Dedicated to Seekers of Peace FOREWORD It affords me much pleasure to place Guru Arjun And His Sukhmani in the hands of the English- knowing readers. It is the fourth volume of late Sirdar Kapur Singh I.C.S. published by the University under an arrangement to collect, edit and preserve, his writings for the posterity. He is decidedly an authority on Sikh Theology and exposition of the Sikh Scripture. His earlier works, produced by the University, are Pārāśarapraśna or the Baisakhi of Guru Gobind Singh, Guru Nanak’s Life And Thought, and Sikhism For The Modern Man. The present work provides an insight into the life, thought and martyrdom of the Fifth Master, Guru Arjun Dev, who with the compilation of Guru Granth offered the Sikh Church its distinct Scripture. Besides, laying down his life for the cause of the freedom of belief and worship, he laid the foundations of a vibrant Punjabi character and personality. I hope, insights provided by the author in his rendering of the text and copious annotations will offer to the seekers a clearer comprehension of the Sikh thought and tradition. Guru Nanak Dev University (G.S.Randhawa) Amritsar Vice-Chancellor CONTENTS Editors’ Note (Madanjit Kaur & Piar Singh) Key to Transliteration Abbreviations INTRODUCTION (Life, Contribution and Martyrdom) Guru Arjun (Madanjit Kaur & Piar Singh) Martyred by Shamanistic Law (Sirdar Kapur Singh) THE SUKHMANI (Text, Translation & Annotations by Sirdar Kapur Singh) Invocation Astpadi I Astpadi II Astpadi III Astpadi IV Astpadi V A Supplement to Guru Arjun’s Martyrdom (Late Dr. Ganda Singh) Bibliography EDITORS’ NOTE The translation into English of the Sukhmanī was taken in hand by Late Sirdar Kapur Singh on the suggestion of an educated Sindhi lady with whom his family had close connections. The lady was struck with Tuberculosis, no cure of which was known then. While ailing she would, very often, listen to the recitation of the Sukhmani and find great solace in it for her soul. She knew and had all praise for Sirdar Kapur Singh’ s erudition of the Sikh lore and his insight into Gurubānī. She entreated him to translate this great composition into English for the benefit of the World at large. The work was commenced in 1950 but was interrupted in 1952 with the sad demise of that lady. It was taken in hand again in 1960 but was again left in the lurch when he had finished just five astpadīs (octonaries) out of the twenty-four. The reason is best known to him. Yet whatever he has produced is of great value because of the ancillary information he provides in his annotations of the text. That explains our main concern to preserve his rendering of the first five octonaries of this great poem in the form of a book. Sirdar Kapur Singh had, at sometime in the fifties of this century, written an article entitled “Gum Arjun Martyred by Shamanistic Law” Therein he had explained the grievous import of the word yāsā used by Emperor Jahangir to meet out the punishment due to the Guru, and had advanced a new thesis regarding Jahangir’s using the word yāsā in meting out the punishment to Guru Arjun’s martyrdom. He thought that Emperor Jahangir was apprehensive more of the Guru’s growing power as a potent challenge to his sovereignty than of his merely running a shop of falsehood (dukān-i-bātil). Since that article cast a new look on the whole episode, we have thought it fit to include it in the present work. And, to lend the book the veneer of a complete work, we have from our own pen added a chapter on ‘Guru Arjun’s Life and Contribution’ to it. This, the readers will find a necessary and very useful adjunct to the present volume which relates exclusively, to Guru Arjun. Sirdar Kapur Singh, very often depended for his references, on his memory with the result that there was always a chance to be in error somewhere. We have, therefore, taken care to check up his references wherever possible and to note the text in the original language also. Further, to make the quotes more intelligible we have equipped their Roman version with proper diacritical marks. Since Sirdar Kapur Singh in his writings drew from a large number of sources and in doing so stuck to the orthographic patterns of the original sources, his writings show variations in the use of the same sound, for example /c/ and /ch/; /s/ and /sh/; /d / and /r/; /s/ and Ah/ (Arabic). We have at all such places thought it fit to interfere least with the text given by him. Likewise, in the translation of Gurubānī he preferred to use /o/ in place of/u/wherever its pronunciation warranted. This too we have left untouched at many places. The list of Abbreviations used and Key to Transliteration appear in these prelims. To facilitate reference, a bibliography too has been added at the end of the book to the extent it could be prepared from S. Kapur Singh’s notes and information that could be collected from local libraries. Conscious of the fact that this work may be used as a hand-book for knowing exact connotation of various concepts elucidated by Sirdar Kapur Singh, we have alongwith a General and Bibliographical Index added a Doctrinal Index which we hope will be of immense use to scholars and readers both. We have refrained from repeating in this Volume the account of the author’s life. The interested reader may look up for it in Guru Nanak’s Life And ’Thought forming the first Volume published in the series. Some ancillary but very useful information regarding Guru Arjun’s Martyrdom was retrieved by late Dr. Ganda Singh from a less known source. We have thought it fit to give it at the end of the book by way a supplement. Our acknowledgements are due to S. Gurtej Singh I.A.S. of Chandigarh and S. Kuljit Singh of New York, U.S.A. who placed their valuable collections of Sirdar Kapur Singh’s papers at our disposal. The translation of Sukhmanī by Sirdar Kapur Singh has been reproduced with the courtesy of The Sikh Review. We owe our sincere thanks to the very kind cooperation extended to us by Dr. K.L. Sharma and Dr. Shukdev Sharma of the Department of Sanskrit, Pali and Prakrit, in checking Sanskrit quotations appearing in the text. We are thankful to Shri R.S. Tak, Reader, Department of Guru Nanak Studies for a helping hand extended in proof-reading of this volume. The help rendered by S. Jagjit Singh Walia, Director, Press and Publications and G.S. Marwah, Publication Officer, Guru Nanak Dev University and their technical staff particularly Shri S. S. Narula, Miss Harvinder Kaur, Shri Anoop Kumar and V.C. Tiwari in seeing this volume through the press, is praiseworthy and deserves our utmost thanks. Madanjit Kaur & Piar Singh ABBREVIATIONS AG Adi Granth M Mohalla Oct. Octonary P. Punjabi S. Samskrit [ ] Crochets show sound added to make the pronunciation conform to the modern man. ( ) Parentheses indicate the sound which is not pronounced although it appears in the script. INTRODUCTION (Life, Contribution and Martyrdom) GURU ARJUN Arjun Mal, as the name of the fifth Guru appears in Persian chronicles of his times, was the youngest son of the fourth Guru, Sri Ram Das, the eldest being Prithia or Prithvi Chand, and the middle one Mahadeva. He was born on April 15, 1563, at Goindwal, when his maternal grand father, Guru Amar Das was still alive. Finding him to be a precocious child of great promise, so goes the tradition, his maternal grand father, himself a veritable mine of the Divine Word, prophesied that the child would, in due course, turn out to be a virtual ferry boat of scriptures.1 During his father’s ministry (1574-1581), Arjun Mal lent his father a great hand in administering its affairs and carrying on the various public utility works launched by his father. His humility and service endeared him not only to his father, but to all those who were around him also. This made his elder brother, Prithvi Chand very unhappy, distrustful and jealous. In disgust, he would often pick up quarrels with his father and prove discourteous to him. There is a sabda in the holy scripture in which the father is reported to have expressed his displeasure in no uncertain terms.2 Once Guru Ram Das had an invitation to attend, at Lahore, the wedding ceremony of a near relative. The Guru asked his elder son, Prithvi Chand, to go and represent him. Prithvi Chand got himself excused on a false pretext and chose to remain at the headquarters. The second son, Mahadeva, was of a recluse nature. He had no interest in such worldly things. Arjun Mal, when asked to go and attend the wedding, readily obeyed his father. He was ordered to stay there until recalled. He stayed there for long preaching the Word of Guru and organising the local community. It appears, he utilized this occasion to construct a bāoli (a well with steps leading down to the surface of the water) also near the place where his father was born. When sufficient time lapsed and the urge in the young heart to be once again amidst his kith and kin grew stronger, Arjun Mal wrote his father three letters, in verse, imploring him to recall him. All the three were intercepted by his jealous brother, Prithvi Chand. The fourth, however, reached his father, whereupon Arjun Mal was sent for at once.