Sau Sakhi

What this book is about

Despite its catalogue title, this is Piara Singh Padam's Rachnavali, a collected works of essays (first printed 1983, reprinted 1995 and 1997, printed at Pritvi offset press, Amritsar), not the eighteenth-century Sikh chronicle called Sau Sakhi. The contents list names the pieces included, among them Sai Khik history, Sheikh Guru Rai publication, Dasam Ridh darshan, Kabir, tegh baladhar simri, rahe namay, Prachin Panth sakhi, char sahibzadde, panj dariyan, Punjabi vaaran, varnaish, lekh Jivan, Kalam Bhai Nand Lal, Prachin Punjabi, Bulbul, Baajaz, Puran Bhagat and Prachin Punjabi gaddi. Padam's introduction calls the essay collection a mixture of folklore and chhandbindi verse with lots of old Sikh teaching and lively artistry, and explains that the original Sau Sakhi had long been forbidden by the British as unlawful.