Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh
I shall start off with saying that in Sri Guru Granth Sahib on Page 462, Guru Sahib has not explicitly indicated that the vaar is to be called Asa Ki Vaar, unlike other vaars in Sri Guru Granth Sahib Maharaj. SO, whether we call it Asa KI Vaar or Asa DI Vaar...makes no difference
However, since a lot of people popularily refer to the vaar as Asa Di Vaar, and the fact that most Parcharaks, Katha Vachaks, Gianis, Ragis recite Asa Di Vaar and not Asa Ki Vaar, it is safe to call the bani Asa Di Vaar.
Now, for those people who are wondering who is Tunda Asraja??????????? and why has Guru Sahib indicated to recite the vaar in the tune of Tunda Asraja?????????????????????????
A while back, a veer by the name of Saffajang Singh looked into this matter and did his research. He posted his finding on sikhiunleashed website, and I shall share that with the rest of the people. Saffajang Singh found an old sateek of Asa Di Vaar and in it had a brief narration about Tunda Asraja, written by Pandit Narayan Singh Gyani.
Here is what was written:
Pandit Ji starts off with giving the sakhi of Asraja:
Asraj was King Sarang’s son. Raja Sarang married another woman after his wife passed away. King Sarang was elderly in age and his new wife was very young. His new wife fell for the handsome Prince Asraj but he never gave up to his step-mother and stayed firm in his faith and beliefs. When the queen’s motivations did not succeed she accused the prince of prostitution. The King got angered after hearing this from his wife and at once announced that his son be submitted to death and his body parts be brought back to him.
Bhai Sahib Singh in contradiction to this mentions that the prince was falsely accused by his step mother because she wanted her own sons to succeed the king in place of Asraj.
Pandit Narayan Singh continues and writes that the king’s advisor was a wise man so he decided to cut off a hand of the prince instead of getting him killed. After his hand was cut off he was left alone in a jungle near a well. Some merchants passed from that place and one of those merchants took Asraj along and sold him to a laundry man in another town.
Asraj started spending his time working in his owner’s home. The king of that province passed away without leaving anyone to succeed him. That king’s advisors then decided that whoever comes to the door of the province shall be crowned the next king.
The night the laundry man’s ox got untied and Asraj spent the whole night in search of it. The night passed and Asraj reached the door of the province. The king’s advisors announced Asraj as the next king according to the decisions that they had made.
And because Asraj was born to a king, he handled his kingdom with a lot of care and devotion. After sometime the neighboring countries underwent drought but Asraj’s country remained unaffected. Bhai Sahib Singh writes that the reason to this was that Asraj had saved up a lot of grain for his public just to be on the safe side. Merchants of other countries started coming to Asraj’s country to buy grain. The advisor of his father who saved Asraj from death also came and Asraj recognized him. Asraj met and served him with great love and friendliness. He also sent a lot of grain to his father without taking any price.
When that advisor reached his country he told the king the story of Asraj becoming the king and motivated him to transfer his kingdom over to Asraj. The kind had also realized the reality so he accepted his advisor’s virtuous advice and sent an invitation to his son.
When Asraj’s stepson ‘Sardool Rai’ found out of his father’s plan he took his forces without advising his father and went to stop Asraj. He also made his cousin ‘Sultaan Rai’ help him. A battle took place and Asraj came out victorious. After winning Asraj approached to meet his father and his father transferred his kingdom over to him. Asraj then ruled over both countries and spread the values of dharma.
Bards (Dtaadhis) wrote a poem (vaar) on the story of the new pious king and sung it in public and received rewards and this vaar became very renowned.
One of the stanzas of this vaar go like this:
“BbikE Syr srdUl ivc rx mwrU v~jy[/font=GurbaniWebThick] [[
bhabkio sher sardool vich ran maru vajje
Kwn sulqwn bf sUrmy ivc rx dy g~jy[/font=GurbaniWebThick] [[
khan sultan bad soormey vich ran de gajjey
Kq ilKy tuMfy Asrwj nUM pwqSwhI A~jy[/font=GurbaniWebThick] [[
khat likey Tunde Asraj noo patshahi ajjey
itky swrMg bwp ny id~qw Br l~jy[/font=GurbaniWebThick] [[
tikkey sarang baap ne ditta bhar lajjey
Pqy pwey Asrwj jI SwhI Gr s~jy[/font=GurbaniWebThick] [[
fateh paye asraj ji shahi ghar sajjey“
Bhyul Chuk Maaf
Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh
