ṬAHIKAN, a seventeenth-century poet, was the son of Raṅgīl Dās, a Chopṛā Khatrī of Jalālpur, in present-day Gujrāt district of Pakistan. A soldier by profession, he rendered into Hindi verse Amar Kośa and "Aśvamedha Parva" of the Mahābhārata. He titled the former work Ratan Dām. Several Sikh scholars such as Bābā Sumer Siṅgh, Bhāī Giān Siṅgh, Bhāī Kāhn Siṅgh and Bhāī Vīr Siṅgh count Ṭahikan among Gurū Gobind Siṅgh's poets, although there is no explicit reference to the Gurū in his work. His Aśvamedha Parva is dated 1726 Bk/AD 1669 by the poet himself. It is possible that as the work of rendering the ancient texts, into Bhākhā, in Gurmukhī script under the patronage of Gurū Gobind Siṅgh was in progress Ṭahikan's manuscripts were brought to him by the poet himself or by someone else. Gurū Gobind Siṅgh may have got them transcribed into Gurmukhī. The manuscript of Aśvamedha Parva preserved in the Sikh Reference Library at Amritsar (No. 5026) was dated 1753 Bk/AD 1696 by Bālgovind Fateh Chand, one of the scribes serving Gurū Gobind Siṅgh. The manuscript (No. 2420), entitled Ratan Dām (Amar Kośa Bhākhā), is preserved in the Central Public Library at Paṭiālā.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

  1. Bachitra Nāṭak
  2. Saināpati, Srī Gur Sobhā, ed. Ganda Singh. Patiala, 1967
  3. Padam, Piārā Siṅgh, Gurū Gobind Siṅgh Jī de Darbārī Ratan. Patiala,1976

Piārā Siṅgh Padam