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Kavi Darbar (literally "poet court") is a term that refers to historical Sikhdurbars (courts) composed of congregations of poets, litterateurs, artists, and scholars that were established and had flourished during theguruship period of Guru Gobind Singh in the late 17th and early 18th centuries.[1]: 62–63 [note 1] These establishments served as Sikh centres of learning and scholarship. They played a pivotal role in the history of Sikh literature.
According to popular Sikh tradition, Guru Gobind Singh established a court of poets consisting of fifty-two members, known asBavanja Kavi (literally "fifty-two poets").[1]: 62–62 According toKahn Singh Nabha'sMahankosh, the names of the fifty-two poets are as follows:[2]
The three most prominent and famous of the fifty-poets were Bhai Nand Lal Goya, Kavi Chandra Sain Sainapati, and Bhai Gurdas Singh.[1]: 62–63 [note 2] After analyzing the surviving pieces of literature produced by the Kavi Darbars,Sikhologists Louis E. Fenech andW. H. McLeod propose that the number of poets in the darbars established by the tenth Sikh guru would have been considerably greater than the traditional narrative of there only being fifty-two.[1]: 62–63 They further state that the number 52 came into popular parlance and tradition due to its auspicious associations in Sanskrit and Devanagari, and therefore was "used in order to convey an amount of sanctity on this assembly".[1]: 62–63 There was a great deal of movement of intellectuals between the various sub-imperial courts during this era.[1]: 62–63 D. P. Singh, on the other hand, states that the 52 poets were the ones who were permanently employed in the Kavi Darbar.[3]
Guru Gobind Singh accorded the Braj language as the "principal literary language of his court" (with Persian also being gifted a similar status) for the effect of challenging the Mughal court's status, fame, and reputation.[1]: 72–73 The number of intellectuals working, engaged, and associating with and in the Sikh Darbar assemblies changed over time.[1]: 126 The popular narrative of the Kavi Darbars claims that the poets all wrote in Braj, with the exception of two who wrote in Persian instead.[1]: 126 Guru Gobind Singh may have established the Kavi Darbar assemblies due to the influence of Mughal (and to a lesser extent,Pahari Raja) courtly norms and functions.[1]: 126 The Sikh Kavi Darbars were distinguishable from their Mughal and Pahari counterparts in a few ways, with the most noteworthy being the nature of manuscript-making and music at the Sikh assemblies.[1]: 126 The authors of the Sikh Kavi Darbars produced literature typically about popular subjects of the era using fancy language, emulating their contemporaries found within other poetical courts of the subcontent at the time.[1]: 193 Common topics covered by the writings of the Kavis wereritigranths (style manuscripts) and Braj interpretations of the Mahabharata epic but also otherIndic texts.[1]: 193
According toRoopinder Singh, when the guruship passed from Guru Tegh Bahadur to Guru Gobind Singh, the latter inherited his father's courtly poets.[2] The poets produced literature in a variety of languages, some examples beingBraj,Sanskrit,Persian,Arabic, andPunjabi.[2] According toKavi Santokh Singh in theSuraj Prakash, the total weight of the literature produced by the Anandpur Darbar assembly weighed a total of 350 kilograms.[2] However, all of this literature, aside from a tiny surviving portion of material that was transferred out of the area earlier, was lost when theKhalsa evacuated Anandpur in December 1705 due toaggression from hostile forces.[2] The literature produced by the Anandpur Kavi Darbar was lost in the ensuing action of the Sikhs crossing theSirsa Rivulet, splitting up from each other in confusion, and being attacked byMughal forces, including atChamkaur Sahib.[2] According to D. P. Singh andKhushwant Singh, it is said that around fourteenmaunds (approximately 498 kilograms) worth of literature produced by the Sikh Kavi Darbars was lost during the Sirsa Rivulet crossing.[4][3][note 3]
The Paonta Darbar was based inPaonta Sahib. It was established afterRaja Medini Prakash ofNahan invited Guru Gobind Singh to settle in his domain in April 1685.[1]: 204 The Guru built a fort in the area of Paonta and would establish a poetic court as a result.[1]: 204
The Anandpur Darbar was based inAnandpur Sahib. The names of the poets active at the Anandpur Darbar were Amrit Rai, Ani Rai, Siam, Sainapati, Alam, Tahikan, Daya Singh, Sukha Singh, and Dharam Singh.[5] They were tasked with translatingancient Sanskrit treatises into Braj, Sadh Bhakha, and Punjabi.[5]
It is at the Anandpur Kavi Darbar that the voluminous and massiveVidya Sagar Granth literary corpus and tome was commissioned and prepared.[5] The literary corpus is said to have contained the compositions of the tenth Sikh guru, various poets, and scholars.[5] According to popular Sikh tradition, the tome weighed ninemaunds (approx. 320 kilograms) when it was finished.[5] However, the tome was lost whilst the Sikhs were crossing the Sirsa Rivulet in 1705 during the evacuation of Anandpur.[5] Surviving portions of the tome may have been recovered or been sourced to copies made by devotees when the tome was extant.[5] The tome likely mostly consisted of translations of ancient Sanskrit works into Braj, Punjabi, and Sadh Bhakha.[5]
The Lakhi Jungle Darbar was based in theLakhi Jungle tract.[6] After the evacuation of Anandpur, the Guru held a poetic court within the Lakhi Jungle.[7] According to Piara Singh Padam, it was attended by Behari, Lal Das Khiali, Adha, Jado Rai, Fat Mal, Keso, and Bhagtu.[7]
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It is in this rahitnāmā that we find the terms Avatār Līlā (Bachitra Nāṭak) as well as Sāgar Graṅth. The second work is accepted in the tradition to have been composed by the court poets and was also known as Vidiāsāgar. Chaupa Singh makes it quite clear that Avatār Līlā and Sāgar Graṅth were two separate works, and this is clarified further by a hagiography of the Sikh gurus by Sarup Das Bhalla.
