From across the country, members of the Sikh community came to Leeds to honour a great pioneer and the father of well-known storyteller, Roop Singh.
An estimated 1,000 people – some from Edinburgh, Glasgow, Southampton, Liverpool and Hull – attended the funeral of Madan Singh Rathore.
He died peacefully on January 19 at the age of 82, leaving four sons and a large family of grandchildren and great-grandchildren
Three of the sons – Baldev and twins Roop and Sroop – were at the funeral service in the Sikh Temple on Chapeltown Road, Chapeltown, while the fourth, Gurdev, was in the United States.
The service began in the mid-afternoon and continued after mourners joined the procession to Cottingley Crematorium. The service was conducted in both English and Punjabi.
Mr Singh was one of the first Sikhs to arrive in the north of England after leaving his native Jhansi in northern India in 1949.
He came in search of a better life, said his second son Roop Singh, a well-known storyteller.
In line with tradition he was engaged at the age of five to Mohinder, who died in 2001, and they married and had a son, Baldev, before Madan left on his own for Britain.
"He came with a suitcase of wares," recalled Roop Singh, "and sold them to farms and villages. He did well but he wanted a more stable income which he got from manual work.
"He became a crane driver and then a worker at William Cook's foundry in Cross Green.
"He was given a present by the company to mark his long service. He was always punctual and never missed a day's work. He saved up so that he could send mum and Baldev a first class ticket to come to Britain by ship.
"Dad was a very active member of the Sikh Temple, which he helped to found, and was secretary and treasurer on occasions.
"He was looked upon as a wise man - people looked to him as an advisor.
"Once he single-handedly re-decorated the temple.
"The membership could not afford to pay for it and so he did it himself in a week. He was that sort of get-up-and-do person."
Roop said members of the community hoped to make a film documentary of Madan's life and it was possible his home on Woodland Grove, Chapeltown, would become a community and education centre.
