Chandra Sain Sainapati

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Chandra Sain Sainapati, commonly referred to as Sainapati and counted among the "fiftytwo poets" of Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708), or 52 court poets of Guru Gobind Singh, was the son of Bal Chand, an educated Man Jatt of Lahore. His original name was Chandra Sain, Sainapati being the pseudonym he had taken. Chandra Sain, taught by one Devi Das, joined the group of Guru Gobind Singh's poets, and rendered into Hindi verse, the Chanakya Niti, the well known Sanskrit treatise on statecraft and diplomacy.

His Sri Gur Sobha, a versified lifesketch of Guru Gobind Singh describing his major battles, the creation of the Khalsa, and events following the evacuation of Anandpur, is a work of much historical value. It was completed in 1711. The poet also lived for some time at Wazirabad, in the present Gujranwala district of Pakistan, where he translated into Bhakha verse a Sanskrit work on medicine, Ram Binod, earlier translated by a Hindi poet, Ram Chandra, in 1663 in mixed prose and verse. Sainapati entitled his translation, made at the instance of his friend, Jagat Rai, a Brahman vaid or physician of Wazirabad, Sukh Sam Granth. Besides these three works, a fragment containing two karakhas, a prosodic form, describing the battles of Bhangani and Fatehgarh Fort (Anandpur), respectively, also survives.

Historical Relevance

Sainapati's work is also extremely important because it is considered one of the most contemporary accounts and closest accounts to the time of Guru Gobind Singh and the revelation of the Khalsa even by many of those "Western Historians" who consider themselves as "skeptic scholars." Sainapati writes about that Vaisakhi day in an excerpt from the Sri Guru Sobha,


ਚੇਤ ਮਾਸ ਬੀਤਿਉ ਸਕਲ ਮੇਲ ਭਯੋ ੳਪਾਰ
ਬੈਸਾਖੀ ਕੇ ਦਰਸ ਪੈ ਸਤਿਗੁਰ ਕ੍ਰੀਯੋ ਬਿਚਾਰ
ਸੰਗਤ ਦਰਸ਼ਨ ਕਰਤੁ ਸਬ ਨਗਰ ਬਿਸਥਾਰ
ਹੁਐ ਦਇਆਲ ਦਰਸ਼ਨ ਦੀੳ ਕਰਨਹਾਰ ਕਰਤਾਰ
ਗੋਬਿੰਦ ਸਿੰਘ ਕਰੀ ਖੁਸ਼ੀ ਸਂਗਤਿ ਕਰੀ ਨਿਹਾਲ
ਕੀੳ ਪ੍ਰਗਟ ਤਬ ਖਾਲਸਾ ਚੁਕਿੳ ਸਗਲ ਜੰਜਾਲ


Also,

Month of Chet had pass’d away, When there was held a fair grand. The Sikhs came on Baisakhi day. To have the glimpse of the Guru, Who was drowned deep in thoughts... Jovial Gobind Singh shower’d the joys. Upon his Sikhs and created the Khalsa. Who abjured bondages all. On the bank of Sutlej river. Assembled the Sikhs big and small. They all listen’d when the Guru spoke. Countless became then his Khalsa. Nervous and restless became many others. Rejection of the Masands, spoke he of, And worship of one God, the Supreme.


Sainapati places the day on the day of Vaisakh and explains the significance of the event.

Read Sri GurSobha by Sainapati by Dr. Ganda Singh online
Read Sri GurSobha by Sainapati by Dr. Ganda Singh online

References

1. Ganda Singh, ed., Sri Gur Sobha. Patiala, 1980

2. Santokh Singh, Bhai, Sn Gur Pratap Sura/` Granth. Amritsar, 1926-37

3. Gian Singh, Giani, Twarikh Guru Khalsa. Patiala, 1970

4. Padam, Piara Singh, Darbari Ratan. Patiala, 1976