Part of my endeavour to translate and unearth precolonial texts into English is to combat this type of 'scholarship', which consciously takes advantage of readers who are not able to read historical sources in Braj and/or Persian.

This thread will shed light on their lies

https://twitter.com/Pragyata_/status/1360208784224751624

1. "There are no Sikh sources that are even within a century of the event."

Untrue - Guru Tegh Bahadur's story is mentioned in these very important Sikh historical texts:

- Dasam Granth [late 1600s]
- Gurbilas P6 [1720]
- Gurbilas Patshahi Dasvi [1751]
- Bansavalinama [1769]

Excellent question & amazing endeavour, I'll try my best to address your questions here (but also expect an upcoming Part II video), which will deal with the poetic exceptions utilized in these lines.

Please find this useful guide for Braj poetics here: repositories.lib.utexas.edu/handle/2152/46…

https://twitter.com/GurkiranSinghJ/status/1361439487818141701

Page 19 of the Guide states several exceptions to the counting rule, specifically that certain long vowels like ਓ, which normally have a two count, can be shortened to a one count to make the metre fit. This is also noted in Kavi Santokh Singh's Garab Ganjini Tika, page 64.

Persianized Ramayana by Guru Gobind Singh [thread]

The Guru's rendition of Divali, when Rama & Sita return to Ayodhya, is fascinating because the passage is not only stepped in Persian vocab, but also tropes/metaphors/imagery which are rooted in Persianate culture

https://twitter.com/jvalaaa/status/1322317991950733312

Rama is initially described as He the one with 'Snake-like-Black Hair', a metaphor common in Persian culture - in the Shahnameh the first king Kayumar has a son named Siamak, which means The Beloved Black-haired boy [sia meaning black, mo meaning hair, ak meaning beloved]

Durga's Beauty by Guru Gobind Singh [thread]

Structured in a Kavit metre in the language of Braj, Guru Gobind Singh in his 'Chandi-charitar' [The Feats of Chandi], details the Goddess's beautiful features.

Dasam Granth: 82 ਮੀਨ ਮੁਰਝਾਨੇ ਕੰਜ ਖੰਜਨ ਖਿਸਾਨੇ ਅਲਿ ਫਿਰਤ ਦਿਵਾਨੇ ਬਨਿ ਡੋਲੈ ਜਿਤ ਤਿਤ ਹੀ ॥
Her beautiful eyes make fish embarrassed, lotus-flowers and wagtail birds become self-conscious, black bees, thinking her eyes are flowers, roam around the forest with her in madness.

Giani Sant Singh's Ramcharitmanas Commentary

In the early 1820s, the head Granthi of Sri Harimandar Sahib, Amritsar, composed a commentary on the 17th century Ramcharitmanas [Lake of the Deeds of Rama] by Tulsidas, which was hailed to be "in a class by itself". According Giani Sant Singh, Hanuman appeared to him in a dream and ordered him to write the commentary, he replied saying he was not capable. Hanuman insisted him to recite the Manas 108 times, and from this the knowledge and bhav [feeling] of the text would appear to him.

Three Types of Miracles [thread]

When Guru Gobind Singh arrived in Agra, he was aggressively questioned by a strict Muslim Sayyid if he possessed any abilities to perform miracles - to which the Guru playfully described 3 types of miracles... [The Political]

The Guru replied that miracles exist on the tongue of the Emperor, who can make a poor man into a great leader and who can command thousands of people by their word. The Sayyid wasn't happy with this answer and asked again, "Ok, but I asked about you..."

Mughal-Sikh Relations

The rollercoaster relationship between the Mughal Empire and the Sikh community is fascinating and requires much to unpack. After Aurangzeb's death, Guru Gobind Singh participated in the battle for succession aiding his 3rd son Bahadur Shah (image below) Guru Gobind Singh fought in the Battle of Jajau 1707, helping Bahadur Shah kill his elder brother Alam Shah, to ascend to the throne. Bahadur Shah had a special admiration for Guru Gobind Singh not only as a warrior but as a darvesh [saintly figure] as noted below from 1708.

On this day 322 years ago, July 23rd 1698, sitting by the River Satluj, on the foothills of the Nainadevi mountain, Guru Gobind Singh completed his version of the Ramayana, the Ramavatar. Half of this nearly 900 verse section consists of blood-stirring battle descriptions Historical texts speak of the tradition, which some Sikhs till this day, observe and celebrate Dusshera, the day when Rama killed the demon Ravana. The celebration includes the reading of the Ramavatar along with other writings from the Dasam Granth.