ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>BA&#7748S&#256VAL&#298N&#256M&#256 DAS&#256&#7748 P&#256TSH&#256H&#298&#256&#7748 K&#256</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 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<i>BA&#7748S&#256VAL&#298N&#256M&#256 DAS&#256&#7748 P&#256TSH&#256H&#298&#256&#7748 K&#256</i> is a poeticized account of the lives of the Gur&#363s by Kesar Si&#7749gh Chhibbar. The term <i>ba&#7749s&#257val&#299n&#257m&#257</i> means a genealogy. Another term used in the text is "kurs&#299n&#257m&#257" which is Persian for "genealogy" But, strictly speaking, this work is not a genealogical table. It is a rapid account, in rather incipient Punjabi verse, of the ten Gur&#363s and of Band&#257 Si&#7749gh Bah&#257dur and some other Sikhs. Description of historical events and mythological elements occasionally overlap in this work. Its peculiar feature is the wealth of chronological detail it contains about the lives of the Gur&#363s and the members of their families. But the reliability of the dates recorded by the author is not established.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The author, Kesar Si&#7749gh Chhibbar, came of a family who had served the Gur&#363s as <i>d&#299w&#257ns</i> or ministers. His grandfather, Dharam Chand, was in charge of the treasury of Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh. Dharam Chand's father, Darg&#257h Mall, had been <i>d&#299w&#257n </i> to Gur&#363 Te<u>gh</u> Bah&#257dur, the Ninth Gur&#363, and his two predecessors. Dharam Chand's son, Gurba<u>kh</u>sh Si&#7749gh, served Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh. Kesar Si&#7749gh was Gurba<u>kh</u>sh Si&#7749gh's son. Too young at the time of Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh's passing away, he did have the privilege of the company of some eminent Sikhs of his day, notably scholar and martyr Bh&#257&#299 Man&#299 Si&#7749gh. For many years he lived at Amritsar and also attended upon M&#257t&#257 Sundar&#299, widow of Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh, in Delhi. As he records himself, he wrote the <i>Ba&#7749s&#257val&#299n&#257m&#257</i> in a <i>dharams&#257l&#257</i> in Jamm&#363 and completed it in 1826 Bk/AD 1769.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The book, comprising 2, 564 stanzas, is divided into fourteen chapters. The first ten deal with the Ten Gur&#363s. There is a chapter each on Band&#257 Si&#7749gh Bah&#257dur, J&#299t (Aj&#299t) Si&#7749gh, adopted son of M&#257t&#257 Sundar&#299, and M&#257t&#257 S&#257hib Dev&#257&#7749. The last chapter of the book alludes to the state of the Sikhs in the early decades of the eighteenth century, persecution they suffered at the hands of the ruling authority and their will to survival. A point especially stressed is about the bestowal of Gur&#363ship on the Holy Book by Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh before he passed away. Kesar Si&#7749gh says, "At this time the Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib is our Gur&#363 (i. e. prophet-teacher). . . Recognize him alone as the Gur&#363's true Sikh who accepts as eternally true the word enshrined in the Granth. He who abides by the word in the Granth, he alone will be the follower approved. " He also mentions some other prescriptions for the Sikhs in the manner of Rahitn&#257m&#257s or manuals of Sikh code. But some of his assertions are not in conformity with Sikh belief and teachings. For example, he accepts the Gur&#363s as incarnations of Vi&#7779&#7751u. The Gur&#363s acknowledged no deity besides God, nor did they support the theory of incarnation. Again, the author has tried to prove the superiority of the Br&#257hma&#7751s even among the Sikhs which may be due to his own Br&#257hma&#7751 ancestry. In any case, this is contrary to the principles of Sikhism which rejects caste.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Till recently this Sikh chronicle was available only in manuscript. It was edited by Dr Rattan Si&#7749gh Jagg&#299 and published in 1972, in the <i>Parakh</i>, a research journal of the Pañj&#257b University, Cha&#7751&#7693&#299ga&#7771h. The text used was a manuscript in a private collection at Ba&#7789&#257l&#257. No date is mentioned on the manuscript, but it could be about 150 years old. A manuscript is also preserved in the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 College Library at Amritsar; there was as well one in the Sikh Reference Library at Amritsar until it perished in the Army attack on the Golden Temple complex in 1984.</p> </ol><p class="CONT">Rattan Si&#7749gh Jagg&#299<br></p><BR> </font> <img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""> </HTML></BODY>