Asa di Vār

Asa di Vār (Gurmukhi: ਆਸਾ ਦੀ ਵਾਰ) meaning "A ballad of hope", also spelt as Asa ki Vār, is a collection of 24 stanzas (pauris) in the Guru Granth Sahib, from ang 462 to ang 475.

Some people argue that the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak Dev, wrote the first 9 stanzas together on one occasion and later wrote 15 more on a different occasion; however, some Sikh scholars believe that the whole vaar was written at the same place as the vaar itself proceeds in a definite uniformity. The whole vaar was compiled by Guru Arjan, the fifth Guru, in 1604 AD.

History

According to Christopher Shackle, the work was composed by Guru Nanak. When Guru Arjan was compiling the Guru Granth Sahib, he added a few sloks of Guru Nanak and in some cases Guru Angad, the second Guru. These sloks are tied together in a way that they relate to the same theme as highlighted in the pauri. In its present form, the Asa Di Var contains a few more shabads recited by Guru Ram Das, the fourth Sikh Guru.^{[citation needed]}

In the second half of the 19th century, a number of Asa di Vaar printed editions (Pōthī Āsādī Wār) were published as pothis, including at Lahore in 1873, 1874 (in Perso-Arabic script), 1875 (in Perso-Arabic script), 1876, and 1877. A translation of the prayer by Max Arthur Macauliffe with a short introduction was published in 1901.

References

↑ "Asa ki Vaar-The Sikh Prayers". Gateway to Sikhism. 2017-12-29. Retrieved 2022-05-26.
1 2 Shackle, Christopher (2014). "8: Survey of Literature in the Sikh Tradition". In Singh, Pashaura; Fenech, Louis E. (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Sikh Studies (1st ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 109–124. ISBN 9780199699308.
1 2 Linguistic Survey of India, Vol. IX: Indo-Aryan Family, Central Group, Part I: Specimens of Western Hindī and Pañjābī (Calcutta: Superintendent Government Printing, India, 1916) by George Abraham Grierson, pp. 619–620. Retrieved on 5 September 2026 via The Digital South Asia Library, University of Chicago.
↑ Macauliffe, Max Arthur (December 1901). Temple, Richard Carnac (ed.). "The Asa Di War, A Morning Prayer of the Sikhs". Indian Antiquary. XXX. Bombay: Education Society’s Press Bombay: 537–547, 557–564 – via Internet Archive.

External links

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[1] "Asa ki Vaar-The Sikh Prayers". Gateway to Sikhism. 2017-12-29. Retrieved 2022-05-26.

[:0-2] 1 2 Shackle, Christopher (2014). "8: Survey of Literature in the Sikh Tradition". In Singh, Pashaura; Fenech, Louis E. (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Sikh Studies (1st ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 109–124. ISBN 9780199699308.

[:1-3] 1 2 Linguistic Survey of India, Vol. IX: Indo-Aryan Family, Central Group, Part I: Specimens of Western Hindī and Pañjābī (Calcutta: Superintendent Government Printing, India, 1916) by George Abraham Grierson, pp. 619–620. Retrieved on 5 September 2026 via The Digital South Asia Library, University of Chicago.

[4] Macauliffe, Max Arthur (December 1901). Temple, Richard Carnac (ed.). "The Asa Di War, A Morning Prayer of the Sikhs". Indian Antiquary. XXX. Bombay: Education Society’s Press Bombay: 537–547, 557–564 – via Internet Archive.