| abstract
| - Bhatt Bani (the hymns by the bards) comprising twenty pages is incorporated in the concluding part of Adi Granth. The Bhatts are supposed to be the descendants of Koshish Rishi and are linked with the Sarshat Brahmins. It is a fact that almost all the eleven Bhatts belonged to Punjab and were residents of Sultanpur Lodhi (district Kapurthala) where Guru Nanak had served in the Modikhana for 13 years. According to Bhatt chronicles they were sons or nephews of Bhikha and Toda Bhatts. During medieval times Bhatts (ballad singers) were of every ruler in India their job was to compose and sing martial songs. With their narrative and descriptive poetry of war, their songs and music led the warriors to the battlefield. Marching to the battlefield to meet their enemies, they would narrate to them the heroic deeds of their forefathers, who had laid their lives for the honour of the motherland. They recited the martial poems and aroused passion of the heroes for war and love for the motherland. The compositions of the Bhatts attached to the courts of the latter Sikh Gurus, which are now included in the Guru Granth Sahib are eulogies to the first five Gurus. These Bhatts used the popular form of poetry called "Swaiya Chhand", which gave their Swaiyas a very distinctive style. Their rich language, full of poetic imagery, is packed with elegant and decorative vocabulary. The eleven Bhatts whose Bani is included in Adi Granth are: Kalshar, Jalap, Kirat, Bhika, Salh, Bhalh, Nal, Gyand, Mathura, Bal and Harbans. It is said that they had come to the fifth Guru in a group led by Bhatt Kalshar. It appears some of them had also attended earlier the congregations of Guru Amardas and Guru Ramdas. According to the chronicler Sant Singh Bhatt as written in Bhatt Bahi, "It was the ninth generation of Bhatt Bhagirath that was blessed with an eminent poet and scholar known as Raiya, who had six sons named Bhika, Sokha, Tokha, Gokha, Chokha and Toda. The Swaiyas of the Adi Granth are authored mostly by the sons and grandsons of Raiya, with the exception of Bhatt Nal. The compositions of these Bhatts, popularly known as Bhatt Bani, are comprised of 123 Swaiyas, written in praise of the first five Gurus." A significant point to be noted in this respect is that these Bhatts were not mercenaries whose words were written only to please their employer written only for money; their compositions were genuine expressions of their love and regards for the Gurus. They were dedicated followers of the Gurus and their poetry was the spontaneous articulation of their deeprooted respects for the house of Nanak. According to them, beginning with Guru Nanak, all the Gurus were the carriers of the same light as Guru Nanak. The Oneness of the spirit of the Gurus was the main theme of their Swaiyas.
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