Jangnama Guru Gobind Singh
Jangnama Guru Gobind Singh is a Punjabi ballad by Bir Singh Bal of the village of Sathiala in Amritsar district of the Punjab. Bir Singh was the author of a number of works in Braj Bhasa and. Punjabi which he wrote in the third and fourth decades of the nineteenth century. His theme is primarily Sikh history, though he has also composed Qissa Heer Ranjha incorporating the romance of Punjab's famous lovers, Heer and Ranjha.
The Jangnama, in Punjabi verse, is in the form of a Barah Maha for which reason it is also known as Barah Maha Guru Gobind Singh. It consists of one dohard of four lines and twelve stanzas of four verses each. These stanzas are in Adibhut Chhand in which each verse consists of six lines rhyming together, with an additional half line. Each stanza has a further short verse the burden of which is the poet's desire to visit Amritsar. Following the style of a Barah Maha, the twelve stanzas are each assigned to a month of the Indian calendar.
The Jangnama dealing mainly with the battles of Guru Gobind Singh, refers also to the victories won by his Sikhs against the Durranis and later in the Sikh times. The object of the poet is not to present linear history, but to sing praises of Guru Gobind Singh and eulogize the gallantry of his brave Sikhs. Thus the Jangnama is not a description of any particular battle; it takes into account a few of the significant engagements of different battles. No factual information about any battle is provided; even the dates and places of different actions are missing. Only the names of some enemy commanders are mentioned which may provide a clue to the battle being described in a particular stanza. 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. Additionally the use of the word "Khalsa," which was inaugurated in 1699, indicate that the description was, perhaps, of the last battle for Anandpur. The Maharaja of Patiala is said to have an original manuscript of the work in his private library and the poem has been included by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee in the collection, Prachin Varan te Jangname.
Bir Singh is essentially a bard whose aim was to recite the praise of Guru Gobind Singh and of the Sikh heroes who fought for the liberation of mankind from oppression and injustice. His Jangnama, which is of little historical value, is still a fine piece of combat poetry, which captures in a vigorous metre the grim fury of battle scenes.
