, Japanese artist and scholar.

Walt Whitman, the American poet, had left a deep impression on his poetics and practice as on his world view.

Puran Singh started the distillation of essential oils in Lahore in association with Ishar Das and Rai Bahadur Shiv Nath.

Owing to deceitful dealings on the part of his partners, he closed the business and migrated to Dehra Dun, where he remained as a disciple of Swami Rama Tirtha.

He resigned the Principalship in November 1906 to establish a factory for soapmaking at Doivala (Dehra Dun) but soon sold it off to a minister of Tihri to join in April 1907 as a Forest chemist at the Forest Research Institute, Dehra Dun, from where he sought retirement in 1918.

At Gwalior (1919–23) he turned the scorching desert into a fragrant oasis of rosha grass and eucalyptus, interspersed with fruit trees.

In 1926, he moved over to Chakk 73, near Nankana Sahib, where he got a plot of land on lease from the Punjab Government to grow rosha grass on a commercial scale.

Aad an example from Khulle Asmani Rang his Punjabi verse is given ਜਿੱਥੇ ਸੁਹੱਪਣ ਸੋਹਣੀ ਪਰਤ ਹੈ ਵਿਛਦੀ, ਬਸ ਇਕ ਪ੍ਰਕਾਸ਼ ਦਿਲ ਖਿੱਚਵਾਂ, ਇਕ ਰਾਗ ਜਿਸ ਵਿੱਚ ਰੱਬ ਰੂਪ ਰੰਗ ਪਿਘਲ-ਪਿਘਲ ਰੂਪ ਅਨੂਪ ਹੋਰ-ਹੋਰ ਸੱਜਦਾ, ਜਿੱਥੇ ਸੁਹੱਪਣ ਆਪਾ ਵਾਰ, ਸਦਕੇ ਹੋ-ਹੋ ਬਿਹਬਲਤਾ ਅਨੰਤ ਵਿੱਚ ਉੱਠੀ ਕਦੀ Jithē suhapaṇa sōhaṇī parata hai vichadī, basa ika prakāśa dila khicavāṁ, ika rāga jisa vica raba rūpa raga pighala-pighala rūpa anūpa hōra-hōra sajadā, jithē suhapaṇa āpā vāra, sadakē hō-hō bihabalatā anata vica uṭhī kadī Another example from "Khulle Maidaan" in Punjabi verse on JAWAAN PUNJAB

Ih beparwah Punjab de Maut noo makhaulan karan maran theen nahin dared piaar naal ih karan gulamee jaan koh aapnee vaar dinde par tain naa mannan kise dee khalo jaan dangaan modhe te khalaar ke mannan bas aapnee javaanee de zor noo aakharkhaand, albele, dhur theen satguraan de azaad keete ih bande Punjab naa hindoo naa musalmaan Punjab saraa jeendaa guraan de naan te In 1930, he fell ill with tuberculosis and had to leave this world during stay at Dehra Dun where he died on 31 March 1931.

[4] His poetry was composed in free verse and explored the experience of villagers, peasants and the poor.

Besides what has seen the light of the day, some work of greater magnitude and most likely of a maturer and more comprehensive level of experience still remains unpublished.

Of this unpublished work the two most considerable are Spirit of the Sikh, that is of the nature of a voluminous series of moments of spiritual vision growing out of the teachings of Guru Nanak and his holy successors, and Prakasina, a novel, which as the author says in the sub-title, is the story of a Buddhist Princess.

Both these came in manuscript form to the Punjabi University, which has a project of salvaging whatever of the creative effort of the genius of the Punjab falls within the scope of its several Departments establishment towards this end.

A note on the analysis of cutch and preparation of pure catechin by Puran Singh, Indian Forest Mem, (1908), Vol.

A paper on the Future of Cutch and Katha Manufacture by Puran Singh, Indian Forester (1909), Vol.

Method of distinguishing powellized and the unpowellized woods by Puran Singh, Indian Forester (1911), Vol.

Note on Resin-value of Podeophyllum emodi and the best season for collecting it by Puran Singh, Forest Bulletin (1912), No.9.

A short preliminary note on the suitability of dead wood of Acacia catechu for Katha making by Puran Singh.

Terminalia tomentosa bark as a material for the manufacture of tannin extract by Puran Singh, Indian Forester (1913), Vol.

A Plea for the distillation of the Pine Needle oil in India by Puran Singh, Indian Forester (1914), Vol.

A Further Note on the best season for collecting Myrabalans as Tanning material by Puran Singh, Indian Forester (1915), Vol.

A Further Note on the Oil value of some Sandal woods from Madras by Puran Singh, Indian Forester (1915), Vol.

The Camphor content of Cinnamomum camphora grown at Dehra-Dun by Puran Singh, Indian Forester (1915), Vol.

Note on the effect of Age on the Catechin content of the wood of Acacia catechu by Puran Singh, Indian Forester (1915), Vol.

Note on the Differentiation of Inn and Kanyin Species of Dipterocarpus timber of Burma by Puran Singh, Indian Forester (1916), Vol.

Note on the Burmese Myrabalans or Panga Fruits as tanning material by Puran Singh, Forest Bulletin (1916), No.

(iii)Note on the manufacture of Wintergreen Oil in India by Puran Singh, Indian Forest Rec.

A Note on the Economic Values of Chinese Tallow Tree by Puran Singh, Indian Forester (1918), Vol.