%20copy_.jpg)
dasam granth sahib
I have written two books on the Sri Dasam Granth Sahib
DASAM GRANTH INTERVIEW
_edited.jpg)
Recently SikhNet interviewed Kamalroop Singh on the subject of his new book co-authored with Gurinder Singh Mann:
The Granth of Guru Gobind Singh.
The interview offers a very fascinating and informative discussion on the Dasam Granth.
What inspired you to do research on the Dasam Granth?
How many years have you spent doing that research?
"Guru Gobind Singh. There is no other answer. That classic photo (see above) of the Guru always mesmerises me.
When I was fifteen years old, my mother gave me a book by Prof Gobind Singh Mansukhani of London. It was titled Hymns from the Dasam Granth. I read all the way through it and realised that this Granth was different to the one that we worship and read from in the Gurdwara known as Adi Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji Maharaj."
DR. KAMALROOP SINGH
JĀPU SĀHIB HISTORY & TRANSLATION
The Jāpu Sāhib was the first piece to be composed by the Guru at Anandpur Sahib in 1734 VS/1677 AD. Chaupa Singh (1700) narrates that the Guru dictated the composition himself (āpaṅī) first, when he was about sixteen years of age.
18 Obviously this is why the Jāpu Sāhib is the first composition in the Dasam Granth Sahib.
19 The Jāpu Sāhib denotes the rhythmic praises of God to be repeated, or meditated upon (Japu) and is for bhaktī but the quality of vīr ras is strongly conveyed. The language is mainly Braj Bhāshā with some sections using names for God in Persian also employing Arabic, like Allah, Rahīm, Karīm as well as other portions employing Prakrit and Sanskrit, like Parmesvar, Gobind, etc.
20 The Jāpu Sāhib serves as a general invocation at the beginning of the Dasam Granth Sahib. It has parallels with the Jap of Guru Nanak, the first composition in the Adi Guru Granth Sahib.
Like the Guru Granth Sahib the Dasam Granth Sahib has a structure, which after Guru Gobind Singh, was organised into the correct order by his trusted official, Bhai Mani Singh.
Bhai Mani Singh writes in is Bhagat Ratnāwālī that the bāṇī is amrit mai bāṇī (ambrosial verses) – like Jāp Sāhib, Judh mai bāṇī like Bachitra Nāṭak Sāhib (war verses), Giān mai bāṇī, Saṅsar mai bāṇī like Charitropakyan Sāhib (knowledge and worldly verses).
In Bhai Mani Singh’s hand written recension of Dasam Granth Sahib, which has eight folios in Guru Gobind Singh’s own hand (daskhat), he arranged the bāṇī accordingly to the char padarath (or four boons):
Moksha – Liberation - Jāp Sāhib and Akāl Ustati Sāhib
Dharam – Righteous War - Dharam Yudh – Bachitra Nāṭak Sāhib, Shastra Nām Mālā - the narratives of war and weapons which is major feature of all of compositions in Dasam Granth Sahib.
Ārth – Worldly Assets - Ardās (Chaṇḍī dī Vār)
Kām – Desires - Charitropakhyan Sāhib.
When we read traditional accounts we can conclude the following about the history of the Dasam Granth Sahib...
Read More of this Excerpt Here
HARJEET SINGH GREWAL
REVIEW SRI DASAM GRANTH SAHIB: Q&A
Dasam Granth Questions and Answers Review in Sikh Formations
In Sri Dasam Granth Sahib: questions and answers, the authors Gurinder Singh Mann and Kamalroop Singh seek to redress recent debates about not only the importance and relevancy of the Sri Dasam Granth Sahib (SDGS) for the Sikh tradition, but they also entertain questions regarding its authenticity, authorship, as well as the historical and contemporary position of this text for Sikh thought.
The perspective of the book is scholarly and grass roots, as both authors have spent time as active members of the Sikh community as well as having pursued scholarly research of the SDGS at the postgraduate level.
This volume appears to be released as a needed intervention into the current controversy surrounding the SDGS as well as a brief instalment along the way to a larger, more comprehensive work discussing the SDGS.
With a view to describing some of the less well-understood intricacies of the SDGS, it is a welcome addition to the limited number of English language volumes discussing the SDGS.
GURINDER SINGH MANN & KAMALROOP SINGH
SRI DASAM GRANTH SAHIB: QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
Sri Dasam Granth Sahib is the second sacred scripture of Sikhism after Guru Granth Sahib.
This book gives a complete understanding of the history, compilation and relevance of Guru Gobind Singh's compositions. In recent years many fallacies and misinterpretations have crept into the study and understanding of the scripture.
The authors of this book, Gurinder Singh Mann and Kamalroop Singh have given elaborate answers to 50 questions posed on the Sikh scripture. They have considered manuscript and historical evidence to provide the readers with thoughtful insights on how the scripture should be perceived.
This book features:
*50 questions and 50 elaborate answers on the scripture.
*Rare pictures of Sri Dasam Granth manuscripts.
*The Akal Takh Sahib stance on the Guru's bani.
*The British views on the Sikh scripture.
*The relevance of Sri Dasam Granth in modern society.
THE GRANTH OF GURU GOBIND SINGH:
ESSAYS, LECTURES AND TRANSLATIONS (OUP, 2015)
In the Graṅth of Guru Gobind Singh, the authors offer new insights into the Sikh scripture Dasam Patshah Ka Granth, or the Dasam Granth, which has traditionally been attributed to Guru Gobind Singh.
While many studies have adopted a polemic approach and focused on the authorship of the text, this book takes a multi-disciplinary approach and considers the relationship of the scripture with the newly discovered manuscripts, apocryphal translations, and relics.
The manuscript tradition of the Graṅth shows how it was written and compiled during Guru Gobind Singh's time and how its compositions were transmitted through material items such as swords. The authors have included in this volume translations of selected compositions from the scripture.
This book, in essence, takes the reader through relevant history of the Sikh dharam and establishes the centrality of the Dasam Graṅth within it.
THE GURU’S WARRIOR SCRIPTURE
The scripture known as the Dasam Granth Sahib or the ‘Scripture of the Tenth King,’ has traditionally been attributed to Guru Gobind Singh.
It was composed in a volatile period to inspire the Sikh warriors in the battle against the Moghuls, and many of the compositions were written for the rituals related to the preparation for war (Shastra puja) and for the battlefield.
Our recent work explores the Dasam Granth Sahib, and is one of the few published works on the scripture in English.
During and after initiation a sikh is required to wear the five K's, emblems which start with the letter K.
nishān i sikhī īṁ paṁja haraph i kāph.
These five letters beginning with K are the emblems of Sikhism.
hargez nabāshad azīṁ paṁaz muāph.
A Sikh can never ever be excused from the great five Ks.
kaṛā kārd o kac-cha kaṁghā bidāṅ.
The Bangle, Sword, Shorts and a Comb.
bilā kesa hec ast jumalā nishān.
Without unshorn Hair the other lot of symbols are of no significance.
The Granth of Guru Gobind Singh: Essays, Lectures and Translations (OUP, 2015), pp. 61-62.
SRĪ BHAGAUTĪ ASTOTRA PĀTISĀHĪ 10
The following translation of the Srī Bhagautī Astotra is from the forthcoming publication Dasam Granth Sahib, Essays, Lectures, and Translations, Oxford University Press, India.
The history and discussion of the vīr rasī Srī Bhagautī Astotra or heroic ‘Panegyric to the Divine-Sword’ is included within this forthcoming title.
It includes the history and translations of the apocrypha from extant manuscripts of the Dasam Granth Sahib, the discussion of previously unknown manuscripts from 1695–1698 AD, a study of the rituals and maryādā of the Graṅth of Guru Gobind Singh.
The tradition of the Dasam Granth Sahib within the Sampradāvāṅ, e.g. Akālī Nihaṅg Singh Khālsā (Buḍḍhā Dal) and the changes made by the ‘Tat Khalsa’ Singh Sabha to the original praxis of the Srī Akāl Takht Sāhib and Srī Keshgaṛh Sāhib.
http://kamalroopsingh.blogspot.com/2012/11/sri-bhagauti-astotra-patisahi-10.html
SRĪ BHAGAUTĪ ASTOTRA PĀTISĀHĪ 10
DR. KAMALROOP SINGH IS A SIKH BORN AND RAISED IN ENGLAND.
HE IS A RARE PERSON TO ACHIEVE A PHD ON THE SUBJECT OF THE HISTORY OF THE DASAM GRANTH SAHIB.
