HAQIQAT RAH MUQAM RAJE SHIVNABH KI

HAQIQAT RAH MUQAM RAJE SHIVNABH KI Haqiqat Rah Muqam Raje Shivnabh Ki (account or description of way, i.e. journey to the abode of Raja Shivnabh) is an anonymous and undated short piece in Punjabi prose, found appended to some manuscript copies of the Guru Granth Sahib, particularly to copies of the Bhai Banno recension. The author of this account is supposed to be Bhai Paira, a learned Sikh who was deputed by Guru Arjan to go to Singhladip (Singhladip of the Janam Sakhis), present-day Sri Lanka, to fetch a copy of a manuscript called the Pran Sangll (Chain of the Vital Breath), an interpretation of Hatha Yoga, which was said to have been recited by Guru Nanak to the Raja of Sanghladip, Shivnabh.

The manuscript of the Pran Sangli was brought to Guru Arjan, who rejected it as an apocryphal writing. The piece is not a travelogue, nor does the author claim to have himself visited the place of Shivnabh. It purports to be a sort of guide to travel, by ship to Sangladip, from the mainland of the Indian subcontinent and to locate the place of the Raja in that land. It is a short piece of simple prose about 200 words in length.

The language is a mixture a Sadh Bhakha and Punjabi. The author mentions some place-names with their distance from each other in some cases. Some of these names can be identified, while one or two palces can only be conjectured. It is also mentioned that there existed a number of Sikh sangats in those days in South India and Sri Lanka.

References :

1. McLeod, W.H., Guru Nanak and the Sikh Religion, Oxford, 1968.
2. Santokh Singh, Bhai, Sri Gur Pratap Suraj Granth,Amritsar, 1927-33.