Zafarnama In Punjabi.pdf
Nichole Wernett
Because since the 'annexation' Farsi skills amongst Panjabis has dwindled to nothing. Our lot simply don't understand it anymore, besides there are very subtle political allusions in the text that people would miss out on, unless they were familiar with ancient Persian literature. See this attachment (if you haven't already) to get an idea of this:
The last apna I knew who was fluent in Farsi was a Panjabi teacher in the 80s I had at senior school (he didn't stick around for too long). Remember during the Sikh empire many more people were fluent in the language which was the political lingua franca of the ruling classes. For instance Hari Singh Nalwa was fluent. Moghuls used to study and discuss old Persian manuscripts in their darbar. After goray came, they made English the language of power, and I guess that the motivation for people to learn the language decreased significantly. After partition - there was little patronising of the language which leads us to today's situation that you mention.
I would imagine Zafarnama is of especial interest to nonSikh Farsi speakers because of its exoticism for them. Plus it gives an example of a significant religious and political figure's (dasmesh pita's) employment of the language. Linguists would be interested to analyse his style and references, and indeed ideas. Historians would also find it useful to extract contemporary information from.
I did know about the Shahnama written in Persia and the theory that Guru Pita had read it , makes sense as it is the most highly regarded Farsi poetry example up until Guru ji's time . There was a course run recently by gursikhs wanting to learn farsi to be able to understand Gurbani better from the School of Oriental and Asian studies , but unfortunately they haven't planned to repeat again , maybe if sangat contacted them again they might reconsider and place it online as well ...
Tbh, when i was younger, i made a mission in my mind, that i wud not only fully read/understand the zafarnama, but id learn farsi/persian to read it, as opposed to a simplified english translation. Trouble is though, the farsi/persian spoken in modern day iran is diluted and is not pure farsi. Infact, they say, that dari (east persian), which is spoken in afganistan, is the purest form of the old farsi left, to the point, afghans mock iranians for ditching it for their modern day rubbish. I remember watchin a documentary on iran presented by rageh omar, n they were using french phrases, like 'merci beaucoup' and 'bonjour', which i thought was ridiculous.
Not just that, Dasam Bani in general is a mixture of so many different languages that most people find it too difficult to continue. Zafernama is an extremely accurate insight into the geo-political struggle taking part in India towards the end of Aurangzeb and the mughals as a whole. irrc the Farsi used in this even by the pure linguistic styles, its far above anything churned out in the region. I suppose to them its probably like what Shakespeare is to the english.
But I get your general point and wouldn't disagree with it an iota. Guru ji's work is (when I think about it now) an unparalleled, heartfelt, passionate use of the language that crosses religions and regions and cultures. Like a lot of written Sikh heritage it is unique, unprecedented and creative - in an era when convention was the norm
Even when we zoom out to wider Sikh literature (which isn't literature to us but it is to outsiders studying it) that very thing has been alluded to by other observers. Even that low life, orientalist motivated scum Trumph (in amidst his sl@gging off of Sikhs and their religious scriptures) admits that Guru Granth Sahib ji maharaj is a treasure trove for linguistics.
I don't think all of DG is as difficult to decipher (linguistically) as you seem to be suggesting. But what is difficult to ascertain is the hidden, esoteric nature of references within like Chandi, or shasternaam mala. I mean in comparison, the Panjabi Chandi kee vaar would be a LOT more accessible to the interested Panjabi Sikh than something like Zafarnama or other Braj-bhasa works. Remember knowledge of Braj-bhasha itself has dwindled to untold levels, when not long ago (the mid 1800s) , Sikh scholars were producing massive classics in this form (like Suraj Prakash).
don't think all of DG is as difficult to decipher (linguistically) as you seem to be suggesting. But what is difficult to ascertain is the hidden, esoteric nature of references within like Chandi, or shasternaam mala. I mean in comparison, the Panjabi Chandi kee vaar would be a LOT more accessible to the interested Panjabi Sikh than something like Zafarnama or other Braj-bhasa works. Remember knowledge of Braj-bhasha itself has dwindled to untold levels, when not long ago (the mid 1800s) , Sikh scholars were producing massive classics in this form (like Suraj Prakash).
I'm speaking from a purely bias perspective here, my parents were both raised in Punjab and attended punjabi schools. They told me that although they could read CHandi Di Vaar (they studied it at school) other Dasam Bani was alot harder.
Zafarnama would also represent some sort of zenith of the use of Farsi, it also represents the peak and decline of the use of the language, so it would be interesting to people of Farsi heritage in that respect.
Another overlooked issue that has been touched on by some of the later posts above, is how Farsi (I think) represents Shia expression and culture as opposed to the majority Sunni. Shias and Sunnis (as most of us know) have had (and still have!) brutal conflicts with each other over religious doctrine. In that perspective Zafarnama is also symbolic of their culture being used to fearlessly confront and castigate a renown Sunni fundamentalist (Aurenga), so it would be inspiring for them in that sense. Some of them may well get a sense of Guru ji's independent spirit and stoicism in the face of extreme loss and be inspired by it. It would also be a model for leadership in trying times.
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