SikhiWiki:Today's featured article/December 1, 2009
Bhai Nand Lal (c. 1633-1713), was a poet famous in the Sikh tradition and favourite disciple of Guru Gobind Singh. His poetry, all in Persian except for Joti Bikas, which is in Punjabi, forms part of the approved Sikh canon and can be recited along with scriptural verse at Sikh religious divans.
Nand Lal adopted the pen-name of "Goya," though at places he has also subscribed himself as "Lal," the word being the last part of his name.
He was a scholar, learned in the traditional disciplines of the time, and his image in Sikh history is that of a man who loved and venerated Guru Gobind Singh and has been in turn loved and venerated by generations of Sikhs.
It is thought that he was born in a town called Ghazni in Afghanistan and was 23 years older than Guru Gobind Singh. By caste he was a Khatri, a class distinguished in Mughal times, like the Kayasthas, for its proficiency in learning and using Persian, which at that time was the language of official business. .....More
