ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>JAPU PARAM&#256RATH</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>JAPU PARAM&#256RATH</i>, by Bh&#257&#299 R&#257m Kishan, is an unpublished manuscript of the exegesis of Gur&#363 N&#257nak's <i>Japu</i>. The only manuscript copy is available at Acc. No. 612 in the Dashmesh Library, Anandpur -- the other two in the Sikh Reference Library, Amritsar, and the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 College Library, Pa&#7789i&#257l&#257, having since been destroyed or lost. The exegete was a known Sev&#257panth&#299 saint, and he completed the work, as per the internal evidence in Amritsar manuscript, on Maghar <i>sud&#299</i> 2, 1853 Bk/22 November 1796: the date given in the Anandpur manuscript (Je&#7789h <i>sud&#299</i> 6, 1856 Bk/27 May 1799) is obviously the one when the scribe copied it. According to Sev&#257panth&#299 tradition, Bh&#257&#299 R&#257m Kishan was born in 1845 Bk/AD 1788, but an analysis of the contents of this work reveals that he might have compiled it in maturer years.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; According to &#346ambh&#363 N&#257th's <i>Japu Param&#257rath</i>, Gur&#363 N&#257nak gave an exegesis of <i>Japu</i> to Gur&#363 A&#7749gad on his asking, but <i>Gi&#257n Ratan&#257val&#299</i> says that Gur&#363 N&#257nak's exegesis of, <i>Japu</i> helped him overcome the <i>siddhas</i>. On the other hand, Bh&#257&#299 R&#257m Kishan says that Gur&#363 N&#257nak made the exegesis for the benefit of his two sons, Sr&#299 Chand and Lakhm&#299 Chand, and his successor, Gur&#363 A&#7749gad.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The work begins with an invocation, in verse, to Gur&#363 N&#257nak followed by a eulogy to <i>n&#257m</i>. Thereafter begins the exegesis which is in prose. The author has first given meanings (sometimes more than one) of difficult words followed by the central theme of the verse which is supported by profuse examples from <i>gurb&#257&#7751&#299</i> and various Hindu scriptures. Quotations from Indian mythology also abound. Two prominent characteristics of this work are its exegesis in the Vedic tradition and treatment of different <i>pau&#7771&#299s</i> as a unified single whole. The language of the work is S&#257dh Bh&#257kh&#257 with significant influence of Braj. It is not brief and compact like its predecessors in the genre; rather a de-tailed prolix explanation is provided.</p> </ol><p class="CONT">Trilochan Si&#7749gh Bed&#299<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>