ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>&#256NANDGHANA SV&#256M&#298</TITLE> <style type="text/css"> .BODY { background-color: #EAF1F7; background-image: url('images/gtbh.jpg'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; background-position: center; color: #0066CC;} .C1{text-align: justify;color: #0066CC;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .BIB{text-align: center;color: #000099;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .CONT{text-align: right;color: #FF0000;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} </style><META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="NANDGHANA,SVM*"> <META http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></HEAD> <BODY class="BODY" oncontextmenu="return false" ondragstart="return false" onselectstart="return false"> <FONT ALIGN="JUSTIFY" FACE="Tahoma"> <p class="C1">&#65279&#256NANDGHANA, SV&#256M&#298, an Ud&#257s&#299 <i>s&#257dh&#363</i> known for the commentaries he wrote on some of the Sikh scriptural texts. Not much biographical detail is available about him, but references in his own works indicate that he was a disciple of B&#257b&#257 R&#257m Day&#257l, an Ud&#257s&#299 ascetic; also, that he was born into the family of Gur&#363 N&#257nak, tenth in descent from him. Since his first <i>&#7789&#299k&#257</i>, a commentary on the <i>Japu, </i> was completed in 1852 Bk/AD 1795, it may be presumed that he was born around the middle of the eighteenth century. He spent the early years of his life at &#7692er&#257 B&#257b&#257 N&#257nak where he was born. A wall-painting in a shrine there shows him sitting on a carpet, rosary in hand, facing his spiritual mentor, R&#257m Day&#257l. At some stage he was sent for higher learning to K&#257sh&#299 (V&#257r&#257&#7751as&#299) where he stayed for about ten years. At K&#257sh&#299, he frequently engaged in learned debate with the Pa&#7751&#7693its, trying to establish the supremacy of the Gur&#363s' word over other philosophical systems. He seems to have spent the last years of his life at &#7692er&#257 B&#257b&#257 N&#257nak. Of his works, a manuscript containing commentaries on <i>Japu, &#256rat&#299, Siddha Go&#7779&#7789i</i> and <i>Anandu</i> is preserved in the Punjab State Archives, Pa&#7789i&#257l&#257, under No. M/691. The manuscript is divided into two parts---the first comprising 228 folios contains commentaries on <i>Japu </i>and <i>&#256rat&#299</i> and the second comprising 112 folios contains commentaries on <i>Si&#7693&#7693ha Go&#7779t&#299</i> and <i>Anandu</i>. Another manuscript copy of these four <i>&#7789ik&#257s</i> is also available in the Languages Department, Punjab, Pa&#7789i&#257l&#257. These four commentaries were, according to internal evidence, written at K&#257sh&#299 between AD 1795 and 1802. &#256nandghana's <i>&#7789ik&#257</i> or commentary on <i>&#256s&#257 d&#299 V&#257r</i>, references to which occur in his commentaries on <i>Si&#7693&#7693ha Go&#7779&#7789i</i> (1857 Bk/AD 1800) and <i>Anandu</i> (1859 Bk/AD 1802), was held at the Dr Balbir Si&#7749gh S&#257hitya Kendra at Dehr&#257 D&#363n, and has recently been published (1990) by Punjabi University, Pa&#7789i&#257l&#257. The only known manuscript copy of his sixth commentary <i>Oa&#7749k&#257r</i> was available at the Sikh Reference Library, Amritsar, until the collection perished in the Army attack on the Golden Temple premises in 1984.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&#256nandghana's technique of writing commentary is that of a symposium. Wherever an important point is to be explained, he follows the question-answer format. He is well conversant with the tools of exposition, and writes with conviction. He is argumentative and at places prolix. The language used is old Hindi which is not exempt from the influence of his native Punjabi. &#256nandghana's commentary on Gur&#363 N&#257nak's <i>Japu</i>which he completed in Bk/1852/AD 1795 is considered to be his masterpiece and a representative work of the Ud&#257s&#299 school. It is available in two recensions-one exhaustive and the other abridged. Whereas the latter recension limits itself to an exposition of the text, the former contains considerable supplementary material on old Indian philosophical systems and religious practices in which context the commentator attempts to highlight the teaching of Gur&#363 N&#257nak. He is however not chary of casting aspersions upon other commentators whom he declares to be "dunces". This led Bh&#257&#299 Santokh Si&#7749gh, the Nirmal&#257 scholar to write his own commentary on the <i>Japu</i> challenging the interpretations advanced by &#256nandghana. He called his commentary <i>Garabgañjan&#299 &#7788&#299k&#257</i> (q. v.), i. e. <i>tik&#257</i> to humble the <i>garab</i> or pride (of &#256nandghana). Whereas the interpretations of &#256nandghana have a colouring peculiar to the Saguna school of Bhakt&#299, Santokh Si&#7749gh in keeping with the Nirmal&#257 tradition leans on the side of Ved&#257nta.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Nripinder Singh, <i>The Sikh Moral Tradition. </i> Delhi, 1990<BR> <li class="C1"> Santokh Si&#7749gh, Bh&#257&#299, <i>Garabgañjan&#299 T&#299k&#257</i> [Reprint]. Delhi, 1961<BR> <li class="C1"> Jaggi, R. S. , ed. , </i>Gurb&#257&#7751&#299 &#7788ike : &#256nandghana. </i> Patiala, 1970<BR> <li class="C1"><i>&#256s&#257 d&#299 V&#257r d&#257 &#7788ik&#257</i>. Patiala, 1990<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Rattan Si&#7749gh Jagg&#299<br></p><BR> </font> <img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""> </HTML></BODY>