POTHI SACH KHAND

POTHI SACH KHAND, by Sodhi Miharban (also written as Miharvan), is the first of the six pothis or volumes which are said to have comprised the first detailed janam sdkhi or biography of Guru Nanak. Sodhi Miharban (1581-1640) was the son of BabaPrithi Chand and grandson of Guru Ram Das, Nanak IV. Of the six pot his he is believed to have written only three are extant today. They are Pothi Sach Khand, Pothi Hariji and Chaturbhuj Pothi.

Pothi Sach Khand is available in manuscript form, both individually and bound together with the other two pothis. Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, has a manuscript copy of Pothi Sach Khand (accession No 83; undated) and another of all the three pothis bound together (accession No 954).The Sikh History Research Department of the Khalsa College, Amritsar, also has a manuscript copy (accession No 927) of the three pot his bound together. Another manuscript copy existed in the Sikh Reference Library, Amritsar, which got lost in the cataclysmic events of 1984.

The manuscript at the Khalsa College, Amritsar, is a copy made in 1885 Bk/AD 1828 from another manuscript bearing 1837 Bk/ AD 1780 as its date, whereas the one at Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar (accession No 954) is a copy dated 1837 Bk/AD 1780. The first manuscript of these pot his came to light when Khalsa College, Amritsar, acquired it. The manuscript was then edited and published (1962) in two volumes under the title Janam Sdkhi Sn Guru Ndnak Dev Ji, with a lengthy introduction bringing out its literary, historical, linguistic and exegetical significance.

The colophon at the end of the Khalsa College manuscript states that the six pothls together comprised 575 gostis. The Pothi Sack Khand, which originally had 167 gost is, has here a total of 153: the fact of the loss of gostis`was is noted by the copyist as well. Maybe, they had been lost by the time the manuscript reached him. The colophon does not give any date of composition of the first copy of Pothi Sach Khand, though this information is available about the other two volumes, Pothi Hariji and Chaturbhuj Pothi, which, according to the copyist were completed in 1707 Bk/AD 1650 and Bk 1708/AD 1651, respectively.

Evidently, Pothi Sach Khand which comprises as much matter as the other two put together, might have taken two to three years to complete.According to Hariji, Cost Sri Satguru Miharbdn ji ki, the gost is pertaining to all the Gurus and Bhaktas, were composed during the lifetime of Miharban. The copyist seems to suggest that the basic or original copy of these pothiswas prepared at Muhammadipur at the behest of Hariji and Chaturbhuj and that the whole corpus comprised discourses given by Miharban and put to pen by one Keshodas Brahman (vachanisriguru miharvdn de likhdt ji likhi bhai kesodds brdhmanu sevaku guru da… guldm chatur bhoj kd… guru de hukam ndii potht sodht).

References :

1. Piar Singh, ed., Adi Sakhian. Ludhiana, 1983
2. -“A Critical Survey of Seventeenth Century Punjabi Prose” (unpublished thesis). Chandigarh, 1968
3. McLeod, W.H., Guru Nanak and the Sikh Religion. Oxford, 1968