ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>CHAUB&#298S AUT&#256R</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>CHAUB&#298S AUT&#256R</i>, a collection of twenty four legendary tales of twenty-four incarnations of the god Vi&#7779&#7751u, forms a part of <i>Bachitra N&#257&#7789ak</i>, in Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh's <i>Dasam Granth</i>. The complete work contains a total of 4, 371 verse-units of which 3, 356 are accounted for by <i>R&#257m&#257vt&#257r</i> and <i>Krishn&#257vt&#257r</i>. The shortest is <i>Baudh Avat&#257r</i> comprising three quatrains, and the longest is <i>Krishn&#257vt&#257r</i>, with 2, 492 verse-units, mostly quatrains.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The introductory thirty-eight <i>chaupa&#299s</i> or quatrains refer to the Supreme Being as unborn, invisible but certainly immanent in all objects. Whenever evil predominates, saviours of the humanity or <i>avat&#257rs</i> emerge by His <i>hukam</i>, i. e. order, to re-establish righteousness. They fulfil His will and purpose. K&#257l Purash who creates them ultimately subsumes them all in himself. The poet asserts his monotheistic belief here and while enumerating the <i>avat&#257rs</i> discountenances any possibility of their being accepted as the Supreme Being, i. e. Ak&#257l Purakh. In the epilogue to one of the episodes in <i>Krishn&#257vt&#257r</i> occurs a statement repudiating the worship of popular deities like Ga&#7751e&#347a, K&#7771&#7779&#7751a and Vi&#7779&#7751u (verses 434-40). The Supreme Being, called in the Gur&#363's authentic idiom, Mah&#257k&#257l (the Supreme Lord of Time) is acknowledged as the Succourer to whom prayer is made to keep operative the defensive might (<i>te<u>gh</u></i>) and dispensing of charity (<i>deg</i>). Thus is set forth the basic principle of the Sikh faith amid a long literary exercise.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The poet asserts that he, having descended from the martial K&#7779atriyas, cannot think of adopting the attitude of a recluse towards the disturbed conditions of his time. The greater part of the tales of <i>R&#257m&#257vt&#257r</i> and <i>Krishn&#257vt&#257r</i> are taken up with battle-scenes evoked through many alliterative devices with the clash and clang of arms constantly reproduced. At the close of Krishn&#257vt&#257r, in a kind of postscript, is proclaimed the crusader's creed, which is ever "to remember God, to contemplate holy war; and, unmindful of the destruction of the perishable body, to embark the boat of noble repute. " The poet has thus extracted the element of heroism from the prevalent stories without projecting the attitude of a worshipper, with the sole purpose of inspiring his followers with the resolve to fight for Dharma, i. e. to uphold righteousness. <i>Chaub&#299s Aut&#257r</i> does not appear to be the work of one period. It was a long project which was in execution for a decade or more. While <i>Krishn&#257vt&#257r</i> is stated in verse 2, 490-91 to have been composed in Samvat 1745/AD 1688 at Pao&#7751&#7789&#257 when Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh was residing there, <i>R&#257m&#257vtar</i>, according to verses 860-61 was composed at Anandpur in Samvat 1755/AD 1698 near the temple of Nai&#7751&#257dev&#299, close to the bank of the River Sutlej. Another component of the <i>Chaub&#299s Aut&#257r</i> is <i>Nihkala&#7749kavt&#257r</i> which is a sustained expression of appearance of Nihkala&#7749k who would destroy evil and establish righteousness. An interesting. phenomenon observable in <i>Krishn&#257vt&#257r</i> is the sliding of the poet from K&#7771&#7779&#7751a's mythical career into his own contemporary scene. Among the heroes mentioned some bear medieval R&#257jp&#363t names (Gaj Si&#7749gh, Dhan Si&#7749gh, S&#363rat Si&#7749gh); some Muslim like N&#257har <u>Kh</u>&#257n, T&#257hir <u>Kh</u>&#257n, and Sher <u>Kh</u>&#257n. In verse 1602 <i>malechh</i> which was the pejorative term used for Muslims is used. The name of the city of Delhi appears, which is an anachronism. Such anachronisms indicate how the poet's consciousness was touched by the turmoil in contemporary Mu<u>gh</u>al times.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The texture of the language is neo-classical Braj. The poet has employed a variety of metres, and made them responsive to the passing moods or emotions and changing situations. The metres are alternately short and long in consonance with the increasing and lessening of the fury of battle. Blank verse in Punjabi has been inserted for the first time by the poet in the Sirkha&#7751&#7693&#299 metre (<i>R&#257m&#257vt&#257r</i>, verses 467-70). Punjabi words keep cropping up as in the heading of a Krishn&#257vt&#257r episode <i>luk-m&#299chan</i> (hide and seek) and in referring to a king condemned to be incarnated as a lizard (<i>kirl&#257</i>, in Punjabi). At one place in <i>R&#257m&#257vt&#257r</i> (verse 657-68) Persian words are blended with Hindi to make <i>re<u>kh</u>t&#257</i>: the language that was the precursor of modern Urdu. The range of vocabulary thus becomes vast and varied.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Loehlin, C. H. , <i>The Granth of Guru Gobind Singh and the Khalsa Brotherhood</i>. Lucknow, 1971<BR> <li class="C1"> Ashta, Dharam Pal, <i>The Poetry of the Dasam Granth</i>. Delhi, 1959<BR> <li class="C1"> Jagg&#299, Ratan Si&#7749gh, <i>Dasam Granth Parichaya</i>. Delhi, 1990<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Dharam P&#257l &#256sh&#7789&#257<br></p><BR> </font> <img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""> </HTML></BODY>