ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>GURBIL&#256S P&#256TSH&#256H&#298 DASV&#298&#7748</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>GURBIL&#256S P&#256TSH&#256H&#298 DASV&#298&#7748</i>, a poeticized account of the life of Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh by Bh&#257&#299 Sukkh&#257 Si&#7749gh. The poet, a convert to Sikhism from the barber caste, was born at Anandpur in 1768 and completed the work in 1797 when he was barely twenty-nine. The poetry is more Braj than Punjabi, but the script used is Gurmukh&#299. Recently, the Languages Department, Punjab, has brought out an edition in Devan&#257gar&#299 characters also. The oldest printed edition of the work available is the one published in 1912 by L&#257l&#257 R&#257m Chand M&#257nak&#7789&#257hl&#257 from Lahore. Comprising thirty-one cantos, the work gives a detailed account of the events of the life of Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh and of the causes which led to the battles he had to fight. Beginning with an invocation to the Timeless One in the classical style, the poet goes on to narrate the dream in which he was instructed in the "Shastran&#257m M&#257l&#257", a chapter in the <i>Dasam Granth</i>, and was inspired to delineate in verse the life of Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh. Bh&#257&#299 Sukkh&#257 Si&#7749gh claims to have had that dream while at Pa&#7789n&#257 where he used to deliver sermons to Sikh congregations at Ta<u>kh</u>t Sr&#299 Harimandar S&#257hib. He soon left Pa&#7789n&#257 for Anandpur where he remained until his death in 1838 and where he, completed the <i>Gurbil&#257s</i>.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Besides the information received by word of mouth from old people, Sukkh&#257 Si&#7749gh seems to have relied on works such as Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh's autobiographical <i>Bachitra N&#257&#7789ak</i>, Kuir Si&#7749gh's life of Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh, Sain&#257pati's <i>Sr&#299 Gur Sobh&#257 </i>, A&#7751&#299 R&#257i's <i>Ja&#7749gn&#257m&#257 Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh</i> and Sar&#363p D&#257s Bhall&#257's <i>Mahim&#257 Prak&#257sh</i>. With its wealth of detail, Sukkh&#257 Si&#7749gh's <i>Gurbil&#257s</i> combines a rare insight into the prevailing political conditions and into the moral issues involved in the resistance Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh had launched. Elaborate detail marks the description of the Bais&#257kh&#299 day of 1699 when Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh introduced <i>kha&#7751&#7693e d&#299 p&#257hul</i> and the pledges of the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 fraternity; of the regal splendour at the Gur&#363's court at Anandpur; R&#257j&#257 Bh&#299m Chand's visit to the Gur&#363 and his envy of his style; his machinations at Sr&#299nagar (Ga&#7771hv&#257l) which converted a disciple like Fateh Chand into the enemy of the Gur&#363 and their attack on the Gur&#363 at P&#257o&#7751&#7789&#257; and the evacuation of Anandpur by the Gur&#363 under a prolonged siege by the hill chiefs and Mu<u>gh</u>al troops and the subsequent course of events. The last days of Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh at N&#257nde&#7693 are described in this work in minuter detail than anywhere else. <i>Gurbil&#257s</i>, however, is not a straight chronicle of events. Poetic imagination and pious adornment predominate over factual narration.</p> </ol><p class="CONT">K. S. Th&#257par<br></p><BR> </font> <img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""> </HTML></BODY>