Classical Sikh Poetics

Course Overview

This course studies the classical poetic forms that give shape to Sikh literature. We learn them through the works of Kavi (Bhai) Santokh Singh, one of the great narrative poets of the tradition.

The Poet

Kavi Santokh Singh (often called Bhai Santokh Singh) was a nineteenth-century poet known for his command of classical Braj and Punjabi poetics. His two best-known works are the Sri Gur Pratap Suraj Granth (commonly called Suraj Prakash) and the Nanak Prakash. These are long narrative poems about the lives of the Sikh Gurus.

What makes these works remarkable is not only their content but their craft. Santokh Singh worked within a shared literary system that poets across North India used: a system of metre, figures of speech, and mood. Studying this system helps us read his poetry the way trained listeners of his time would have heard it (Pashaura Singh and Fenech 2014).

Form Shapes Meaning

A poem is not only what it says but how it says it. The same idea can feel calm in one metre and urgent in another. A simile can turn an abstract teaching into a picture we remember. In this course we will describe these tools rather than reproduce long verses, so that you can recognize them in any Sikh poem you read.

Metre: ਛੰਦ

The word ਛੰਦ (chhand) means a metre: a fixed pattern that organizes a line of poetry. In the classical system, metres are defined by the count and arrangement of syllables. A poet chooses a metre the way a composer chooses a rhythm.

Metre matters because it controls pace. A short, quick metre can carry tension or speed, as in a battle scene. A longer, flowing metre can carry calm reflection or praise. When Santokh Singh shifts metre within a long narrative, the change itself signals a change of feeling.

You do not need to scan every syllable to benefit from this idea. Simply noticing when a poem speeds up or slows down already tells you something about what the poet wants you to feel (Shackle and Mandair 2005).

Figures of Speech: ਅਲੰਕਾਰ

An ਅਲੰਕਾਰ (alankaar) is an ornament of language. The word can be translated as a figure of speech. Classical poetics divides these ornaments into two broad families: ornaments of sound and ornaments of meaning.

Ornaments of sound include alliteration, ਅਨੁਪ੍ਰਾਸ (anupraas), where similar sounds repeat to give a line music. Ornaments of meaning include simile, ਉਪਮਾ (upma), where one thing is compared to another, and metaphor, where one thing is described as if it were another.

In devotional poetry these ornaments do real work. A simile that compares the soul to a thirsty bird does not just decorate the line; it teaches longing for the divine in a form the listener can picture and feel. Santokh Singh uses such figures to turn doctrine into vivid scenes (Nikky-Guninder Kaur Singh 2005).

When you read, ask two questions of any striking image: what is being compared, and why does that comparison make the teaching clearer or more moving?

Mood: ਰਸ

ਰਸ (rasa) means flavor or mood. In classical aesthetics, rasa is the emotional essence that a passage produces in an attentive listener. Just as a dish has a taste, a poem has a mood that we savor.

The tradition names several moods. A few that appear often in Sikh narrative poetry are listed below.

A skilled poet builds a mood gradually, then lets it peak. The same event can be told in different moods depending on the poet's aim. Reading for rasa means asking not only what happened but how the poem wants us to feel about it (Pashaura Singh and Fenech 2014).

The Heroic Ballad: ਵਾਰ

The ਵਾਰ (vaar) is a heroic ballad or ode, traditionally meant to be sung. The form has deep roots in Punjabi oral culture, where bards praised brave deeds and kept the memory of important events alive.

The vaar usually carries the heroic mood, ਬੀਰ ਰਸ, but in Sikh literature it does more than celebrate fighting. It frames courage as a moral and spiritual quality. A vaar can praise steadfastness in faith, sacrifice for justice, or loyalty to the Guru's path.

Because the vaar was sung in community settings, it served as a form of shared memory. The rhythm and repetition that suit singing also make the verses easy to recall, so the values they carry spread and endure (Oberoi 1994). When we study a vaar, we study not only a poem but a way that a community taught itself who it wanted to be.

Reading Form and Meaning Together

We have studied four tools: metre (ਛੰਦ), figures of speech (ਅਲੰਕਾਰ), mood (ਰਸ), and the heroic ballad (ਵਾਰ). In real poetry these never work alone. A poet may choose a fast metre, fill it with vivid similes, aim for a heroic mood, and cast the whole passage as a vaar.

This is the heart of Santokh Singh's craft in the Suraj Prakash and the Nanak Prakash. He matched form to content so closely that the shape of a passage becomes part of its message. A scene of awe sounds different from a scene of teaching, and that difference is built from the tools we have learned (Gurinder Singh Mann 2001).

As a reader, your task is to hold both halves at once: ask what the poem says, and ask how its form makes you receive that saying. When you can do both, you read Sikh classical poetry not as decoration on doctrine but as meaning made audible.