PARCHIAN SEVA DAS

PARCHIAN SEVA DAS, variously titled as Sdkhidn Sevd Dds Udasi, Mahaldn Dasdn kidn Sdkhidn, Sdkhidn Dasdn Pdtshdhidn Kidn or Parchidn Pdtshdhi 10, is an eighteenth century collection of 50 sdkhis or anecdotes from the lives of the Ten Gurus. Only one sakhl each relates to the first eight Gurus; four are connected with the Ninth, Guru Tegh Bahadur, and the remaining 38 narrate incidents from the life of Guru Gobind Singh. Nothing is known about the author, Seva Das, except that he, according to the colophon, belonged to the Udasi sect, which categorically distinguishes him from Seva Ram, the Sevapanthi writer. Several extant manuscripts of this work attest to its popularity.

The Bhasha Vibhag, Punjab, first published it in 1961, and a second edition was brought out in 1978. The work is hagiographical rather than historical in nature, although several episodes agree with similar accounts in other sources such as the Gurbilases and Bhai Santokh Singh`s Sri Gur Pratdp Suraj Granth. The language is old Punjabi. The sdkhis are narrative in style, but didactic in purpose. Almost all of them convey some tenet or the other of Sikhism. For example, the 4th sdkhi, in which Guru Ram Das, answering Baba Sri Chand`s question, says that he had grown a long beard in order to wipe with it the feet of holy men like him, teaches humility. In several of the sdkhis. Guru Gobind Singh reiterates how offerings made to the Guru or his masands are not to be treated as personal property, but are held in trust for the Sikhs as a whole.

References :

1. Randhir Singh, Bhai, Uddsi Sikhan di Vithid. Amritsar, 2116Bk
2. Gurmukh Singh, Sevdpanthidn di PanjdK Sdhit nun Den. Patiala, 1986