leaving maujo at the age of twenty-one, harchand singh served as scripture-reader and custodian at the village gurdwara at heron kalan, moving the following year to longowal, a small town 16 kilometers south-west of sangrur. there, he raised a gurdwara in the memory of celebrated eighteenth-century scholar and martyr, bhai mani singh. in 1962, harchand singh was named head of the important historical shrine at damdama sahib (talwandi sabo), but he took on the suffix "longowal" which remained with him for the rest of his life. he was affectionately known as "sant ji"