RANA SURAT SINGH, an epiclike poem by Bhai Vir Singh published in 1905. This poem of more than fourteen thousand lines is written in blank verse, tried for the first time in Punjabi. With all its protracted search and pang, it is ultimately a poem of complete spiritual certitude, of

Surjit Rampuri, whose real name is Surjit Singh Mangat, was born in 1926 in the village of Rampur, now in district Ludhiana. As MA in English and Punjabi he retired as District Education Officer. He began writing verse from the early age of seventeen but published his first collection,

DAYA (usually spelt data in Punjabi), from Skt. Day meaning to sympathize with, to have pity on, stands for compassion, sympathy. It means `suffering in the suffering of all beings.` It is deeper and more positive in sentiment than sympathy. Daya, cognitively, observes alien pain; affectively, it gets touched