Guru Granth Sahib

The Guru Granth Sahib is the principal scripture of [[sikhism|the Sikh tradition]] and, since 1708, the eternal Guru of the Sikh community. Its compilation was deliberate, careful, and substantially the work of two of the human Gurus.

The compilation

In 1604, the fifth Guru, Arjan (1563–1606) compiled the first authoritative edition — the Adi Granth (first volume) — at Amritsar. The work involved gathering the hymns of the previous Gurus (Nanak, Angad, Amar Das, Ram Das, and Arjan’s own contributions), the hymns of the bhagats (the Hindu and Muslim devotional poets whom the Gurus had recognized as compatible interlocutors), and the contributions of various court-poets attached to the Guru’s house. The text was substantially edited — Guru Arjan was careful to authenticate the hymns of his predecessors and to exclude pieces the tradition deemed inauthentic. The completed Adi Granth was installed at the [[harmandir-sahib|Harmandir Sahib]] ([[harmandir-sahib|Golden Temple]]) at Amritsar — itself constructed under Guru Arjan — in 1604.

In 1705, the tenth Guru, Gobind Singh (1666–1708) added the hymns of the ninth Guru, Tegh Bahadur (his father), to produce the final form. Then, before his death in 1708, Gobind Singh transferred Guruship permanently from human persons to the scripture itself and to the community (the Khalsa). Since 1708, there has been no human Guru; the scripture is the continuing teacher.

The contents

The Guru Granth Sahib contains approximately 5,894 hymns organized in 1,430 pages (the page numbering is canonical and shared across all printed editions, allowing reference by ang — page — number). The contributors:

• The Sikh Gurus — Nanak, Angad, Amar Das, Ram Das, Arjan, and Tegh Bahadur (Hargobind, Har Rai, Har Krishan, and Gobind Singh did not contribute hymns to the canonical scripture, though Gobind Singh’s separate work is collected in the Dasam Granth).
• The bhagats — fifteen Hindu and Muslim devotional poets whose teaching the Gurus recognized as compatible. The most extensively included: Kabir (the great 15th-century North Indian devotional poet, of profound importance for both Hindu and Muslim devotional traditions); Ravidas (the Dalit chamar poet whose voice from the lowest caste position is integrated with substantial honor into the scripture); Namdev (Marathi bhakti poet); Farid (Punjabi Sufi); Jaidev (Sanskrit poet of the Gita [[krishna|Govinda]]); and others.
• Court poets and minstrels of the Guru’s house.

The principle is striking: a scripture whose authority is its own, but whose contents include voices from outside the founding community — a Hindu Dalit, a Muslim Sufi, others. The teaching is that wisdom is found wherever it is found; the criterion is conformity with the foundational orientation, not membership in the community.

Organization by raga

The hymns are organized not chronologically or by author but by raga — the Indian musical mode in which each is to be sung. There are 31 ragas in the scripture (e.g., Sri Raga, Asa, Gauri, Sorath, Bilaval, others), each with traditional associations of mood and time of day. The organization reflects the foundational truth that the scripture is meant to be sung — kirtan (devotional singing) is the principal way the text is to be received. To read the scripture silently is permitted; to sing it is the proper engagement.

How it is treated

The Guru Granth Sahib is treated as the living Guru:

• Enthroned. In every gurdwara, the scripture rests on a raised platform under a canopy (palki and chanani). It is attended day and night; it is fanned (chaur sahib) as a sign of reverence; it is wrapped in cloth (rumalas) when not being read.
• Opened ceremonially. The morning opening (prakash) and evening closing (sukhasan) are conducted with prayer and ceremony.
• Consulted by hukamnama. A common practice: the scripture is opened at random in the morning, and the hymn at the top of the left-hand page is read as the day’s guidance.
• Read continuously at major events. Akhand path — unbroken recitation by relays of readers over approximately 48 hours, completing the entire scripture — is performed at marriages, deaths, and other major occasions.
• Honored as Guru. Sikhs bow before the scripture as they would before a teacher; sit at a level lower than it; do not turn their backs on it; serve it (food is offered, the room is kept clean, attendants are present at all times).

What it teaches

A few foundational themes that recur across the scripture:

• One divine reality. Ik Onkar — the opening invocation of the japji sahib (the foundational morning prayer composed by [[guru-nanak|Guru Nanak]]) and of multiple subsequent compositions. The teaching is sustained: there is one divine, formless, beyond all name yet bearing all names, present in all things yet exhausted by no description.
• Remembrance. Nam japna, nam simran — the contemplative practice of repeating, hearing, and dwelling on the divine name. The principal contemplative discipline the scripture teaches.
• Equality. Across the scripture, the radical insistence on the equality of all beings before the divine — caste, gender, religion, status, none of these matters at the foundational level.
• Critique of empty ritual. Repeatedly, the scripture critiques external religious practice unaccompanied by inner devotion — pilgrimages, fasts, ceremonialism without integrity.
• Devotion as path. The path is one of love, remembrance, service, and surrender — not knowledge, not asceticism, not works.

See also

Auto-generated from this entry’s typed relations: frontmatter, grouped by relation type so the editorial signal isn’t flattened.

• Subset of: [[sikhism]]
• Member of: [[book]]

Sources

1. Sri Guru Granth Sahib. Various translations including: Manmohan Singh (8 vols., Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, 1962–69); Sant Singh Khalsa (online translation widely used); Pritpal Singh Bindra. Source class: primary scripture.
2. Pashaura Singh. The Guru Granth Sahib: Canon, Meaning, and Authority. Oxford, 2000. Source class: book / definitive scholarly study.
3. Nikky-Guninder Kaur Singh. The Name of My Beloved: Verses of the Sikh Gurus. HarperOne, 1995. Source class: book / contemporary translation and engagement.
4. W.H. McLeod (trans.). Textual Sources for the Study of Sikhism. University of Chicago Press, 1990. Source class: book / source compendium.

Lenses still to grow

• The japji sahib as foundational contemplative text in detail.
• Kabir and Ravidas as bhagat voices in the scripture — what their inclusion teaches.
• The musical-raga organization as continuing performance practice.
• The Dasam Granth (Guru Gobind Singh’s separate collection) and its relationship to the principal scripture.
• Akhand path as a sustained communal practice.