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2Q/21\, February, 196:5.

Dr> Rattan8ingh has been awardea tb:epj"D. degree by

the PanjabUniversity in 1962 on "A Critii:a:1 StUdy cit iiie
;P1,1ranic Compositions in the DaSarti Granth," The c~ildidate his
thQrQl!ghly discussed the. authenticity of, the Dasafu Graitth, aii
important work of the later PanjabiPoetty aild after analy~iiig
the arguments for .find against the anthenticity of' the work
the candidate, with the help . 01' published and' unpublish'ed
material on th~' 'subject; ,has enllnCiated his' fi'ndings' iN the
roost convincing. and thought-provoking manner: His method
ofresearoh is, <tri\l;lyticahnd fact-finding and it is a'matter of
satisfaction that> the, candidate is al)ove all prejl!diCes; Many
photo-plates have 'belm' appended' to' this volume for providing
ready referenueS to the' argumellts.
This diss'eHati6n d~ak with'o~e' of tl\\;' most conti'()vertial'
topics in the'wholeran!'(O'()fPanjabi literature "nd it" is 'extteili~iy'
gratifying' th~f tftis' work has: been accoritpHsh'ed
iii" au~\>or
at: fhedbSi:' of .th,ritendbus labour arid stleiiti'!k disbrirnina,tlo\i'
of a:high orMr. 'file tMsi~' is;th~'I<!Shlt' of v',,~f eiualF;~n'
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inv61vhig detailed ma-stery' of' 'almosf" tlii'- entire religious
. :. -" - .
literature of the Sikhs on the one hand and of the Puranic
Sanskrit Literature on the other. The'Dasam Granth is traditionally attributed to the Tenth Pontif Guru Govind Singh ana much
has beart' Wtlitcll' for' lorig years to prove the genuinety or
otherwiSe';' i6f''( lts" au.thorship.' In deciding the question the
author has made himself singularly free from preconceived

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inh bitions, and has exercised extreme impartial care as behoves

a critical literary approach.
The conglomeration of this extremely diverse material
under the same cover presents a baffling problem. The present
thesis is a successful probe into the mystery of the authorship
and compilation {)f the several pieces, e.xtracts and fragments
constituting the available corpus of this scripture. For this
purpose he has set before himself an ambitious programme of
literary criticism based on an examination of th~ p~eserve,~
MSS and a comparative study of the puranic study of the
puranic contents with their Sanskrit sources,
The major findings of this r~search work show that the
contents of the puranic chapters of the Dasam Granth do not
accord. with. the ideas and personality of Guru GovindSingh.
that they were the compositions of his dar~"i poets like
Ram, Sayam whose names occur in the stanzas or padas, that
many of the puranic legends tally with their putanic sources but
there are also numerous instances of variation arid difference
and that several documents. like the letter of Bhai Mani' Singh
and the Khas Patras are spurious (P. 129/139) and cannot
be admitted as genuine to prove the authorship or antiquity of
the puranie portions. Inspite of the above, the Dasam Granth
is of an in-estimate .value for the history of Hindi Literature and
of the development of the Sikh religion at a critical stage of
its I;:IOwt\l at t,he time of Guru Govind Singh when a rapproachment to Hinduism was thecrying need of the hour.
.
The thesis displays matur~judgement and patient industry:
in the compiiation ;\\nd sifting of ,evidence .. It is presented in an
excellent literary style. an'd affords a delightful reading, This is
in brief, the. assess~ent of , the thesis according to the External
Examiners.
I

,,"

Hazari Prasad Dwivedi.

Head pf Hindi Department .

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f~; <liJO"<; B CI<ll':J.3.. (Authorship) arij' ilr:r fTel, f~fer';;!flH
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ref! ka ii~l fr;!aor iitr3' fuoT ii;::r-1J.l'hr (Thesis) ;;!' H<l3'<'
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