HARIJAS GRANTH, by Bhāī Darbārī, is a collection of verse the first part (ff. 1-530) of which is, in imitation of the Gurū Granth Sāhib, cast in rāgas, totalling thirty-four in number, adding Mālkauṅs, Mālvā and Hiṇḍol to the thirty-one employed in the Sikh Scripture. The only known manuscript of the Harijas Granth, comprising 918 folios, which has so far remained unpublished and which was, according to internal evidence (f 760), completed on Thursday, Jeṭh vadī 13, 1860 Bk/20 May 1803, is preserved in the Gurdwārā Bhāī Darbārī at the village of Vairoke in Farīdkoṭ district. Bhāī Darbārī was a follower of Bhāī Abhai Rām who was fifth in the line from Bābā Miharbān, leader of the schismatic Mīṇā group of the Sikhs, and who later received the rites of Sikh baptism at the hands of Gurū Gobind Siṅgh and came to be known as Abhai Siṅgh. The Harijas Granth begins with the Sikh Mūl Mantra, here recorded in a somewhat changed order. Then follows a hymn attributed to Mahalā 7 or Nānak VII which here stands for Harijī. Then there is a ślokā by Bhāī Darbārī in which he pays laudation to God and then to the first five Gurūs, thereafter praising the Mīṇās who had broken away from the main Sikh tradition and set up a separate sect. The first major composition, untitled, imitates Gurū Nānak's Japu (jī) and comprises like the latter 38 stanzas. Whereas the first part (ff. 1-530) of the Granth contains hymns in different metres, forms and rāgas, the latter part (ff. 531-918) is not set in any rāga and is titled Parchīāṅ Bhāgatāṅ Kīāṅ, containing accounts of thirty saints such as Dhrū, Prahlād, Janak, Sītā, Daropadī, Arjun, Ūdho, Rāmānand, Jaidev, Nāmdev, Trilochan, Kabīr, Ravidās, Sadhnā, Sain, Pīpā and Sūr Dās. The Granth represents an amalgam of Sikh and Hindu tenets. Some of a total of twenty vārs in the first part of the Granth are entirely devoted to eulogizing the various incarnations of God accepted in Hinduism. The author has stressed the transience of this world, and impressed on man need to be detached. Crucial is the role of the Gurū in helping man in his spiritual pursuit. The language of the Granth is a mixture of Punjabi and Sādh Bhākhā the script is Gurmukhī.

Piārā Siṅgh Padam