Sri Guru Granth Sahib

01Ramsar, 1604

Guru Arjan Dev Ji, the fifth Guru, sat beside the pool at Ramsar near Amritsar and dictated, and Bhai Gurdas wrote. Into one volume went the bani of the first four Gurus, the Guru’s own hymns, and the hymns of saints from every corner of Bharat and every station of life: Kabir the weaver, Ravidas the cobbler, Namdev the calico-printer, Sain the barber, Sheikh Farid the Sufi of Pakpattan, Jaidev the Sanskrit poet of the Gita Govinda. In 1604 the Adi Granth was carried into the Harmandir Sahib and opened for the first time. Baba Buddha Ji, who had known Guru Nanak as a boy, became its first granthi.

02The pothis before the Granth

The Gurus kept their bani written from the start. Sikh tradition says Guru Nanak handed his pothi to Guru Angad Dev Ji, who also gave the Panjabi language its Gurmukhi letters. In Guru Amar Das Ji’s time the hymns were copied into the Goindval pothis, which stayed with his son Baba Mohan. Sikh accounts tell that Guru Arjan went to Goindval, sat below Baba Mohan’s window and sang a shabad in his praise until the pothis were given. With them, and with what Guru Ram Das Ji had kept, the fifth Guru had the true bani in hand, and could set it apart from verses others were passing off under the name Nanak.

03Bani of the Gurus and the Bhagats

Six Gurus speak in the Granth: Guru Nanak, Guru Angad, Guru Amar Das, Guru Ram Das, Guru Arjan, and Guru Tegh Bahadur. All sign as Nanak, and each is marked by number, Mahala 1 to Mahala 9. Guru Arjan’s hymns are the most. Beside them sit fifteen Bhagats, Kabir with the largest share, Farid in Lahnda Panjabi, Namdev from Maharashtra, Ravidas from Kashi, Trilochan, Beni, Dhanna, Pipa, Sadhna, Sain, Bhikhan, Parmanand, Ramanand, Surdas and Jaidev. The Bhatts, bards at the Gurus’ court, add savaiye in praise of the Gurus, and Satta and Balwand a var. Guru Ram Das wrote that the Bani is the Guru and the Guru is the Bani. A Sikh bows to every line alike.

04Damdama and Nanded

At Damdama Sahib, Talwandi Sabo, in 1706, Guru Gobind Singh Ji had Bhai Mani Singh write out a fresh volume, adding the bani of his father, Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji, who had given his head at Delhi in 1675. That Damdama recension is the text every Sikh reads today. Two years later, at Nanded on the Godavari, before leaving this world, the tenth Guru placed five paise and a coconut before the Granth, bowed, and declared that after him the Guru would be the Granth, and the Panth would walk with it. Since that day there has been no human Guru. Sikhs greet it as Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, the living Guru, and Takht Sri Hazur Sahib stands where the Gurgaddi was given.

05Thirty-one ragas

After the opening banis the Granth is ordered by music. Thirty-one ragas follow one another, from Sri Raga on Ang 14 to Jaijavanti on Ang 1352, each with its season and hour. Inside each raga come the Gurus in order, then the Bhagats, and inside each author the forms: chaupadas of four verses, ashtapadis of eight, chhants, and the vars, ballads of pauris with saloks between them. A heading names the raga, the Mahala and often the ghar, the beat to which it is sung. The word Rahao marks the refrain, the line the meaning turns on. Ragi jathas at Harmandir Sahib still sing each shabad in its own raga.

06What the Guru teaches

The Granth opens with Ik Onkar, One Creator, and everything after is that One’s praise. The Guru names the illness as haumai, the I-am-ness that keeps a person apart from the Creator, and the cure as Naam, remembering the Name with every breath. The hukam, the Divine Order, runs through all things; the gurmukh walks with it, the manmukh against it. Sikhs carry the teaching in three plain duties: naam japna, kirat karni, vand chhakna, remember the Name, earn honestly, share what you have. Guru Nanak asks in the Asa di Var why woman should be called lesser, when kings are born of her. Caste counts for nothing in the Guru’s court; only deeds are read there.

07A day in the Guru’s presence

Before dawn, at amrit vela, the Guru Granth Sahib is carried on the head of a Sikh, under a canopy, to the takht, and opened in prakash. A chaur of yak hair or peacock feathers is waved over it, as over a king. The granthi opens it at random and reads the first shabad on the left-hand page: this is the hukamnama, the Guru’s order for the day, and the one from Harmandir Sahib is read out in homes across the world. Kirtan follows, then Ardas and karah prashad. At night, after Kirtan Sohila, the Guru is wrapped in rumalas and laid to rest in sukhasan in a room of its own. Every visitor covers the head and leaves shoes outside.

08Path, Anand Karaj and the naming of a child

An akhand path is an unbroken reading of all 1,430 angs by relays of readers, about forty-eight hours without a pause, kept for weddings, deaths, the opening of a house or a Gurpurab. A sahaj path is the same reading done at one’s own pace, over weeks. Every reading ends with the bhog: the Mundavani, the closing saloks and the Ragmala, then Anand Sahib and Ardas. A Sikh child is named from the Guru: the Granth is opened, and the first letter of the hukamnama gives the first letter of the name. At an Anand Karaj the couple walk four times round the Guru while the four Lavan of Guru Ram Das, in Raga Suhi, are sung.

09Sangat, pangat and the reach of the Granth

Every gurdwara is built round the Granth, and every gurdwara has a langar where anyone sits in a row on the floor and eats the same food. Guru Amar Das asked that all who came for darshan should first sit in pangat, and Sikh tradition says the emperor Akbar did so at Goindval. The printed Granth keeps the same page layout in every copy, so Ang 1 and Ang 1430 are the same the world over, and a citation by Ang works in Amritsar or Vancouver. Max Arthur Macauliffe’s The Sikh Religion (1909) gave English readers large parts of it, with Sikh scholars checking every line, and full translations by Gopal Singh, Manmohan Singh and Sant Singh Khalsa have followed.

What it contains

1. 1
   Japji Sahib ਜਪੁ

   Angs 1–8. Guru Nanak’s Mul Mantar, 38 pauris and closing salok, the first bani of the Granth and of every Sikh’s morning. It is the only bani in the Granth not set to a raga; it is recited, not sung.

2. 2
   So Dar and So Purakh (Rehras) ਸੋ ਦਰੁ, ਸੋ ਪੁਰਖੁ

   Angs 8–12. Nine shabads of the Gurus that open with the question “Which is that gate, which that house, where You sit and care for all?” They form the core of Rehras, the evening prayer.

3. 3
   Sohila ਸੋਹਿਲਾ

   Angs 12–13. Five shabads said at night before sleep and at the cremation of a Sikh. They include Guru Nanak’s arti in Dhanasri, in which the sky is the platter and the sun and moon its lamps.

4. 4
   Sri Raga ਸਿਰੀਰਾਗੁ

   Angs 14–93, the first raga, a grave evening raga. It holds the Gurus’ chaupadas and ashtapadis, the Pahare that count a life in four watches of the night, and Sri Rag ki Var.

5. 5
   Majh and Gauri ਮਾਝ, ਗਉੜੀ

   Angs 94–346. Majh, a Panjabi raga, carries Guru Arjan’s Barah Maha of the twelve months. Gauri is the longest raga section of all, with Guru Arjan’s Sukhmani Sahib, the Psalm of Peace, and much of Kabir.

6. 6
   Asa ਆਸਾ

   Angs 347–488, a morning raga. Here stands Asa di Var, Guru Nanak’s ballad with Guru Angad’s saloks, sung by ragis in the early hours at Harmandir Sahib every day.

7. 7
   Gujri, Devgandhari, Bihagra, Vadhans ਗੂਜਰੀ, ਦੇਵਗੰਧਾਰੀ, ਬਿਹਾਗੜਾ, ਵਡਹੰਸੁ

   Angs 489–594. Four ragas, from the cowherd’s Gujri to Vadhans. Vadhans holds Guru Nanak’s Alahniyan, songs of mourning that teach how to grieve, and the Ghoria wedding songs.

8. 8
   Sorath, Dhanasri, Jaitsri, Todi, Bairari, Tilang ਸੋਰਠਿ, ਧਨਾਸਰੀ, ਜੈਤਸਰੀ, ਟੋਡੀ, ਬੈਰਾੜੀ, ਤਿਲੰਗ

   Angs 595–727. Six ragas; Dhanasri holds the arti on Ang 663, and Tilang, with its Persian colour, carries Guru Nanak’s shabad on Babar’s invasion and hymns of Guru Tegh Bahadur.

9. 9
   Suhi, Bilaval, Gond ਸੂਹੀ, ਬਿਲਾਵਲੁ, ਗੋਂਡ

   Angs 728–875. Suhi, the raga of the bride, holds the four Lavan of Guru Ram Das on Ang 773, sung at every Sikh wedding. Bilaval is a raga of joy; Gond closes the group.

10. 10
    Ramkali, Nat Narain, Mali Gaura ਰਾਮਕਲੀ, ਨਟ ਨਾਰਾਇਨ, ਮਾਲੀ ਗਉੜਾ

    Angs 876–988. Ramkali holds Anand Sahib of Guru Amar Das (Ang 917), Sundar’s Sadd, Guru Nanak’s Oankar and Sidh Gosht, his dialogue with the yogis, and the var of Satta and Balwand.

11. 11
    Maru, Tukhari, Kedara ਮਾਰੂ, ਤੁਖਾਰੀ, ਕੇਦਾਰਾ

    Angs 989–1124. Maru, the raga of the battlefield, carries the long Solhe. Tukhari holds Guru Nanak’s own Barah Maha, the twelve months of a soul longing for her Beloved.

12. 12
    Bhairao, Basant, Sarang, Malar ਭੈਰਉ, ਬਸੰਤੁ, ਸਾਰੰਗ, ਮਲਾਰ

    Angs 1125–1293. Basant is sung in spring, Malar in the rains. Bhairao and Basant carry many hymns of Kabir and Namdev.

13. 13
    Kanra, Kalyan, Prabhati, Jaijavanti ਕਾਨੜਾ, ਕਲਿਆਨ, ਪ੍ਰਭਾਤੀ, ਜੈਜਾਵੰਤੀ

    Angs 1294–1353, the last four ragas. Prabhati is a dawn raga with Kabir’s “Aval Allah noor upaia”. Jaijavanti, the thirty-first, holds only four shabads, all by Guru Tegh Bahadur.

14. 14
    Salok Sahaskriti, Gatha, Phunhe, Chaubole ਸਲੋਕ ਸਹਸਕ੍ਰਿਤੀ

    Angs 1353–1364. Saloks of Guru Nanak and Guru Arjan in Sahaskriti, a language close to Sanskrit, with Guru Arjan’s Gatha, Phunhe and Chaubole. These begin the closing compositions, set outside the ragas.

15. 15
    Saloks of Kabir and Farid ਸਲੋਕ ਕਬੀਰ, ਸਲੋਕ ਫਰੀਦ

    Angs 1364–1384. Some 243 saloks of Kabir and some 130 of Sheikh Farid, with the Gurus’ replies set among Farid’s. Their two-line sayings on death, pride and the Name are quoted all over Panjab.

16. 16
    Savaiye of the Bhatts ਸਵਈਏ

    Angs 1385–1409. Guru Arjan’s savaiye in praise of Guru Nanak, then the Bhatts’ savaiye, which praise each Guru from Guru Nanak to Guru Arjan and describe the one light passing from body to body.

17. 17
    Saloks Vaaran te Vadheek ਸਲੋਕ ਵਾਰਾਂ ਤੇ ਵਧੀਕ

    Angs 1410–1426. Saloks of Guru Nanak, Guru Amar Das, Guru Ram Das and Guru Arjan that were left over after the vars had been filled, gathered here.

18. 18
    Saloks of Guru Tegh Bahadur ਸਲੋਕ ਮਹਲਾ ੯

    Angs 1426–1429. Fifty-seven saloks on the passing of all things and the courage of the one who fears no one and frightens no one. The fifty-fourth, Sikhs hold, was the tenth Guru’s answer.

19. 19
    Mundavani and Ragmala ਮੁੰਦਾਵਣੀ, ਰਾਗਮਾਲਾ

    Angs 1429–1430. Guru Arjan’s Mundavani, the seal of the Granth, likens it to a platter holding truth, contentment and reflection, with the Name as the nectar. The Ragmala, a catalogue of ragas and raginis, follows; whether it is read at bhog is a matter on which Sikh practice differs.

Famous verses

ੴ ਸਤਿ ਨਾਮੁ ਕਰਤਾ ਪੁਰਖੁ ਨਿਰਭਉ ਨਿਰਵੈਰੁ ਅਕਾਲ ਮੂਰਤਿ ਅਜੂਨੀ ਸੈਭੰ ਗੁਰ ਪ੍ਰਸਾਦਿ ॥

One Creator; Truth is the Name; the Maker, without fear, without enmity, beyond time in form, unborn, self-existent; known by the Guru’s grace.Guru Granth Sahib, Ang 1 (Mul Mantar, Guru Nanak Dev Ji)

ਸਭੁ ਕੋ ਊਚਾ ਆਖੀਐ ਨੀਚੁ ਨ ਦੀਸੈ ਕੋਇ ॥

Call everyone high; no one is seen to be low.Guru Granth Sahib, Ang 62 (Sri Raga, Mahala 1)

ਅਵਲਿ ਅਲਹ ਨੂਰੁ ਉਪਾਇਆ ਕੁਦਰਤਿ ਕੇ ਸਭ ਬੰਦੇ ॥ ਏਕ ਨੂਰ ਤੇ ਸਭੁ ਜਗੁ ਉਪਜਿਆ ਕਉਨ ਭਲੇ ਕੋ ਮੰਦੇ ॥੧॥

First the Lord created the Light; all people are of His creation. From the one Light the whole world sprang; who then is good, and who is bad?Guru Granth Sahib, Ang 1349 (Raga Prabhati, Bhagat Kabir)

ਭੈ ਕਾਹੂ ਕਉ ਦੇਤ ਨਹਿ ਨਹਿ ਭੈ ਮਾਨਤ ਆਨ ॥ ਕਹੁ ਨਾਨਕ ਸੁਨਿ ਰੇ ਮਨਾ ਗਿਆਨੀ ਤਾਹਿ ਬਖਾਨਿ ॥੧੬॥

One who frightens no one and fears no one, says Nanak, listen, O mind: call that one wise.Guru Granth Sahib, Ang 1427 (Salok Mahala 9, 16)

ਥਾਲ ਵਿਚਿ ਤਿੰਨਿ ਵਸਤੂ ਪਈਓ ਸਤੁ ਸੰਤੋਖੁ ਵੀਚਾਰੋ ॥ ਅੰਮ੍ਰਿਤ ਨਾਮੁ ਠਾਕੁਰ ਕਾ ਪਇਓ ਜਿਸ ਕਾ ਸਭਸੁ ਅਧਾਰੋ ॥

Three things are placed in this platter: truth, contentment and reflection. The nectar of the Master’s Name is placed here too, the support of all.Guru Granth Sahib, Ang 1429 (Mundavani, Mahala 5)