ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>SR&#298 JASS&#256 SI&#7748GH BINOD</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 JASS&#256 SI&#7748GH BINOD</i>, manuscript dealing with the career of Sard&#257r Jass&#257 Si&#7749gh &#256hl&#363v&#257l&#299&#257 (1718-83), a prominent Sikh warrior of the eighteenth century and founder of the erstwhile state of Kap&#363rthal&#257 in the Punjab, was written by R&#257m Sukh R&#257o at the instance of Sard&#257r Fateh Si&#7749gh, ruler of Kap&#363rthal&#257 from 1801 to 1836. The manuscript, formerly the property of Kap&#363rthal&#257 state, is now held in the Punjab State Archives, Pa&#7789i&#257l&#257, at MS. accession No. M/772. It consists of 250 folios, size 22x16 cm, each containing 16 lines.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Not much is known about the author, R&#257m Sukh R&#257o, except that he was a Br&#257hma&#7751, who had worked as a tutor in the Kap&#363rthal&#257 family and who was rewarded with a <i>j&#257g&#299r</i>, i.e. land grant, after his ward Fateh Si&#7749gh's accession to the throne. He claims himself to be a poet of renown who had written commentaries on some well-known literary texts as well as two treatises on poetics.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Sr&#299, Jass&#257 Si&#7749gh Binod</i>, after the customary invocatory verses, gives the genealogy and brief accounts of the ancient Hindu kings, Muslim rulers and the Gur&#363s of the Sikh faith, and then assumes the narration of the life story and exploits of the great Sikh hero ending with his death in 1840 Bk/AD 1783. The chronology of events as recorded in the manuscript is somewhat arbitrary and the author often digresses into philosophical and religious reflections. His language, a mixture of Hindi, Persian and Punjabi, is loaded with Sanskrit vocabulary and becomes at places obscure. The script used is Gurmukh&#299.</p> </ol><p class="CONT">B. S. Nijjar<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>