Guru Granth Sahib

Guru Granth Sahib
ਗੁਰੂ ਗ੍ਰੰਥ ਸਾਹਿਬ
Illuminated Guru Granth Sahib folio with nisan (Mul Mantar) in the penmanship of Guru Gobind Singh
Information
ReligionSikhism
LanguageSant Bhasha
(Punjabi and its dialects, Lahnda, regional Prakrits, Apabhramsa, Sanskrit, Hindustani languages (Brajbhasha, Bangru, Awadhi, Old Hindi, Deccani), Bhojpuri, Sindhi, Marathi, Marwari, Bengali, Persian and Arabic)[1][2]
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Guru Granth Sahib
ਗੁਰੂ ਗ੍ਰੰਥ ਸਾਹਿਬ
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Poetical metres, modes, measures, and rhythms

The Guru Granth Sahib (Punjabi: ਗੁਰੂ ਗ੍ਰੰਥ ਸਾਹਿਬ, pronounced [ɡʊɾuː ɡɾənt̪ʰᵊ säː(ɦ)(ɪ)bᵊ(˦)]) is the central holy religious scripture of Sikhism, regarded by Sikhs as the final, sovereign and eternal Guru following the lineage of the ten human gurus of the religion. The Adi Granth (Punjabi: ਆਦਿ ਗ੍ਰੰਥ), its first rendition, was compiled by the fifth guru, Guru Arjan (1564–1606). Its compilation was completed on 29 August 1604 and first installed inside the Golden Temple in Amritsar on 1 September 1604.[3] Baba Buddha was appointed the first Granthi of the Golden Temple. Shortly afterwards Guru Hargobind added Ramkali Ki Vaar. Later, Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh guru, added hymns of Guru Tegh Bahadur to the Adi Granth and affirmed the text as his successor.[4] This second rendition became known as the Guru Granth Sahib and is also sometimes referred to as the Adi Granth.[5][6]

The text consists of 1,430 angs (pages) and 5,894 shabads (line compositions), which are poetically rendered and set to a rhythmic ancient north Indian classical form of music.[7] The bulk of the scripture is divided into 31 main rāgas, with each Granth rāga subdivided according to length and author. The hymns in the scripture are arranged primarily by the rāgas in which they are read.[8] The Guru Granth Sahib is written in the Gurmukhi script in various languages including Punjabi, Lahnda, regional Prakrits, Apabhramsa, Sanskrit, Hindi languages (Braj Bhasha, Bangru, Awadhi, Old Hindi), Bhojpuri, Sindhi, Marathi, Marwari, Bengali, Persian and Arabic. Copies in these languages often have the generic title of Sant Bhasha.[9]

The Guru Granth Sahib was composed predominantly by six Sikh gurus: Guru Nanak, Guru Angad, Guru Amar Das, Guru Ram Das, Guru Arjan and Guru Tegh Bahadur. It also contains the traditions and teachings of fourteen Hindu Bhakti movement sants (saints), such as Ramananda, Kabir and Namdev among others, and one Muslim Sufi saint: Sheikh Farid.[10][11]

The vision in the Guru Granth Sahib is of a society based on divine freedom, mercy, love, belief in one god and justice without oppression of any kind.[12][13] While the Granth acknowledges and respects the scriptures of Hinduism and Islam, it does not imply a moral reconciliation with either of these religions.[14] It is installed in a Sikh gurdwara (temple). A Sikh typically prostrates before it on entering such a temple.[15] The Granth is revered as eternal gurbānī and the spiritual authority in Sikhism.[16]

  1. ^ Songs of the Saints from the Adi Granth By Nirmal Dass. Published by SUNY Press, 2000. ISBN 978-0-7914-4683-6. p. 13. "Any attempt at translating songs from the Adi Granth certainly involves working not with one language, but several, along with dialectical differences. The languages used by the saints range from Sanskrit; regional Prakrits; western, eastern and southern Apabhramsa; and Sahaskrit. More particularly, we find sant bhasha, Marathi, Old Hindi, central and Lehndi Panjabi, Sindhi and Persian. There are also many dialects deployed, such as Purbi Marwari, Bangru, Dakhni, Malwai, and Awadhi."
  2. ^ Sikhism. The Guru Granth Sahib (GGS) By Harjinder Singh. "The Guru Granth Sahib also contains hymns which are written in a language known as Sahiskriti as well as Sant Bhasha, it also contains many Persian and Sanskrit words throughout."
  3. ^ Jhutti-Johal, Jagbir (2011). Sikhism Today. A&C Black. p. 17. ISBN 978-1-4411-7001-9.
  4. ^ Partridge, Christopher Hugh (2005). Introduction to World Religions. p. 223.
  5. ^ Kapoor, Sukhbir (2002). Guru Granth Sahib: An Advance Study. Hemkunt Press. p. 139. ISBN 978-8170103219.
  6. ^ Adi Granth, Encyclopaedia Britannica
  7. ^ Anna S. King and JL Brockington (2005), The Intimate Other: Love Divine in Indic Religions, Orient Blackswan, ISBN 978-8125028017, pp. 359–361
  8. ^ Christopher Shackle and Arvind Mandair (2005), Teachings of the Sikh Gurus, Routledge, ISBN 978-0415266048, pp. xvii–xx
  9. ^ Harnik Deol, Religion and Nationalism in India. Routledge, 2000. ISBN 978-0415201087. p. 22. "(...) the compositions in the Sikh holy book, Adi Granth, are a melange of various dialects, often coalesced under the generic title of Sant Bhasha."
    The Making of Sikh Scripture by Gurinder Singh Mann. Published by Oxford University Press US, 2001. ISBN 978-0-19-513024-9 p. 5. "The language of the hymns recorded in the Adi Granth has been called Sant Bhasha, a kind of lingua franca used by the medieval saint-poets of northern India. But the broad range of contributors to the text produced a complex mix of regional dialects."
    Surindar Singh Kohli, History of Punjabi Literature. p. 48. National Book, 1993. ISBN 978-81-7116-141-6. "When we go through the hymns and compositions of the Guru written in Sant Bhasha (saint-language), it appears that some Indian saint of 16th century...."
    Nirmal Dass, Songs of the Saints from the Adi Granth. SUNY Press, 2000. ISBN 978-0-7914-4683-6. p. 13. "Any attempt at translating songs from the Adi Granth certainly involves working not with one language, but several, along with dialectical differences. The languages used by the saints range from Sanskrit; regional Prakrits; western, eastern and southern Apabhramsa; and Sahiskriti. More particularly, we find sant bhasha, Marathi, Old Hindi, central and Lehndi Panjabi, Sgettland Persian. There are also many dialects deployed, such as Purbi Marwari, Bangru, Dakhni, Malwai, and Awadhi."
  10. ^ Shapiro, Michael C.; Dass, Nirmal (2002). "Songs of the Saints, from the Adi Granth". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 122 (4): 924–929. doi:10.2307/3217680. JSTOR 3217680.
  11. ^ Parrinder, Geoffrey (1971). World Religions: From Ancient History to the Present. United States: Hamlyn. p. 256. ISBN 978-0-87196-129-7.
  12. ^ Torkel Brekke (2014), Religion, War, and Ethics: A Sourcebook of Textual Traditions (Editors: Gregory M. Reichberg and Henrik Syse), Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0521450386, pp. 673, 675, 672–686
  13. ^ Christopher Shackle and Arvind Mandair (2005), Teachings of the Sikh Gurus, Routledge, ISBN 978-0415266048, pp. xxxiv–xli
  14. ^ William Owen Cole and Piara Singh Sambhi (1995), The Sikhs: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices, Sussex Academic Press, ISBN 978-1898723134, pp. 40, 157
  15. ^ William Owen Cole and Piara Singh Sambhi (1995), The Sikhs: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices, Sussex Academic Press, ISBN 978-1898723134, p. 44
  16. ^ Torkel Brekke (2014), Religion, War, and Ethics: A Sourcebook of Textual Traditions (Editors: Gregory M. Reichberg and Henrik Syse), Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0521450386, p. 675