Parchian Sewa Das

Parchian Sewa Das, dated 1708 A.D. is probably the earliest available narration, in prose, of some episodes from the life of Guru Gobind Singh. Its date of completion coincides with the date of the passing away of Guru Sahib and it seems to have been written at Nander itself. Thirty- eight of the fifty episodes (Nos. 13 to 50) contained in the work pertain to Guru Gobind Singh, but none of them describes the event as such in any form. There is, however, a passing but significant reference to it in the very first episode which after giving "a brief sample" of the Zafarnamah1 is concluded as follows:

"The letter contained the warning, ‘Beware, the Khalsa is born, the real idol-breaker Khalsa. Khalsa will punish you. You will not be spared."

"The name of the messenger who took this letter was Bhai Daya Singh. When Aurangzeb read this line of the letter, he looked at Bhai Daya Singh and asked, ‘Has the Khalsa taken birth’? ‘Yes, Sir, the Khalsa has appeared,’ replied Bhai Daya Singh. ‘It should not have appeared15. That is a novel nectar to be prepared with the use of a double at this time. I see doom ahead.’ Saying this, Aurangzeb’s face turned pale, and he died." 19

Its episode No. 47 refers to a violation of Rehat, the Code of Socio-religious Conduct and discipline prescribed for the Khalsa, at Dadu Dwara - Guru’s salutation, Khalsa’s notice, Guru’s explanation and acceptance of the tankhah20 awarded by the Khalsa.21