ANI RAI

ANI RAI, author of Jangnama Guru Gobind Singh Ji, was one of the numerous poets and scholars who enjoyed the patronage of Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708). The Jangnama is an account in verse of a battle on the banks of the River Sutlej in which an attack from the imperial troops was countered and repulsed by Sikhs under the personal command of Guru Gobind Singh. No date is given of the event, but a reference in the text to “Khalsa,” inaugurated in 1699, and other details indicate that it was one of the last battles of Anandpur.

A manuscript of the work is preserved in the private collection of the Maharaja of Patiala. The poem has been included by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee in the collection Prachin Varan teJangname, and by Bhasha Vibhag, Punjab, in Panch Nad. The poet has tried several prosodic measures in the 70stanza poem. The language used is bhakha, or contemporary Hindi, except in the pauris which are in chaste Punjabi.

References :

1. Padam, Piara Singh, Guru Gobind Singh Ji de Darbari Ratan. Patiala, 1976
2. Kuir Singh, Gurbilas Patshahi 10. Patiala, 1968