The Granth is Huge

Kavi Santokh Singh beautifully divided the Suraj Prakash into 22 volumes. However, if you were to pick up the collection from a Sikh bookstore, you will likely be sold the Bhai Vir Singh edit, which is administered under 14 jild-s (books).

You can find old handwritten and printed manuscripts that combine numerous volumes of SPG, but you will never find one that contains the entire granth. It'll be way too big.

Table of contents from a pōthī of Nanak Prakash, from the Sikh Reference Library, Sri Guru Ram Das Library. Digitized by Panjab Digital Library.

Nanak Prakash is divided into two books. The surface area of this pōthī is a bit smaller; it spans just under 1000 pages.

Below, we have a modern printed pōthī that contains the first six Raas-es of SPG. In other words, this is 6 out of 22 pieces. Its surface area and is similar to a Guru Granth Sahib and Dasam Guru Granth Sahib saroop. It spans over 500 pages.

Table of contents from a Gurpratap Suraj Granth pōthī. This pōthī houses Raas 1 to Raas 6.

There Are No "Chapter Names." Instead, Kavi Santokh Singh Added "Conclusions"

Have you ever seen the lines:

ਇਤਿ ਸ੍ਰੀ ਚਰਿਤ੍ਰ ਪਖ੍ਯਾਨੇ ਤ੍ਰਿਯਾ ਚਰਿਤ੍ਰੇ ਮੰਤ੍ਰੀ ਭੂਪ ਸੰਬਾਦੇ ਚਾਰ ਸੌ ਪਾਂਚ ਚਰਿਤ੍ਰ ਸਮਾਪਤ ਮਸਤੁ ਸੁਭ ਮਸਤੁ ॥੪੦੫॥੭੫੫੮॥ ਅਫਜੂੰ ॥

This particular line comes up at the end of the 405th charitar in Sri Dasam Guru Granth Sahib. This "conclusion" implies a story between a ਮੰਤ੍ਰੀ (minister) a ਭੂਪ (king). Finally, it establishes that this is the end of the Charitropakhyan composition.

Other poetic texts of India have a similar pattern. The author writes a conclusion that may contain information such as:

Chapter number
A brief synopsis or theme
Which volume the chapter belongs to
The location the composition was composed

A beautiful hand-written pōthī of Raas 7. Property of [?] the Sikh Reference Library, Sri Guru Ram Das Library. Digitized by Panjab Digital Library.

In the example above, Kavi Ji concludes that the 29th chapter of the 7th Raas from the Gurpratap Suraj Granth is finished. It also includes a "title" - for a lack of better words:

ਬਿਧੀਆ ਸਰਬ ਭੇਤ ਲੇਵਨ
[Baba Bidhi Chand] Attains All the Information

Chapter Names in Modern SPG Books

There isn't a standard for chapter names. It was likely around the time of modern printing when they were introduced. In Bhai Vir Singh's edit of SPG, he added his own chapter names to make it more accessible for Sikh audiences.

Without chapter names or a table of contents, it would be incredible hard - especially today - to try and navigate the massive text.

There is Gurbani Inserted in the Middle of the Chhand

If you have ever gone through the Ik13 PDFs (image on the left), you might think that the text in blue is a footnote - or, that it's a footnote added by the editor.

That is Gurbani the author, Kavi Santokh Singh added. It can come up in scenes where the Guru Sahib is having a conversation (think of Sidh Gost).

Summary

By looking at old volumes of Suraj Prakash, it is undebatable that Kavi Santokh Singh was completely in-love with the Guru and a master at his craft in poetry.

When the developers built the SPG website things such as the "conclusion" and the "Gurbani" was overlooked. Since these tools were intentionally and strategically added by the original author, we will try our best to add them to the SPG app.

To keep up to date, follow the Vidhiya Saagar Instagram account.

Puratan Pothi-s: 3 Things We Can Learn By Looking Old Suraj Prakash Manuscripts

THE GRANTH IS HUGE Kavi Santokh Singh beautifully divided the Suraj Prakash into 22 volum

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