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Book Review
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TITLE : Sodhi Prithi Chand Di Rachna Publisher : Punjabi Educational and Cultural Foundation, 2010 Review : Jagpal S Tiwana Price : ` 240/- Deluxe bound. Editor : Ahluwalia, Joginder Singh |
Introduction:
"Sodhi Prithi Chand di Rachna" is the second of the ten-volume series, "Sikhan De Chhote Mel Da Sahit " ; the first volume 'Sikhan Da Chhota Mel, Ithas te Survekhan" was published in 2009. Work on other eight volumes is in progress.
We hear a lot about the fake literature of the Minas and the false claim of Prithi Chand and his descendants to Guru Gaddi (Guru's seat), but no scholar has actually read or published it completely except for a few hymns. Late Prof. Pritam Singh and Dr. Joginder Singh Ahluwalia took this project in hand and did a highly commendable job in bringing out this unexplored area to our attention.
How the Project started :
Prof. Pritam Singh was always in the look out for old hand written manuscripts and pothis (books) and went in search of them even if he had to walk many miles to procure them. Thus he had many such historic documents in his personal library. Dr. Joginder Singh Ahluwalia, a petroleum engineer based in California, has the same interest and pursuit for manuscripts . When he saw the rich collection in Prof. Pritam Singh's library, he offered to catalog and digitize them. Every year Joginder Singh would travel from California to Pritam Singh's place in Patiala and stay at his house for two-three months to study the literature and put it in order. They decided to publish it under a more dignified title "Sikhan De Chhote Mel Da Sahit " instead of the Sahit of Minas since it was not as derogatory as is generally understood.
The second volume 'Sodhi Prithi Chand di Rachna' has almost all the literature of Prithi Chand consisting of vars (poems) Gurbani hymns and more than one hundred shabads (hymns) in 18 ragas (melodies). Joginder Singh has put all the composition of Prithi Chand in the second section of the book. The introduction and the first section is well written and quite informative.
Joginder Singh removes certain misgivings about Prithi Chand. There is nothing against Guru Arjan Dev in the Mina literature. Prithi Chand wrote his bani under Mahala 6 thus accepting Guru Arjan as the legitimate fifth Guru. Many of his hymns are quite similar to the bani of Sikh Gurus and this led some critics to allege that he stole the bani of earlier Gurus. Joginder Singh says it is not correct. Such similarity is also found in the hymns of other Sikh Gurus too. In fact it was the accepted style.
However, it is also true that Prithi Chand was quite ambitious and expected that the fifth Guru would adopt his son, Meharban, as his successor since Guru Arjan did not have a son for a long time . But when in 1595 a son, Hargobind, was born in Guru Arjan's house, Prithi Chand lost his patience. He moved to his in-laws village, Hayhar, and started his line of Gurus parallel to Sikh Gurus. He wrote his hymns under Mahala 6, his son Meharban wrote as Mahala 7 and grandson Harji as Mahala 8. The line of Mina Gurus continued even after the 10th Mina Guru till it lost its following and got merged in the mainstream.
REVIEW :
Joginder Singh found the same philosophy, style and pattern in the compositions of Prithi Chand as that of Sikh Gurus. Prithi Chand along with Guru Arjan was raised in Goindwal in the house of his maternal grandfather, Guru Amar Das. He learned all about Gurmat there. Here he must have read Goindwal pothis scribed by Sahansran, grandson of the third Guru.
Joginder Singh analyses Prithi Chand's bani, quotes copiously from it and compares it with similar hymns of Sikh Gurus. Couple of such concepts are given below.
Eko Ek : One and Only One In Sikh philosophy, Unity of God is emphasized. There is one and only one supreme power which runs the universe. Sikhs bow only before it ; they do not worship any god or goddess. Prithi Chand does not deviate from it. He too stresses 'Eko Ek', One and only One, no devi or devta.
Bani in Ragas : Like Sikh Gurus , Prithi Chand too composed his bani in Ragas. Joginder Singh points out that Guru Nanak composed Bani in 19 ragas, Guru Amar Das in 17, Guru Ram Das in 30 and Guru Arjan Dev in 30. Prithi Chand composed his hymns in 18 ragas. The learned editor lists them in his book.
Guru and Satguru : Sometime it is alleged that Prithi Chand used Satguru in place of Guru. In moolmantra he writes 'Satgur Prasad' instead of 'Gurprasad'. Joginder Singh defends it under the plea that there is no difference between Satguru and Guru. They are interchangeable and are used as such by Sikh Gurus. He cites several hymns from SGGS and Prithi Chand's verses where they are used both ways.
Actually Prithi Chand follows all the basic concepts of Sikh Gurus . His emphasis on Nam Simran, references to Hindu mythology, Vedas, Kateba, Shastra, smriti, pilgrimage, sharing with others etc all come from Gurus. . Still his bani could not be included in Adi Granth as he was not a Sikh Guru. Any bani not composed by Gurus is Kachi (false) bani declared so by Guru Amar Das. The third Guru, however, selected the hymns of eleven Bhagats which are found in the Goindwal pothis. [It is interesting to note here that Guru Nanak does not mention about the eleven Bhagats in his hymns, not even Farid and Kabir. It is pointed out so by Joginder Singh in a foot note]. All this was quite helpful to Guru Arjan when he compiled Adi Granth. He included the composition of Bhagats and Bards along with the bani of Gurus. Though Prithi Chand did not deviate from the Philosophy of Sikh Gurus, yet his son, Meharban and grandson Harji showed their belief in Hindu gods and goddesses as found in their hymns.
Though the book is basically meant for scholars who have interest in the Mina literature, it has much useful information for the common reader too. It has a list of hand written documents from the personal collection of Pritam Singh now housed in the GNDU library as well a list of rare documents from the GNDU library.
They can be useful to scholars for further research. All terms used by Prithi Chand are explained in detail in the glossary at the end.
Then there is a bibliography of hand written and published material both in Punjabi and English .
The book is deluxe bound and carries quite modest price tag of Rs.240. Strongly recommended.
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