Translations
The earliest English and Punjabi translations of the works of Bhai Nand Lal date to the end of the Sikh Empire period where the British made their first attempt of translating the Tankhahnama. This was later followed by the translation activities of the descendants of Bhai Nand Lal who in the first decades of the 20th century began to translate and comment upon the Diwân-e-Goyâ, Ganjnama, Joti Bigâs etc. Later on other Sikh scholars such as Ganda Singh, a premiere scholar of Bhai Nand Lal, wrote several Punjabi books and translations on the many works of Bhai Nand Lal.
Comprehensive English translations however are quite recent, and scholars and linguists such as B.D.L. Bedi, Pritpal Singh Bindra and Ujagar Singh Bawa have in recent years contributed to the commemoration of Bhai Nand Lal by translating his works into English for the benefit of the global Sikh sangat.
On this page we have collected some of the various English and Punjabi translations that have been published in the past few decades.
This book is an English translation of some of the Persian works of Bhai Nand Lal, including the Diwân-e-Goyâ, Zindagînamâ, Joti Bigâs (Farsi and Punjabi) and the two Punjabi rehitnamâs. It was the first major English translation of the works of Bhai Nand Lal and served as a great contribution to the commemoration of the works of the poet. The book can be downloaded here.
The translation of Ujagar Singh Bawa is the most recent English translation and the book contains the original farsi (in Gurmukhi script) a transliteration as well as a Punjabi and English translation of the Diwân-e-Goyâ, Joti Bigâs, Zindagînamâ and Ganjnamâ. The collection of the original text, transliteration and two translation makes this book a great and genuine contribution to Sikhs of the English-speaking world. Parts of the book can be read online by clicking here.
This scholarly book by Ganda Singh was ground breaking when it was first published in 1963 in regards to the study and commemoration of Bhai Nand Lal and his works. Apart from the life story of the poet, the book contains memoirs and oral traditions of his descendants, a table of Bhai Nand Lal’s descendants up till the mid 20th century, a list of handwritten manuscripts the author had located all over Punjab as well as extensive Punjabi translations of the works of Bhai Nand Lal.
Please be aware that this particular e-book is more than 80MB.