ਇਤਿਹਾਸ · Sikh History
Bhatt te Pandey Vahian
Long before printed books, travelling record-keepers called Bhatts and Pandas wrote family histories in great ledgers called vahis. Some of these families loved the Gurus' house and wrote down what they witnessed — weddings, births, battles, and the days the Gurus left this world, each with its exact date. This prize-winning essay gathers those precious entries, carried by the research notes of Giani Garja Singh, so we can touch the Guru period through the pens of people who stood beside it.
Author
Jatinderpal Singh
A researcher in the Department of Religious Studies at Punjabi University, Patiala. This essay took second place in the Dr. Ganda Singh Memorial research-paper competition (2014–15). It rests on the lifelong work of Giani Garja Singh (1904–1977), the historian who first brought the Bhatt vahis to light — the author edits and presents Giani ji's unpublished notes with care.
Source
Internet Archive · Sikh Digital Library
Guru Nanak Dev Mission, Patiala, 2014–15. Public Domain Mark 1.0. View the original ›
- 1 The Vahis and Their Keepers What the Bhatt and Panda ledgers are — and how they reached us 8 min read ›
- 2 The Original Text I: Marriage, Martyrdom, the Khalsa From Guru Tegh Bahadur ji's shahadat to the birth of the Khalsa, dated by the vahis 24 min read ›
- 3 The Battles of Anandpur Taragarh to the great siege — the war for the City of Bliss, dated by the vahis 14 min read ›
- 4 Chamkaur, Muktsar, and the Final Journey The leaving of Anandpur to the Guruship of the Granth Sahib — as the vahis record it 8 min read ›
- 5 The Chronology and the Summing-Up Forty-seven dated events, and the author's comparison with other historians 7 min read ›