Kalaam-e-Goya : Bhai Nand Lal - Institute of Sikh Studies

that their children should be conversant with the works of Bhai Nand
Lal can be judged by a letter of Major General (Dr) Jaswant Singh,
Finance member of the Institute of Sikh Studies. He writes, “When in
school I was asked by my father to learn Persian so that I could recite
verses of Bhai Nand Lal to him in his old age. I learnt Persian though
my father died young. Therefore, I was emotionally involved in the
publication of this monumental work.”
We express our deep sense of gratitude to Sardar Pritpal Singh
Bindra the author of the book who with zeal and devotion translated
the complete works of Bhai Nand Lal from Punjabi to English. He
laboured for long time for this pioneering work. English and Punjabi
translations side by side of the complete works of Bhai Nand Lal are
being published for the first time. The author also collected money for
its publication which is commendable.
We are grateful to Prof Gurdial Singh Aarif M.A. (English), Munshi
Fazal (highest degree in Persian) and author of a couple of books in
Urdu poetry. He acceded to my request to go through the entire script
from the language point of view. He diligently worked for line to line
editing and made several corrections. My thanks are due to Sardar
Gurdev Singh, IAS (retd.) who took keen interest in this project and
wrote its foreword, to Dr Kharak Singh for his occasional advice and
guidance and Maj Gen Dr Jaswant Singh for arranging its production,
publication, and diligently going through the typedscript.
Kirpal Singh
Editor
Abstracts of Sikh Studies
Institute of Sikh Studies
May 16, 2003
Chandigarh
1288, Sector 15-B
Chandigarh
COMMENTS
Translating poetry from one language to another is extremely
difficult, if not impossible. This is truer when it comes to translating
oriental poetry into a European Language. Subtle meaning of some of
the words has no adequate equivalent as certain expressions defy
description. One example will suffice to make the point: Mother
considered to be a dense shade of the Banyan tree would have to be
spoken of as the sunshine in European context.
English language has its limitations, but in the hands of some one
with love at heart for subtle and fascinating couplets i.e. the Kalaam
rendered by the likes of Bhai Nand Lal Goya, it becomes the language of
poetry. Pritpal Singh Bindra, famous for his book Thus Sayeth Gurbani,
which was received by all with great enthusiasm and won him the coveted
Akali Phoola Singh Award, undertook the challenge and rendered some
of the most fascinating couplets (Kalaam) of one of the court-poets of
Guru Gobind Singh
It proves without doubt that a spark and love for the person
of Bhai Nand Lal and his writings coupled with tremendous reverence
for Guru Gobind Singh and, by his Grace, Sardar Bindra has achieved
the unachievable and rendered the beautiful Ghazals and Couplets of
Bhai Sahib into English. The book will be treasured in the homes of
the Sikhs of the Guru as well as the admirers of the poetry written by
Bhai Sahib.
Sardar Pritpal Singh Bindra has done justice to whatever he
selected for inclusion in this volume. My wish is that he should render
other writings of Bhai Nand Lal into English, which will, perhaps, form
a part of the next edition of Kalaam-e-Goya.
Toronto May 10, 2003
Hardev Singh
S. Hardev Singh, Artist
Toronto, Canada