PARCHĪĀṄ SEVĀ DĀS, variously titled as Sākhīāṅ Sevā Dās Udāsī, Mahalāṅ Dasāṅ kīāṅ Sākhīāṅ, Sākhīāṅ Dāsāṅ Pātshāhīāṅ Kīāṅ or Parchīāṅ Pātshāhī l0, is an eighteenth century collection of 50 sākhīs or anecdotes from the lives of the Ten Gurūs. Only one sākhī each, relates to the first eight Gurūs; four are connected with the Ninth, Gurū Tegh Bahādur, and the remaining 38 narrate incidents from the life of Gurū Gobind Siṅgh. Nothing is known about the author, Sevā Dās, except that he, according to the colophon, belonged to the Udāsī sect, which categorically distinguishes him from Sevā Rām, the Sevāpanthī writer. Several extant manuscripts of this work attest to its popularity. The Bhāshā Vibhāg, Punjab, first published it in 1961, and a second edition was brought out in 1978. The work is hagiographical rather than historical in nature, although several episodes agree with similar accounts in other sources such as the Gurbilāses and Bhāī Santokh Siṅgh's Srī Gur Pratāp Sūraj Granth. The language is old Punjabi. The sākhīs are narrative in style, but didactic in purpose. Almost all of them convey some tenet or the other of Sikhism. For example, the 4th sākhī, in which Gurū Rām Dās, answering Bābā Srī Chand's question, says that he had grown a long beard in order to wipe with it the feet of holy men like him, teaches humility. In several of the sākhīs, Gurū Gobind Siṅgh reiterates how offerings made to the Gurū or his masands are not to be treated as personal property, but are held in trust for the Sikhs as a whole.