VAR, a verse form in Punjabi popular in folklore as well as in refined poetry. In the old bardic tradition of the Punjab, var meant the poem itself with its typical theme as also the form in which it was cast. The earliest vars were ballads of battles and

VAR AMAR SINGH KI is a versified account of a battle fought in AD 1774 between Raja Amar Singh, the ruler of Patiala and the neighbouring Bhatti Rajput chiefs. The writer is Kavi (poet) Kesho Das, a Brahman bard at the court of the Raja of Patiala. He was

VAR AMRITSAR KI, also known as Var Singhan Ki, by Darshan Bhagat, a disciple of Bhai Kanhaiya is an eyewitness account of the battle fought in Amritsar between a force sent by the Mughal satrap of Lahore and the Sikhs on the Baisakhi day (29 March) of 1709. A manuscript

VAR BHERE Kl PATSHAHl 10 is an anonymous poem in Punjabi describing the battle of Anandpur, Guru Gobind Singh`s engagement with the pursuing host after he had evacuated Anandpur, and finally die battle of Chamkaur. The view has been expressed that dlis Varis the original version of another poem entitled

VAR HAQIQAT RAI, by Aggra or Aggar Singh, is a versified account of the life and martyrdom of Haqiqat Rai. No biographical details are available about Aggra, except that he was a contemporary of Haqiqat Rai and that he came of a Sethi Khatri family. Haqiqat Rai was the son

VAR HARI SINGH KI, by Sahai Singh. included in the anthology entitled Prachin Varan te Jangname, edited by Shamsher Singh Ashok and published by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, Amritsar, in 1947. He describes Hari Singh Nalva`s expedidon against the Afghans who had invaded Peshawar from across the Khaibar Pass

VAR MAJH KI, by Guru Nanak occurs in the musical measure Majh, in the Guru Granth Sahib. The word majh, in Punjabi, means in the middle or midway, and the raga which goes by this name was a folk tune of Majha, the central country of die Punjab, which

VAR MALAR Kl MAHALLA I, composition of the first Guru (i.e. Guru Nanak), is one of the twenty-two vars appearing in the Guru Grandi Sahib under different ragas. A var is a folk poem of war and chivalry, celebrating a hero and his gallantry. In the Guru Granth Sahib

VAR SAT ("Seven Days of the Week"), title shared by two of the compositions in the Guru Granth SahibKabir`s in measure Gauri and Guru Amar Das` in measure Bilaval. The one by Guru Amar Das is entitled Var Sat, while that by Kabir has a variation in the form

VAR SHAH MUHAMMAD, also known as Jangnama Shah Muhammad or Hind Panjab da Jang, is a long poem in Punjabi in the traditional baint metre dealing with the events following the deaul of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, notably the Sikhs` warwiui the English in 1845-46. The author is a Muslim, Shah

VAR SRI BHAGAUTlJI Kl, a short anonymous poem describing an unnamed battle in which Guru Gobind Singh emerged a victor. The poem consists of eight stanzas only. It begins with a dohra, followed by six savaiyyas, and ends with another dohra. It panegyrizes Bhagauti (sword) as the source of

VAR SRI GURU GOBIND SINGH Jl KI, also known as Jarignama Bhangani, is an account in Punjabi verse of Guru Gobind oSingh`s battle at Bhangani, near Paonta, in AD 1688, with some of the surrounding hill chiefs supported by the Mughal authority in Delhi. The poem comprises thirty-two cantos of