01Bani of the warrior-saint
Guru Gobind Singh Ji kept fifty-two poets at his court at Anandpur and Paonta, and his own verse rings like a nagara drum. The Dasam Granth, the Granth of the Tenth Master, gathers the compositions the Panth associates with him: hymns of praise to Akal Purakh, his own account of his mission, retellings of the avatars and of Devi’s battles, a garland of weapons, a long book of kathas, and a letter in Persian to the emperor Aurangzeb. Most of it is in Braj Bhasha written in Gurmukhi, with Panjabi in the Var and Persian in the Zafarnama. It is honoured beside the Guru Granth Sahib, and its banis are read every morning by Sikhs everywhere.
02Jaap Sahib and Akal Ustat
The book opens with the Jaap Sahib, 199 stanzas that praise Akal Purakh through hundreds of names in short, galloping metres: the One who has no chakra-mark, no colour, caste or lineage, no form or garb that anyone can describe. Sikhs recite it at dawn, and the rhythm carries the reader along like a cavalry charge. The Akal Ustat, praise of the One beyond time, follows. Its best-known stanza says that one man is a shaven sannyasi, one a yogi, one a brahmachari, one Hindu, one Turk, one Rafzi, one Imam Shafi, but recognise all humankind as one caste. In the same bani stand the ten Tav Prasad Savaiye of the morning Nitnem.
03Bachitar Natak: the Guru’s own account
In the Bachitar Natak, the Wondrous Drama, the Guru tells his story in fourteen chapters. He begins with praise of the Sword and of Akal Purakh, traces the descent of the Sodhi and Bedi lines from the house of Shri Ram through Lava and Kusha, and then speaks of a former birth: tapasya on Hemkunt, the mountain of seven peaks, until the Lord called him to be born in the world to spread dharma and destroy evil-doers. He tells of his birth at Patna, his father’s sacrifice, and his battles at Bhangani and Nadaun. Sikhs read it as the Guru’s own statement of why he came. The Gurdwara at Hemkunt in Uttarakhand was founded on this account.
04Chandi, and the Var that opens the Ardas
Three compositions retell Devi’s war against the asuras, following the Durga Saptashati of the Markandeya Purana: two Chandi Charitars in Braj, and the Var Sri Bhagauti Ji Ki, often called Chandi di Var, in Panjabi. The Var opens with the lines that every Ardas in every gurdwara still opens with: first remember Bhagauti, then meditate on Guru Nanak, then on the Gurus after him. Sikh teachers read Bhagauti here as the Divine Power and as the sword that stands for it. The Chandi Charitar Ukti Bilas closes with the savaiya Deh Shiva bar mohe ihai, “grant me this boon”, sung as a prayer in Sikh schools and by the Sikh Regiment of the Indian Army.
05The avatars in Braj
The Chaubis Avtar retells twenty-four avatars of Vishnu, from Machh and Kachh to Nar, Narayan, Rama, Krishna and Kalki, and is followed by the Brahma Avtar and the Rudra Avtar. Its longest books are the Ram Avtar and the Krishna Avtar, the second running to well over two thousand stanzas: the childhood at Gokul, the ras of the gopis, the killing of Kansa, the battles with Jarasandha, told with the speed of war-poetry. Each avatar is shown as a servant raised up by Akal Purakh, who alone is beyond birth. The Guru wrote, as the text says, so that the young might hear of dharma and be filled with courage.
06Shastar Nam Mala and the Charitropakhyan
The Shastar Nam Mala is a garland of the names of weapons, the sword, the arrow, the noose, the gun, each honoured as a form of the Divine Protector; it was a treasury of words for the poets of the court. The Charitropakhyan, or Pakhyan Charitar, is the longest part of the book: 404 kathas of human character, many of them of deceit and its consequences, told by a minister to a king to sharpen his judgement. Its last charitra holds the Benti Chaupai, Kabyo Bach Benti, the prayer “Hamri karo hath dai rachha”, protect me with Your own hand, which Sikhs say in the evening Rehras and over the amrit at initiation.
07The Zafarnama
The Zafarnama, the Epistle of Victory, is 111 couplets of Persian verse. Sikh tradition says the Guru wrote it at Dina in Malwa after the siege of Anandpur, after the battle of Chamkaur where his two elder sons fell, and after the two younger were bricked in alive at Sirhind. Bhai Daya Singh and Bhai Dharam Singh carried it to Aurangzeb in the Deccan. It opens in praise of God, then reproaches the emperor for oaths sworn on the Quran and broken, and declares: when all other means have failed, it is right to take the sword in hand. Sikhs read it as the voice of a Guru who had lost his sons and his city and still wrote as the victor.
08Gathered by Bhai Mani Singh
Many of the Guru’s writings were lost when Anandpur was abandoned in 1704 and the baggage was swept away at the Sarsa river. Sikh tradition says Bhai Mani Singh, the scribe of the Damdama Bir, searched out what survived and gathered it into one volume in the years after the Guru’s passing. Several early manuscripts exist with differing contents and order. In 1895–97 a committee of Sikh scholars in Amritsar compared some thirty-two of them, and the standard printed text of 1,428 pages followed. Sikh scholars have long discussed which parts are the Guru’s own pen and which are by poets of his court; the Panth honours the Granth and recites its banis daily, and that discussion continues among the learned.
09In Nitnem, Amrit and the Takhts
The Sikh Rehat Maryada of the Akal Takht prescribes the Jaap Sahib and the ten Tav Prasad Savaiye each morning after Japji, and the Benti Chaupai within the evening Rehras. At a Khalsa initiation the Panj Pyare stir water and patashas with a khanda in an iron bowl while reciting five banis; three of them, the Jaap, the Savaiye and the Chaupai, come from this book. Every Ardas begins with the opening pauri of the Var. At Takht Sri Hazur Sahib in Nanded and Takht Sri Patna Sahib the Dasam Granth is given prakash beside the Guru Granth Sahib, and Nihang Singhs read it with special reverence.
What it contains
- 1Jaap Sahib ਜਾਪੁ
199 stanzas in a dozen metres praising Akal Purakh by names of attribute: without form, without caste, without enemy. It is the second bani of the morning Nitnem and of the Amrit ceremony.
- 2Akal Ustat ਅਕਾਲ ਉਸਤਤਿ
Praise of the One beyond time, in many metres. It holds the ten Tav Prasad Savaiye of Nitnem and the stanza that names all humankind one caste.
- 3Bachitar Natak ਬਚਿਤ੍ਰ ਨਾਟਕ
Fourteen chapters: praise of the Sword, the descent of the Sodhis and Bedis from Shri Ram’s house, the former birth on Hemkunt, the purpose of the Guru’s coming, and the battles of Bhangani and Nadaun.
- 4Chandi Charitar Ukti Bilas ਚੰਡੀ ਚਰਿਤ੍ਰ ਉਕਤਿ ਬਿਲਾਸ
Devi’s battles with Madhu and Kaitabha, Mahishasura, Dhumralochana, Chanda and Munda, Raktabija, Nishumbha and Shumbha, after the Durga Saptashati. Savaiya 231 is Deh Shiva bar mohe ihai.
- 5Chandi Charitar II and Var Sri Bhagauti Ji Ki ਵਾਰ ਸ੍ਰੀ ਭਗਉਤੀ ਜੀ ਕੀ
A second, shorter retelling in Braj, then the Var in 55 pauris of Panjabi, its battle scenes ringing with drums and steel. Its first pauri, naming Bhagauti and the Gurus from Nanak to Tegh Bahadur, opens the Ardas.
- 6Gyan Prabodh ਗਿਆਨ ਪ੍ਰਬੋਧ
Awakening of knowledge: praise of the Divine, then teaching on raj dharma, the dharma of kings, through the stories of rulers from the Mahabharata age. The work stands unfinished.
- 7Chaubis Avtar ਚਉਬੀਸ ਅਵਤਾਰ
Twenty-four avatars of Vishnu, with the Ram Avtar and the long Krishna Avtar at its centre and the Nihkalanki (Kalki) Avtar at its close.
- 8Brahma Avtar and Rudra Avtar ਬ੍ਰਹਮਾ ਅਵਤਾਰ, ਰੁਦ੍ਰ ਅਵਤਾਰ
The forms taken by Bhagwan Brahma, among them Valmiki, Kashyapa and Vyasa, and those of Rudra, Dattatreya and Parasnath.
- 9Shabad Hazare, 33 Savaiye, Khalse di Mahima ਸਬਦ ਹਜ਼ਾਰੇ, ੩੩ ਸਵੈਯੇ
Ten shabads set to ragas, including “Re man aiso kar sanniasa”, thirty-three savaiye on the true Khalsa, and the Guru’s praise of the Khalsa: by their grace I have won my battles.
- 10Shastar Nam Mala ਸ਼ਸਤ੍ਰ ਨਾਮ ਮਾਲਾ
A garland of the names of weapons, each praised as a form of the Protector, built up into riddling compound names that served the court poets.
- 11Charitropakhyan ਚਰਿਤ੍ਰੋਪਾਖਿਆਨ
404 kathas of human character and deceit, told to a king by his minister. Charitra 404 holds the Benti Chaupai of Nitnem and Amrit.
- 12Zafarnama and the Hikayats ਜ਼ਫ਼ਰਨਾਮਹ
The Persian letter of 111 couplets to Aurangzeb, followed by eleven or twelve Hikayats, tales in Persian verse on themes of justice and character.
Famous verses
ਚੱਕ੍ਰ ਚਿਹਨ ਅਰੁ ਬਰਨ ਜਾਤਿ ਅਰੁ ਪਾਤਿ ਨਹਿਨ ਜਿਹ ॥ ਰੂਪ ਰੰਗ ਅਰੁ ਰੇਖ ਭੇਖ ਕੋਊ ਕਹਿ ਨ ਸਕਤਿ ਕਿਹ ॥
The One who has no mark or sign, no colour, caste or lineage; whose form, hue, outline and garb no one can describe.Dasam Granth, Jaap Sahib 1 (page 1)
ਹਿੰਦੂ ਤੁਰਕ ਕੋਊ ਰਾਫਜੀ ਇਮਾਮ ਸਾਫੀ ਮਾਨਸ ਕੀ ਜਾਤਿ ਸਬੈ ਏਕੈ ਪਹਿਚਾਨਬੋ ॥
Some are Hindu, some Turk, some Rafzi, some Imam Shafi: recognise all humankind as one caste.Dasam Granth, Akal Ustat 85 (page 16)
ਦੇਹ ਸਿਵਾ ਬਰੁ ਮੋਹਿ ਇਹੈ ਸੁਭ ਕਰਮਨ ਤੇ ਕਬਹੂੰ ਨ ਟਰੋ ॥ ਨ ਡਰੋ ਅਰਿ ਸੋ ਜਬ ਜਾਇ ਲਰੋ ਨਿਸਚੈ ਕਰਿ ਅਪੁਨੀ ਜੀਤ ਕਰੋ ॥
Grant me this boon, O Shiva, the Divine Power: that I never turn back from righteous deeds; that I do not fear the enemy when I go to fight, and with certainty win my victory.Dasam Granth, Chandi Charitar Ukti Bilas 231 (page 100)
ਪ੍ਰਿਥਮ ਭਗੌਤੀ ਸਿਮਰਿ ਕੈ ਗੁਰ ਨਾਨਕ ਲਈਂ ਧਿਆਇ ॥
First I remember Bhagauti, the Divine Power, then I meditate on Guru Nanak.Dasam Granth, Var Sri Bhagauti Ji Ki, pauri 1 (page 119); the opening of the Ardas
ਚੁ ਕਾਰ ਅਜ਼ ਹਮਹ ਹੀਲਤੇ ਦਰ ਗੁਜ਼ਸ਼ਤ ॥ ਹਲਾਲ ਅਸਤੁ ਬੁਰਦਨ ਬ ਸ਼ਮਸ਼ੇਰ ਦਸਤ ॥੨੨॥
When every other means has been tried and has failed, it is right to take the sword in hand.Dasam Granth, Zafarnama 22 (page 1390)
Its banis shaped Khalsa ritual, the Ardas and Sikh martial culture; Deh Shiva Bar Mohe Ihai is among the most sung Sikh hymns of resolve.