The 10th Guru, Guru Gobind Singh kept 52 Bards permantly in his employ and others occasionaly visited him. They wrote on all the nine subjects which in the opinion of Orientals are suitable for poetry (Love, Mirth, Pity, Anger, Heroism, Terror, Hate, Wonder and Contentment); but the composition of eulogies on the Guru occupied most of their attention. The Guru once had the curiosity to weigh their compositions. They amounted to about two and a half hundred weight. The Guru included them in a compilation which he called Vidyadhar. He so valued the book that he ever kept it with him - even when he went into battle - but it was lost in one of his engagements. Some of the bards' compositions are preserved in the Suraj Parkash.