Gems of Gurbani

Guru Granth Sahib

Vaar        1

The word Vaar in Gurmat literature has come from Sanskrit and it has stayed as it is. In Sanskrit vaar has many meanings but for the literary purpose vaar has been used as a Eulogy in poetry. This eulogy was mostly sung for heroes of certain battles to praise their heroic deeds to inspire bravery in common folks. Mostly only one incident was used to sing the praises and other life of the knight was not mentioned. This form of singing was very popular in the North and did the same job as the modern media would do but in a very inexpensive way because they don’t need sponsorships to do the job, whereas the jheur the water carrier by caste do it for few hundred rupees in rural Punjab even to date. Mata da Jagra or jagrata are very popular in rural Punjab. Almost every village gets these Mata’s eulogy singers who perform all night. People of all ages love these kind programs and seeing this very popular folk singing Guru Nanak adopted this literary art in his poetry. There are three Vaar written by Guru Nanak Devji which is documented in Guru Granth Sahib ji. Asa di vaar is the most popular vaar written by Guru Nanakji that has been adopted as daily prayer and sung daily in Gurudwaras all over the world.

The vaar mostly is sung for a knight or warrior that people like and with which they come in euphoric mood. The vaar form of poetry has only one central theme. It became a powerful medium to get rapt attention of the listeners. For Guru Nanak the only Hero was the Lord Almighty Himself and whose praises he has sung all his life and inspired others to do the same. In Asa di Vaar he has taken God as that Knight who shows us the purpose and art of living. The purpose and art of living by human beings are as per God Almighty’s Will. Man should not forget his purpose of life so a daily reminder in the ambrosial hours of the day are must hence this vaar has been included in daily prayers.

The other two Vaar written by Guru Nanak are Vaar Maajh and Vaar Malar composed in these ragas of maajh and malar.

Vaar maajh is actually a depiction of social life of Indians in the life time of Guru Nanak ji. From day one of his life a man progresses towards degradation because of the false social, religious and political values that he is forced to adopt due to the prevailing conditions and false values that society was forced to adopt due to its false leadership and ruling class. Vaar maajh suggests to adopt certain values in life to earn a glorious life that will be honoured in the court of Lord and a life of self respect. This emancipation from all falsehood makes a man fearless (Nirbhau). Fearlessness helps to retain a life of self respect which is an ideal state of living whereas life of slave, victim of tyranny whether religious or political makes you lose your freedom of speech, your righteousness, your culture, your language, your freedom to wear clothes of your choice, your self-respect and honour. This life of degradation was lived by Indians during the centuries when Muslim invaders overpowered Indians and established their rule. In the fifteenth century when Nanak was born the social conditions deteriorated so much that forced him to find a way out from this misery of Indians. His search for truth leads him to his famous travels called Udasi in Sikh world and the reasons he found was establishing his famous doctrines that are documented in Guru Granth Sahib ji. Vaar Maajh was written after his third travel that took him to western Asia and Arabic countries. On his return he saw the bloodiest massacre of Hindus at Aimnabad now in Pakistan. Not a single adult male was spared life, women were taken captives to cook food for invading army, all Hindu temples were demolished on the way of invasion and even Guru Nanak and his companion Mardana were put into jail where they were forced to grind flour. Guru Nanak was shocked to see the pitiable condition of daughters of this land and that he describes in this poetry and also reprimands all those kshtriyas and even other Muslim rulers of the time who had started taking life easy and only for enjoying and not taking care of the land even when the message came that Babur the Mogul has left Khurasan for invading India. After his release from the jail Guru Nanak wrote about the social and political condition of Indians and reminded them to adopt right values and maintain self respect to earn fearlessness in life. This whole episode has been coded in raag maajh and documented in Guru Granth Sahib in 27 pauris or verses from page 137 onwards.