Devotee of Barsi in Maharashtra; one hymn in Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji
Bhagat Parmanand
A devotee linked with Barsi in Maharashtra, known in Sikh history for a single hymn in Raag Sarang at ang 1253 of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji. The hymn says that hearing sacred texts is worth nothing if it does not change how a person lives. Details of his life come from tradition, and they are few.
What tradition says
The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism says he is believed to have lived at Barsi, north of Pandharpur, and that he wrote under the pen name Sarang, a bird said always to thirst for rain. He worshipped God as Krishna. It adds a report that he made seven hundred prostrations a day on bare knees, and that he came in time to see that the unmanifest God could also be loved.
Macauliffe also places him at Barsi and describes him singing of Krishna with a boy's delight, tears flowing as he sang. He says that nothing firm is known of his period or history.[EoS][Macauliffe]
The hymn
BaniDB gives the hymn in Raag Sarang at ang 1253, signed with his name. It asks what a person has gained from listening to the Puranas if devotion has not grown and the hungry have not been fed. It goes on to name lust, anger, greed and slander as things that make service fruitless, and ends by regretting a life that never joined holy company in pure discussion.
He should not be confused with the Bhatt named Parmanand, whose five savaiye in praise of Sri Guru Ram Das Ji the Encyclopaedia lists among the Bhatts' verses.[DB][EoS][EoS]
What the sources disagree on
- Date
The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism says he was probably born in 1483. Macauliffe says his period is not known.[EoS][Macauliffe]