ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>CHAUPA&#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 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>CHAUPA&#298</i>, or <i>KABYOB&#256CH BENAT&#298 CHAUPA&#298</i> (<i>kabyob&#257ch</i> = in the words of the poet; <i>benat&#299</i> = supplication; <i>chaupa&#299</i> = the name of the metre in which the poem has been composed), is a 25-stanza-long composition by Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh occurring in the <i>Dasam Granth</i> at the end of the last of the tales in <i>Charitrop&#257khay&#257n. Chaupa&#299</i> is also recited as part of the <i>Rahr&#257si</i> (<i>q. v. </i>), the evening prayer of the Sikhs and is included among the five b&#257&#7751&#299s or texts which are mandatorily chanted as <i>amrit</i> is being prepared for the Sikh baptismal ceremony. The composition, as the title suggests, is the Gur&#363's invocation, in <i>chaupa&#299</i> metre, to the Supreme Lord, seeking his blessing and protection. "O God, give me Thy hand and protect me, and all my desires shall be fulfilled : May my heart be ever attached to Thy feet. . . " (1). "May the thirst for repeating Thy name abide with me. . . " (3). God is described as all-pervading and all-powerful ; He is the Master of Power and the Lord of the Sword. "Beloved Lord, Protector of the saints, Friend of the poor, Destroyer of tyrants - Thou art Lord of the fourteen worlds (6). " It is such a Lord that Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh calls on to provide relief to the oppressed and the aggrieved, and it is such a Lord that he seeks to cherish always. There are in the poem allusions to figures from Indian mythology and to Hindu gods Brahm&#257, Vi&#7779&#7751u and &#346iva who are all shown as subject to the Timeless Lord, their creator. "When the Creator projected his Being, creation of limitless variety came into existence; when He draws creation within Himself it ceases" (13). Also on cosmogony: "None can comprehend the extent of the cosmos and nobody knows how He first fashioned creation" (17). The poem concludes with some further invocatory verses: "O Thou with the sword on Thy banner, I seek Thy protection. Give me Thine own hand and save me. Be Thou everywhere my helper and save me from the designs of the malevolent" (25).</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Ashta, Dharam Pal, <i>The Poetry of the Dasam Granth</i>. Delhi, 1959<BR> <li class="C1"> Loehlin, C. H. , <i>The Granth of Guru Gobind Singh and the Khalsa Brotherhood</i>. Lucknow, 1971<BR> <li class="C1"> S&#257hib Si&#7749gh, <i>Sa&#7789ik J&#257pu S&#257hib, Savaiyye, Chaupa&#299</i>. Amritsar, 1957<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Gurdev Si&#7749gh<br></p><BR> </font> <img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""> </HTML></BODY>