ABSTRACT
The Dasam Granth is an anthology attributed to Guru Gobind Singh. Its compositions include verses in praise of God, an autobiography of Guru Gobind Singh, retellings of the battles between the goddess Durga and various demons, accounts of avatars of Vishnu, Brahma, and Rudra, verses describing various weapons and their powers, an epistle from Guru Gobind Singh to the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, and a lengthy series of several hundred stories exploring romance and deceit. Some portions of the text are part of Sikh prayers. Not all Sikhs agree, however, on whether Guru Gobind Singh indeed composed the entire text, with the issues of contention being the retelling of tales from Hindu mythology and the sometimes-graphic nature of the stories about romance and deceit. An exploration of these controversies sheds light on the evolution of definitions of Sikhi and its relationship to Hinduism.
