ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>PARCH&#298 (plural parch&#299&#257&#7749)</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 NAME="keywords" CONTENT="PARCH*"> <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">&#65279PARCH&#298 (plural <i>parch&#299&#257&#7749</i>), Punjabized form of the Sanskrit noun <i>parichaya</i> which means introduction, evidence or an anecdote bearing witness to the miraculous powers of a prophet or seer. The term was applied to the form of Punjabi writing developed in the seventeenth century to present the life stories of the Gur&#363s, saints and <i>bhaktas</i>. Even mythical characters such as Dhr&#363 and Prahl&#257d were not beyond the purview of the <i>genre</i>. The word <i>parch&#299</i> is sometimes used synonymously with <i>s&#257kh&#299</i>, but there is a shade of distinction between the two. Whereas <i>s&#257kh&#299</i> is a popular coinage denoting the account of an event from the life of a saint or prophet, <i>parch&#299</i> essentially refers to the form. The first <i>Parch&#299</i> that has come down to us relates to B&#257b&#257 Hand&#257l (AD 1573-1648), founder of the Nirañjan&#299 sect, written in verse by his son, Bidh&#299 Chand. This is an idealized, much exaggerated account of the life of Hand&#257l. The next work in this <i>genre</i> is <i>Parch&#299&#257&#7749 P&#257tsh&#257h&#299 Das</i> written sometime in the first quarter of the eighteenth century by Sev&#257 D&#257s, an Ud&#257s&#299 s&#257dh&#363. Although the main focus of the work, which is in prose, is on the Tenth Master, Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh, it embraces the lives of the nine preceding Gur&#363s as well. From the same order came <i>Parch&#299 Bh&#257&#299 Kanhaiya J&#299, Parch&#299 Bh&#257&#299 Sev&#257 R&#257m, Parch&#299 Mah&#257 Sundar Sachi&#257r K&#299, Parch&#299 Raib&#257 J&#299 K&#299</i>, and <i>Parch&#299&#257&#7749 Bh&#257&#299 A&#7693&#7693an Sh&#257h</i>. Each of these works contains episodes relating to the life of the saint it is dedicated to. Events chosen are calculated not so much to delineate the career of the saint as to bring out the spiritual and benevolent nature of the saint. From the Ud&#257s&#299 school comes <i>Parch&#299&#257&#7749 Sev&#257 D&#257s</i>, an eighteenth-century work which contains fifty <i>s&#257kh&#299s</i> or stories from the lives of the Ten Gur&#363s.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Kohl&#299, S.S., ed., <i>Pur&#257tan Pañj&#257b&#299 V&#257rtak</i>. Chandigarh, 1973<BR> <li class="C1"> Bed&#299, Tarlochan Si&#7749gh, <i>Pañj&#257b&#299 V&#257rtak d&#257 Alochan&#257tmk Adhyyan</i>. Delhi, 1972<BR> <li class="C1"> Gurmukh Si&#7749gh, <i>Sev&#257panth&#299&#257&#7749 d&#299 Pañj&#257b&#299 S&#257hit n&#363&#7749 De&#7751</i>. Patiala, 1986<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">T&#257ran Si&#7749gh<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>