1. AMARNAMA,

AMARNAMA, a Persian work comprising 146 verses composed in AD 1708 by Bhai Natth Mall, a dhadi or balladeer who lived from the time of Guru Hargobind to that of Guru Gobind Singh, Nanak X. The manuscript of the work in Gurmukhi script obtained from Bhai Fatta, ninth in descent from Bhai Natth Mall, through Giani Gurdit Singh, then editor of the Punjabi daily, the Prakash, Patiala, was edited by Dr Ganda Singh and published by Sikh History Society, Amritsar/ Patiala in 1953.  

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2. 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.

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3. ARZ UL-ALFAZ,

ARZ ULALFAZ, lit. breadth or scope (arz) of words (aJfaz) or petition, request or address (arz) in words (alfaz), is a versified composition in Persian by Bhai Nand Lal Goya, a noted poet and devout follower of Guru Gobind Singh. Bhai Nand Lal in between his periods of service at the imperial courts of Aurangzib and Prince Mu`azzam (later, Emperor Bahadur Shah) had the honour of enjoying the patronage of Guru Gobind Singh at Anandpur. Arz is a long poem of 1,346 couplets of much literary as well as spiritual import.

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4. BANSAVALINAMA DASAN PATSHAHIAN KA

BANSAVALINAMA DASAN PATSHAHIAN KA is a poeticized account of the lives of the Gurus by Kesar Singh Chhibbar. The term bansavalinama means a genealogy. Another term used in the text is "kursinama" which is Persian for "genealogy." But, strictly speaking, this work is not a genealogical table. It is a rapid account, in rather incipient Punjabi verse, of the ten Gurus and of Banda Singh Bahadur and some other Sikhs.

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5. BAVANJA KAVI

BAVANJA KAVI, lit. fifty-two poets, is how the galaxy of poets and scholars who attended on Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708) is popularly designated. Guru Gobind Singh, Nanak X, prophet and soldier, was an accomplished poet and also a great patron of letters. According to Sarup Das Bhalla, Mahima Prakash, he sent out Sikhs to different parts of the country to invite and bring to him scholars of repute. His instruction was: "Let them bring with them works pertaining to the fields they specialize in." When they came, "the True Guru bestowed great respect and honour upon them and provided for them without discrimination.

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6. BHAGATRATNAVALI

BHAGATRATNAVALI, also known as Sikhan di Bhagatmal or Sikhan di Bhagatmala or Bhagatavali is a tika or exposition, in Punjabi prose, of a Var (no.ll) from Bhai Gurdas`s Varan. The Var con tains a roster of the names of some of the Sikhs of the time of the first six Gurus, Guru Nanak to Guru Hargobind, without giving any details about how they got initiated into the Sikh faith or about their careers. The Bhagat Ratnavali, attributed to Bhai Mani Singh (q.v.), attempts to supply these. The name of Bhai Mani Singh occurs at several places in the text in the third person which makes it doubtful if he is the author.

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7. BHERA SRI GOBIND SINGH JI KA

BHERA SRI GOBIND SINGH JI KA, also known as Var Bhere ki Patshahi Das, is an anonymous account, in Punjabi verse, of the battles of Anandgarh, Nirmohgarh and Chamkaur (1762 Bk/AD 1705). BAera from bher in Punjabi means a headon clash between two rival forces. A manuscript of this work was discovered in Baba Bir Singh`s dera at Naurangabad, nearAmritsar, and has since been published in an anthology, entitled Prachin Varan Te Jangname, brought out by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee in 1950. The BAera comprises twenty-four cantos of unequal length written in the poetic metre Nishani, with each canto preceded by a sloka.

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8. BHASA (Commentary)

In Punjabi Letters this term is not current. There is a long tradition of tikas, meaning compositions in which a poetic text is published with every line followed by its meaning in prose, including a brief comment wherever considered necessary by the tikakar.

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9. CHALITARJOTlJOTI SAMAVANE KE

CHALITARJOTlJOTI SAMAVANE KE, one of a collection of seven unpublished Punjabi manuscripts held in the Khalsa College at Amritsar under catalogue No. 1579E. Comprising a bare three folios (3063-08), it is divided into two sections. The first part (ft. 3063-07) entitled "Verva Guriai ka Likhia," lit. details recorded of the guruship, gives the duration for which each of the ten Gurus occupied the holy seat, followed by a vague remark that 24 years and 3 months have elapsed since he passed away, implying thereby that the writing took place 24 years and 3 months after the death (in 1708) of the tenth and last of the Gurus, Guru Gobind Singh, which takes the date of the compilation of the manuscript to 1732.

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10. GANJ NAMAH

GANJ NAMAH (Treasure Book), by Bhai Nand Lal Goya, is a panegyric in Persian, partly verse and partly prose, in honour of the Ten Gurus. Bhai Nand Lal was a revered Sikh of the time of Guru Gobind Singh and a distinguished poet. The Ganj Namah renders homage to the Gurus whom the poet recalls in terms of deep personal devotion and veneration. The opening eleven couplets are an invocation to the Guru who raises men to the level of gods (3), to whom all gods and goddesses are slaves (4), and without whom there is only darkness in the world (5).

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