ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>GUR&#362 N&#256NAK BA&#7748S PRAK&#256SH</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>GUR&#362 N&#256NAK BA&#7748S PRAK&#256SH</i>, by Sukhb&#257s&#299 R&#257m Bed&#299 (c.1758-c.1848), an Ud&#257s&#299 saint and a descendant of Gur&#363 N&#257nak, is a versified biography of Gur&#363 N&#257nak with considerable detail about his descendants as well. Two manuscript copies of the work are extant -- one at the Gur&#363 N&#257nak Dev University, Amritsar, and the second in the Central Public Library, Pa&#7789i&#257l&#257. Of these, the former which is dated 1886 Bk/AD 1829 was copied by one Achhar Si&#7749gh. The work has since been published (1986) by Punjabi University, Pa&#7789i&#257l&#257. The author, according to his own statement (pp. 506-13), was the son of K&#257bal&#299 Mall, seventh in the line of descendants of Lachhm&#299 Chand (Lakhm&#299 D&#257s), the younger son of Gur&#363 N&#257nak (1469-1539). He was the disciple of &#256nandghana about whom he writes with deep reverence and whom he had first met at &#7788&#257hl&#299, near &#7692er&#257 B&#257b&#257 N&#257nak, and got initiated into the Ud&#257s&#299 sect. Sukhb&#257s&#299 R&#257m journeyed through the Indian countryside preaching Sikh tenets, but he spent a major part of his life at &#7692er&#257 B&#257b&#257 N&#257nak where he was born and at K&#257sh&#299 where he studied Indian philosophy and poetics. It was on his return to the Punjab that he wrote this book. It is said that Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh rewarded him with a gift of five villages in Si&#257lko&#7789 district and R&#257j&#257 Ra&#7751j&#299t Dev of Jamm&#363 with fifty acres of land in the Ka&#7789h&#363&#257 area. This latter <i>j&#257g&#299r</i> was confiscated by the British.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; This 4,500-stanza-long work which was written with the aim of eulogizing Gur&#363 N&#257nak and his family and preaching the Sikh way of life, opens with the M&#363l Mantra, followed by an invocation to various gods and goddesses. In presenting the life of Gur&#363 N&#257nak which covers more than half of the book, the author has depended upon the family tradition as well as upon works such as <i>B&#257l&#257 Janam S&#257kh&#299</i> and <i>Pur&#257tan Janam S&#257kh&#299</i>. He emphatically departs from the <i>B&#257l&#257</i> tradition in that he places the birth of Gur&#363 N&#257nak in the month of Bais&#257kh instead of K&#257rtik. The text contains references to certain events about which history has remained silent. The author, for instance, refers to Gur&#363 Arjan's arrest under the orders of Jah&#257&#7749g&#299r and his release at the intervention of B&#257b&#257 Sr&#299 Chand. This arrest may have preceded the one which ended in the Gur&#363's martyrdom. Dohir&#257 and Chaupa&#299 are the metres commonly employed by the poet though use has also been occasionally made of Sora&#7789h&#257, Savaiyy&#257 and A&#7771il. The language is S&#257dh Bh&#257kh&#257, with a predominant admixture of Punjabi.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1">Gurmukh Si&#7749gh, ed., <i>Gur&#363 N&#257nak Ba&#7749s Prak&#257sh</i>. Patiala, 1986<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Gurmukh Si&#7749gh<br></p><BR> </font> <img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""> </HTML></BODY>