ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>SR&#298 GUR SOBH&#256</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>SR&#298 GUR SOBH&#256</i>, a poetical work, part eulogy and part history, is an admixture of Braj and eastern Punjabi, by Sain&#257pati who enjoyed Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh's patronage for several years. The work, which had remained unknown to scholars of the recent period, was rediscovered by Ak&#257l&#299 Kaur Si&#7749gh and published through Bh&#257&#299 N&#257nak Si&#7749gh, Kirp&#257l Si&#7749gh Haz&#363r&#299&#257, Amritsar, in December 1925. Another edition was brought out by Dr Ga&#7751&#7693&#257 Si&#7749gh (Punjabi University, Pa&#7789i&#257l&#257, 1967). Two copies of the manuscript existed in the Sikh Reference Library, Amritsar, which were destroyed in the Army action in 1984. In <i>Sr&#299 Gur Sobh&#257</i> the poet uses neither his name nor pen name. It is from his two other works, <i>Ch&#257&#7751akya N&#299t&#299</i> and <i>Sr&#299 Sai&#7749 Sukh</i>, that we get the clue to the name. <i>Sr&#299 Gur Sobh&#257</i> opens with the phrase <i><u>kh</u>&#257ls&#257 b&#257ch</i> ("says the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257") instead of the usual <i>kaviov&#257ch</i> ("says the poet"), suggesting that Sain&#257pati had possibly received the rites of the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 and become a "Si&#7749gh." This led B&#257v&#257 Sumer Si&#7749gh to name him Sain&#257 Si&#7749gh.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Sain&#257pati, different from his namesake from the eastern provinces who wrote <i>K&#257vyakalpadrum</i> and <i>Kavitt Ratan&#257kar</i>, was the son of B&#257l Chand, a M&#257n Ja&#7789&#7789 of Lahore, who was himself a literate man and writer. Sain&#257pati's original name was Chandra Sain. Sain&#257pati and Sain Kavi were his pen-names. Chandra Sain joined Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh at Anandpur as one of the poets in his retinue. There he translated <i>Cha&#7751&#257kya N&#299t&#299</i>, an ancient treatise on politics and diplomacy, into old Hindi verse. Sometime around the close of the seventeenth century or possibly after the evacuation of Anandpur in 1705, Chandra Sain went to stay at Waz&#299r&#257b&#257d in present-day Gujr&#257&#7749w&#257l&#257 district of Pakistan. There at the instance of his friend Vaid Jagat R&#257i, he translated into Bh&#257kh&#257 an old treatise on medicine, R&#257m Chand's <i>R&#257m Binod</i>, under the title <i>Sr&#299 Sain Sukh</i>.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The <i>Sr&#299 Gur Sobh&#257</i> was written, according to the author's testimony, in 1701 (completed on Bh&#257do&#7749 <i>sud&#299</i> 15,1758 Bk/6 September 1701), but the fact that it includes accounts of events occuring as late as October 1708 has led scholars to surmise that 1701 may be the date of the first draft, and that the poet may have enlarged it later and completed it probably in 1711. The main theme of the hook, as indicated in the invocatory passages, is the praise of Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh. At least six of the twenty cantos, besides several passages in others, are devoted to directly panegyrizing the Gur&#363 and the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257. In the events the work sets forth to highlight their heroic exploits lies its real historical value. Among the events described with much poetic flourish are battles fought by the Sikhs under Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh the war of succession among the sons of Emperor Aura&#7749gz&#299b, the Gur&#363's meeting with Emperor Bah&#257dur Sh&#257h and the Gur&#363's assassination at N&#257nde&#7693. A fairly well-defined outline of Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh's life emerges from the work as a whole. Besides its historical significance and poetic excellence, <i>Sr&#299 Gur Sobh&#257</i> helps elucidate contemporary terminology in at least two instances; Sain&#257pati uses the term <i>misl</i> as a military sub-unit (ii, 12,52 ; xviii. 6, 771); and <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 is defined as the Sikh community in direct relation with the Gur&#363 subsequent to the elimination by him of the intermediary <i>masands</i> or local community leaders ministering their dioceses in different parts.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;To enumerate the twenty different <i>adhy&#257yas</i> or chapters, the first entitled "Panth Prag&#257s Barnan" contains, besides introductory stanzas, names of the ten Gur&#363s and describes, on the lines of the fifth canto of Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh's <i>Bachitra N&#257&#7789ak</i>, that the tenth Gur&#363 created <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 Panth in response to a divine command. The chapters that follow are (2) "Teg Prag&#257s" depicting the battle of Bha&#7749g&#257&#7751&#299; (3) "R&#257jan Het Sa&#7749gr&#257m," the battle of Nadau&#7751; (4) battles with <u>Kh</u>&#257nz&#257d&#257 and Husain <u>Kh</u>&#257n; (5) "Bachan Prag&#257s" describing cessation of <i>masand</i> system and the creation of the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257; (6) "Bachan Bich&#257r" delineating ideals of the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257; (7) "Rahit Prag&#257s" announcing the way of life of the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 ; (8) the first battle of Anandpur ; (9) the battle of Nirmohga&#7771h; (10) battles of Bas&#257l&#299 and Kalmo&#7789; (11) the second battle of Anandpur ; (12) the battle of Chamkaur; (13) "Kal&#257 Prag&#257s" describing the Gur&#363's journey from Chamkaur to M&#257lv&#257, battle of Muktsar and Epistle of Victory; (14) "K&#299chak M&#257r" giving details of journey towards the South and the battle of Baghaur; (15) "Zikr B&#257dsh&#257h&#299" regarding the war of succession between two sons of Aurarigz&#299b; (16) "M&#363l&#257qat Badsh&#257h K&#299," i.e. meeting with Emperor Bah&#257dur Sh&#257h ; (17) "S&#257hibz&#257d&#257 k&#257 Judh ar Zikr R&#257h K&#257" describing journey through R&#257jasth&#257n and skirmish at Chitto&#7771ga&#7771h ; (18) "Jot&#299 Jot Sam&#257va&#7751&#257", i.e. the passing away of Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh ; (19) "Agam Prag&#257s," an expression of the poet's view about the future of the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 ; and (20) "Sarb Upam&#257" is the poet's salutation to the Omnipresent God.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Ak&#257l&#299 Kaur Si&#7749gh, ed. <i>Sr&#299 Gur Sobh&#257</i>. Amritsar, 1925<BR> <li class="C1"> Ga&#7751&#7693&#257 Si&#7749gh, ed., <i>Sr&#299 Gur Sobh&#257</i>. Patiala,1967<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Major Gurmukh Si&#7749gh (Retd.)<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>