GURUJI KE SITFAN KI KATHA

GURUJI KE SITFAN KI KATHA, lit. katha or story of the sutan or sons of Guru (Gobind Singh), by Bhai Dunna Singh Handuria, was preserved in manuscript form under MS. No. 6045 in the Sikh Reference Library at Amritsar until the Library perished in the army assault of 1984. The poem which, on the basis of internal evidence, was composed during 1`76065, comprised 122 chhands. The poet, Bhai Dunna Singh, had been with Guru Gobind Singh`s young sons and their grandmother since they crossed the River Sarsa after the evacuation of Anandpur in 1705. He accompanied, as says the poet, up to Chamkaur Sahib, where two Sikhs, Darbari and Dhuma, of the village of Saheri took custody of the family.

He further states that the two sons of Guru Gobind Singh, their grandmother, a maid and the poet himself stayed at Chamkaur Sahib in the house of a waterman, Kima, a Brahman woman, LachhmT, serving them food. In recognition of their services, the grandmother rewarded the Brahman lady with two gold mohars and five gold bangles and Kima with five hundred rupees. It was here that the grandmother and the princes were taken to Sahcn and the poet and the maid got separated from the company. The Sahibzadas, according to the poet, were then taken to Sirhind where they were tortured and executed.