Sri Gur Sobha — The Glory of the Guru

The Gurmukhi shown is the poem exactly as published in the 1967 Damdami-Taksal-tradition edition edited by Mahinder Singh 'Giani' (Bhasha Vibhag, Punjab), transcribed verbatim from the page images; the roman line beneath it is generated by the site's transliterator, and the English below is our own loving translation. Sainapati wrote in Braj, the poetic language of his time, so a few words will look unfamiliar even to Punjabi readers — the translation carries their meaning. Two things to hold as you read. First, much of this book recounts war: the tenth Guru's years in the hills were years of defence against repeated attacks, and Sainapati sings them in the heroic voice of his age. The battle scenes are told plainly and with a warrior's pride; they are history, not a call to enmity, and the Guru's own compassion — making king and pauper equal, bowing the proud head to the humble foot — is the poem's true heart. Second, the original 1967 edition carries the editor's footnotes and cross-references (to the Guru's own Bachitra Natak and to manuscript variants); those scholarly notes are not part of Sainapati's poem and are not reproduced here — only his verse is.