GRANTH GURBILAS PATSHAHI

GRANTH GURBILAS PATSHAHI 6 (granth volume, book; gurbilas = life story of the Guru; patshahi 6 = the spiritual preceptor, sixth in the order of succession), is a versified account, in Punjabi, of the life of Guru Hargobind, Nanak VI. The manuscript, preserved in the Punjab University Library, Chandigarh, under accession No. 1176, is of anonymous authorship. The dale of its composition is also not known. The condition of the paper, the formation of the letters and the style of writing point to a comparatively recent date. The manuscript comprises 135 folios, each folio having 30 (fifteen + fifteen) lines.

Chaupai and dohira are the metres most commonly used, with occasional interspersing of paim, rasaval, nishani and naraj. The contents of the Gurbilas are almost identical with those of the oilier Gurbilas,commonly attributed to Kavi Sohan. There are many dates given in the text but most of them do not tally with those commonly accepted in the Sikh tradition. The author nowhere refers to the works lie relied upon, though he does state that Guru Hargobind\’s life had been presented before him in great detail and that he was narrating it only in brief. The entire volume is divided into several parts, each part dealing with some important episode from the Guru\’s life.