Bhai Nand Lal 'Goya'
Persian poet at the court of Guru Gobind Singh. His ghazals may be sung in gurdwaras.
Nand Lal was born at Ghazni in 1633, the son of a Mughal official, and became a master of Persian and Arabic. He served as a secretary to Prince Muazzam, the future Bahadur Shah, at Multan.
He met Guru Gobind Singh at Anandpur and became a devoted Sikh, joining the court of poets there. Writing under the pen-name Goya, 'the speaker', he composed Persian ghazals and quatrains in praise of the Guru and on the love of God, and prose works on Sikh conduct.
His Zindagi Nama and Diwan-i-Goya are the only works besides the Guru Granth Sahib and the writings of Bhai Gurdas that may be sung in gurdwaras. He is said to have run a langar and a school at Multan, and he died around 1713.
