ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>V&#256R&#256&#7748 BH&#256&#298 GURD&#256S</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>V&#256R&#256&#7748 BH&#256&#298 GURD&#256S</i> is the title given to the collection of forty <i>v&#257rs</i> or "ballads" written in 'Punjabi by Bh&#257&#299 Gurd&#257s (d.1636) much honoured in Sikh piety and learning. These forty <i>v&#257rs</i> comprise 913 <i>pau&#7771&#299s</i> or stanzas, with a total of 6,444 lines. There is no internal or external evidence available to determine the exact time of the composition of these <i>v&#257rs</i>, but it can be assumed that <i>v&#257rs</i> (Nos. 3,11,13,24,26,38,39) which have references to Gur&#363 Hargobind who came into spiritual inheritance in 1606 after the death of Gur&#363 Arjan, his predecessor, might have been composed sometime after that year, and the others implicitly prior to that date. The <i>V&#257r</i> 36 on the M&#299&#7751&#257s was probably written before the compilation of the Sikh Scripture in 1603-04. The <i>v&#257r</i>, in Punjabi folk tradition dealt with the themes of martial valour and chivalry, but this poetic form underwent a complete transformation in the hands of Gur&#363 N&#257nak (1469-1539), whose <i>v&#257rs</i> had a spiritual meaning, with the battleground shifting to the human psyche. They depicted the fight between the forces of good and evil symbolized in the persons of <i>gurmukh</i> and <i>manmukh</i>, respectively. The <i>v&#257rs</i> of Bh&#257&#299 Gurd&#257s are also spiritual rather than heroic in theme. They were written for separate audiences and that is why they lack a consistently pervasive thematic burden amongst or within them. However, comprehensive study of them all can help us build a fairly authentic biography of Gur&#363 N&#257nak and the milieu he inherited and he and five of his successors lived in. They provide us with information about the prominent Sikhs of those days and, more important than anything else, they enunciate almost every Sikh concept as it appears in the Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib and constitute the core of Sikh moral code. On the whole, these <i>v&#257rs</i> form a critique and interpret moral principles in a simple idiom through familiar images and homely instance and give us an insight into the meaning and teaching of the Sikh faith in its earlier years.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The first <i>v&#257r</i>, which is the longest with forty nine stanzas, is a work of historical importance. It begins with an invocatory canto, followed by a description of the creation of the world, six systems of Indian philosophy and the four <i>yugas</i> or time-cycles. The following six stanzas (17-22) refer to the serious crisis in the moral state of man, and the world is shown as debased owing to the accretion of <i>p&#257pa</i> (evil, sin). For Bh&#257&#299 Gurd&#257s the elements contributing to, and to some extent consequent upon, this <i>p&#257pa</i> are the intolerance practised by men of various faiths and their indifference to and disregard of the Divine (17). Elsewhere also Bh&#257&#299 Gurd&#257s refers to the conflict between the Hindu and the Muslim, each vying with the other for superiority, basing his claim on the profundity of their respective scriptures rather than on rightful practices. While making this criticism, Bh&#257&#299 Gurd&#257s was envisioning the role of Sikhs as the needle that sews together the fabric of religious life torn asunder by Hindu and Muslim scissors (33.4). <i>Pau&#7771&#299s</i> 23-44 mention the main events in the life of Gur&#363 N&#257nak. The following four stanzas (45-48) eulogize the successors of Gur&#363 N&#257nak till Gur&#363 Hargobind. In the last stanza (49) me term <i>v&#257higur&#363</i> has been explained in the Puranic context. This <i>v&#257r</i> has also been paraphrased, in considerable detail, by Bh&#257&#299 Man&#299 Si&#7749gh and is known as <i>Gi&#257n Ratnav&#257l&#299</i>. The tenth <i>v&#257r</i> (23 stanzas) comprises the life sketches of 23 Hindu bhaktas, and the eleventh (31 stanzas) contains the list of prominent Sikhs of the first six Gur&#363s. The 28th <i>v&#257r</i> addresses in the main the question as to what constitutes the true Sikh way of life, and the 36th is about the M&#299&#7751&#257s.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Bh&#257&#299 Gurd&#257s has taken up for detailed analysis in these <i>v&#257rs</i> Sikh concepts of God, Gur&#363, <i>gurmukh, manmukh, sa&#7749gat, sev&#257, gurmantra</i>, and others. God is omnipotent and all-pervasive. He is not only the creator of this universe, but He also permeates through His creation. The ultimate aim of human life is to realize God which can be done only through the help of the Gur&#363. Bh&#257&#299 Gurd&#257s proclaims that all the Gur&#363s were one in Spirit though different in body. God dwells in man's own heart and to realize Him man need not wander in forests or mountains. The life of the householder was to be preferred to that of the ascetic. Since Bh&#257&#299 Gurd&#257s is more concerned with life in this world, there is little in his <i>v&#257rs</i> of the rapturous bliss of the beyond; instead he recalls the disciple to the need of assiduously cultivating an abiding sense of moral obligation and duties. Such an understanding of the world was afforded Sikhs by Gur&#363 N&#257nak, who had, in epigrammatic manner, declaimed on the absolute reality of moral categories. Bh&#257&#299 Gurd&#257s posits <i>sidq</i> or constancy in spiritual faith and <i>sabr</i> or contentment while still engaged in worldly activity as the supreme virtues required of true Sikh (22.16). The term used for a true Sikh is <i>gurmukh</i>, his opposite being <i>manmukh; sidq</i> and <i>sabr</i> are nourished in <i>s&#257dh sa&#7749gat</i> or company of the holy, not through ecstatic or mystic experience but through living together in a spirit of faith, humility and service. Bh&#257&#299 Gurd&#257s is of the view that human existence is fortunately acquired and is a chance to find liberation. He describes the path of a Sikh as thin as a hair, as sharp as a dagger's edge (9.2). It is a difficult, yet a straight path. The whole of <i>v&#257r</i> 28 is devoted to this theme. Steadfastness and fidelity are the other virtues Bh&#257&#299 Gurd&#257s recommends for a Sikh who is enjoined upon to have one wife and respect other females as sisters and daughters (6.8). He is not to covet another's wealth. Ill--gotten wealth should be like pork to the Muslim and beef to the Hindu (29.11). He stands firm in his belief and is of undivided mind, with no dubiety which is considered a moral lapse for which responsibility lies solely on the individual. He holds that in <i>satyuga</i> a moral lapse invoked the accountability of every being, in <i>tret&#257yuga</i> of every person in the village, in <i>dv&#257paryuga</i> of all kinsfolk, and in <i>kal&#299yuga</i> of the single person who is the agent of the immoral act (12.16).</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;These <i>v&#257rs</i>, which are accepted as part of approved Sikh canon, reiterate or explain in simple idiom what was contained in the Sikh Scripture. In fact, the <i>v&#257rs</i> were designated by Gur&#363 Arjan as the key to the Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib. However, the technique of Bh&#257&#299 Gurd&#257s is not to take words from the sacred text and expound their meanings, but to pick up ideas and concepts and interpret them in simple and easily intelligible language. This technique of annotation was followed later on by Bh&#257&#299 Man&#299 Si&#7749gh and then flowered into what we today call the Gi&#257n&#299 school of hermeneutics.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Hans, S.S., "Bhai Gurdas" in <i>Proceedings of Panjab History Conference (Twelfth Session)</i>. Patiala, 1969<BR> <li class="C1"> Jodh Singh, tr., <i>V&#257r&#257&#7749 Bh&#257&#299 Gurd&#257s</i>. Patiala, 1998<BR> <li class="C1"> Jagg&#299, Ratan Si&#7749gh, <i>Bh&#257&#299 Gurd&#257s, J&#299van&#299 te Rachn&#257</i>. Patiala, 1974<BR> <li class="C1"><i>V&#257r&#257&#7749 Bh&#257&#299 Gurd&#257s, Shabad Anukramanik&#257 ate Kosh</i>. Patiala, 1966<BR> <li class="C1"> Jagat Si&#7749gh, <i>V&#257r&#257&#7749 Bh&#257&#299 Gurd&#257s J&#299</i>. Amritsar, n.d.<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Dharam Si&#7749gh<br></p><BR> </font> <img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""> </HTML></BODY>