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ਪੜ੍ਹਾਈ Readings

ਗੰਜ ਨਾਮਾ · ਭਾਈ ਨੰਦ ਲਾਲ · The Book of Treasure

The Ganj Nama of Bhai Nand Lal

Bhai Nand Lal Ji · composed late 1600s  ·  11 chapters · 26 min

The Ganj Nama — the 'Book of Treasure' — is Bhai Nand Lal's song of love and praise for the House of Nanak. In eleven short chapters he bows before the Ten Gurus one by one, from Guru Nanak to Guru Gobind Singh, at whose court he served as the most beloved of poets. For each Guru he writes a warm hymn of praise and a Persian ode, reading even the letters of each Guru's name as a blessing, and calling every Guru the very light of God shining in a human face. The 'Beloved' he sings is God — and it is the Guru, in whom he saw God, for Goya almost never draws a line between them. His words, with Bhai Gurdas's, hold a place no other poet's do: they alone may be sung alongside the Gurus' own sacred word in a Sikh sangat. The final chapter, a rolling litany for Guru Gobind Singh, ends with Nand Lal calling himself only a poor dog at his Guru's door — and it is one of the most loved passages he ever wrote.

This reading holds the two voices of the Ganj Nama side by side. The passages of praise are given in English alone: in the source, these are a later Punjabi retelling of Nand Lal's Persian, so we offer our own English rather than present that retelling as his original words. The odes are shown in full — the Persian of Goya written in Gurmukhi letters, the way it has long been read and sung in Sikh sangats, with the roman line beneath generated by the site's transliterator, and our own loving English below. One thing to hold as you read: the 'Beloved,' the 'Master,' the light praised in every Guru is God — and, for Goya, also the Guru, in whom he saw God's own light. He rarely separates the two, and neither should the reader. The small numbers within the Gurmukhi are the poem's own traditional count.

Author

Bhai Nand Lal Ji · 1633–1713

Bhai Nand Lal Ji, who wrote under the pen-name 'Goya' — meaning 'the eloquent one, the one who speaks' — was born in Ghazni, in what is now Afghanistan, and grew up a master of Persian, the great poetic language of his day. He left a place in the Mughal court rather than give up his faith, and came to Anandpur Sahib, where he became the most loved of the fifty-two poets in Guru Gobind Singh's darbar. His poetry pours out a single feeling: a lover's longing for God, and for the Guru in whom he saw God. He later opened a school of Persian and Arabic in Multan, where he passed away around 1713. His writings, with Bhai Gurdas's, hold a place no other poet's do: they alone may be sung alongside Gurbani in a Sikh congregation.

Source

Internet Archive · Sikh Digital Library / BaniDB

Kulliyat-e-Bhai Nand Lal Goya (ed. Ganda Singh, 1963); Ganj Nama, traditional text, composed late 1600s. Public Domain Mark 1.0. View the original ›

  1. 1 The Offering Nand Lal opens his 'Book of Treasure' by laying his whole self at the Guru's feet — the Guru who lifts people made of dust until they shine like angels. 2 min read ›
  2. 2 Guru Nanak — The First Light The first Guru shone with God's own light and drove away the darkness of not-knowing — and here God Himself speaks, sending Nanak into the world as its guide. 6 min read ›
  3. 3 Guru Angad — One Soul, Two Lamps Guru Nanak's most devoted student became a Guru worthy of devotion himself — one soul with his master in two bodies. 2 min read ›
  4. 4 Guru Amar Das — The Throne of Truth The third Guru, keeper of truth and wide ocean of giving, before whom even death itself is a servant. 1 min read ›
  5. 5 Guru Ram Das — King of Kings The fourth Guru, who lifts the lowest soul that comes to his door to a seat of honour, carrying both a crown and holy poverty. 1 min read ›
  6. 6 Guru Arjan — The Well of Verses The fifth Guru, one with God and God with him — from whom pour verses full of God's own thought. 1 min read ›
  7. 7 Guru Hargobind — Sword and Light The sixth Guru, whose blessing gave the world its daylight and whose sword struck down the cruel — holy wonder clear as the day. 1 min read ›
  8. 8 Guru Har Rai — The Tender King The seventh Guru, greater than the seven lands and nine skies, both king and holy beggar, who can break the very noose of death. 1 min read ›
  9. 9 Guru Harkrishan — A Thin Veil The eighth Guru, the child-Guru who was the crown of God's pure ones — only the thinnest veil between him and God. 1 min read ›
  10. 10 Guru Tegh Bahadur — Bowed to God's Will The ninth Guru, chief of all who guard the truth, who held God's own power yet bowed always before God's will. 1 min read ›
  11. 11 Guru Gobind Singh — The Endless Litany The tenth Guru, master of the mightiest powers, who raised the nine lamps of truth — sung in a long, rolling litany that closes with Goya's own aching humility. 8 min read ›
Start reading 26 min of contemplation