Author: Khushwant Singh
Painter/Illustrator/Animator: Arpita Singh
Publisher: Orient Longman
Year: 1997
Language: English
Pages: 119
ISBN/UPC (if available): 978-81-250-1161-3
Description
Selected and translated by the eminent writer Khushwant Singh, the Hymns of Guru Nanak are some of the finest devotional Poems from the Sacred Book of the Sikhs, the Adi Granth.
Saint, philosopher and founder of the Sikh religion, Guru Nanak was born in 1469. In a brief but beautifully written chapter, Khushwant Singh tells us of the Spiritual struggle Guru Nanak went through to create a religion, which is unique and yet eclectic.
The hymns that follow the introductory chapter tell us, in lyrical verse and exquisite parable, of Guru Nanak's complete devotion to God, of his great humanism, of his intense Love of Nature and of the many journeys he undertook to spread the message. The hymns use imagery that a householder and a nature lover would be familiar with and so reinforce the concept that a person must make an internal journey to find God and the path lies in love, devotion and service to mankind. Each of the hymns is set in a particular raga that invests the poem with a certain emotion.
The elements of Faith and passion are sensitively brought out in Arpita Singh's paintings, which in Colour and inspired drawing, heighten the Aesthetic and spiritual dimensions of Guru Nanak's divine verse.
Contents
Preface
1. Life of Guru Nanak
2. Japji, the Morning Prayer
3. Hymns from Sri Raga
4. Hymns from Var Majh
5. Hymns from Raga Gaudi
6. Hymns from Raga Asa
7. Hymns from Asa-di-Var
8. Hymns from Raga Gujri
9. Hymns from Raga Vadhans
10. Hymns from Raga Sorath
11. Hymns from Raga Dhanasari
12. Hymns from Raga Tilang
13. Hymns from Raga Suhi
14. Hymns from Raga Bilaval
15. Hymns from Siddha Goshta
16. Hymns of the Bara Mah
Appendix 1: Religious Inheritance
Appendix 2: The Message
Glossary of Terms
Notes on the Colour Plates
Acknowledgements
List of Plates
1. One evening in July...
2. He Blessed the Swans and Bade Them Godspeed...
3. As a Beggar goes a-begging...
4. Come my Sister Let us embrace...
5. A Fish in the Deep and Salty Sea...
6. Love thy Lord as the Chakvi loves the Sun...
7. As Krishna Sporting in the Hands of Yashodhara...
8. Like Birds at Dusk Settling on Trees...
9. He First Conquered Khorasan...
10. Black Buck Listen to Me...
11. I Plaited my Tresses...
12. The Firmament is Thy Salver...
13. The Yogis Took their Seats...
14. It is Spring
15. Without the Lord I Alone am Bereft of Joy...
16. The bough remaineth ever Green...