Adi Granth (or
Aad Granth, literally "the first book") is the early compilation of the Sikh Scriptures by Sri
Guru Arjan DevGuru Arjan Dev Ji or Guru Arjun Dev Ji was the fifth of the Ten Gurus of Sikhism and became a Guru on 1 September 1581 following in the footsteps of Guru Ram Das. He was born at Goindval, and was the youngest of the sons of Guru Ram Das and Bibi Bhani, the daughter of Guru Amar Das...
Ji, the fifth Sikh Guru, in 1604. This Granth ("book") is the Holy Scripture of the
SikhSikh is the title and name given to an adherent of Sikhism. The term has its origin in the Sanskrit term , meaning "disciple, learner" or , meaning "instruction"....
s. The tenth Sikh Guru,
Guru Gobind SinghGuru Gobind Singh was the tenth Guru of Sikhism. He was born in Patna, Bihar in India and became a Guru on 11 November 1675, at the age of nine years, succeeding his father Guru Tegh Bahadur...
added further holy
ShabadShabad may refer to one of the following.*Shabad , hymn, a piece of Holy Text in Indian culture** Shabad Hazaray*Zemach Shabad, Yiddish doctor and political activist*Shabad, Rangareddi district, a village in India...
s to this Granth during the period 1704 to 1706. Then in 1708, before his death, Guru Gobind Singh affirmed the Adi Granth as the perpetual Guru of the Sikhs and the Granth then became known as the Sri Guru Granth Sahib.
- 30 August 1604: Completion of Adi Granth
- 1 September 1604: Adi Granth installed for the first time at Harmandir Sahib
Golden Temple or Harmandir Sahib , informally referred to as The Golden Temple or Temple of God, is culturally the most significant place of worship of the Sikhs and one of the oldest Sikh gurdwaras...
by Guru Arjan DevGuru Arjan Dev Ji or Guru Arjun Dev Ji was the fifth of the Ten Gurus of Sikhism and became a Guru on 1 September 1581 following in the footsteps of Guru Ram Das. He was born at Goindval, and was the youngest of the sons of Guru Ram Das and Bibi Bhani, the daughter of Guru Amar Das...
ji
- 1705: The Takht Damdama Sahib Bir was completed by Guru Gobind Singh
Guru Gobind Singh was the tenth Guru of Sikhism. He was born in Patna, Bihar in India and became a Guru on 11 November 1675, at the age of nine years, succeeding his father Guru Tegh Bahadur...
from memory.
- 20 October 1708: Installation of the Guru Granth Sahib
The Guru Granth Sahib , or Adi Sri Guru Granth Sahib, is the holy scripture and the final Guru of the Sikhs. It is a voluminous text of 1430 angs , compiled and composed during the period of Sikh Gurus, from 1469 to 1708...
as eternal Guru
The original copy of the scripture, called Adi Granth, compiled and authenticated by
Guru Arjan DevGuru Arjan Dev Ji or Guru Arjun Dev Ji was the fifth of the Ten Gurus of Sikhism and became a Guru on 1 September 1581 following in the footsteps of Guru Ram Das. He was born at Goindval, and was the youngest of the sons of Guru Ram Das and Bibi Bhani, the daughter of Guru Amar Das...
still exists today and is kept at
KartarpurKartarpur , was established by Guru Nanak in 1522. When Guru Nanak died, Hindus and Muslims disagreed on how to perform his last rites. A samadh lies in the Gurudwara and a grave lies on the premises as a reminder of this discord...
which is a town about 15 km.
Adi Granth (or
Aad Granth, literally "the first book") is the early compilation of the Sikh Scriptures by Sri
Guru Arjan DevGuru Arjan Dev Ji or Guru Arjun Dev Ji was the fifth of the Ten Gurus of Sikhism and became a Guru on 1 September 1581 following in the footsteps of Guru Ram Das. He was born at Goindval, and was the youngest of the sons of Guru Ram Das and Bibi Bhani, the daughter of Guru Amar Das...
Ji, the fifth Sikh Guru, in 1604. This Granth ("book") is the Holy Scripture of the
SikhSikh is the title and name given to an adherent of Sikhism. The term has its origin in the Sanskrit term , meaning "disciple, learner" or , meaning "instruction"....
s. The tenth Sikh Guru,
Guru Gobind SinghGuru Gobind Singh was the tenth Guru of Sikhism. He was born in Patna, Bihar in India and became a Guru on 11 November 1675, at the age of nine years, succeeding his father Guru Tegh Bahadur...
added further holy
ShabadShabad may refer to one of the following.*Shabad , hymn, a piece of Holy Text in Indian culture** Shabad Hazaray*Zemach Shabad, Yiddish doctor and political activist*Shabad, Rangareddi district, a village in India...
s to this Granth during the period 1704 to 1706. Then in 1708, before his death, Guru Gobind Singh affirmed the Adi Granth as the perpetual Guru of the Sikhs and the Granth then became known as the Sri Guru Granth Sahib.
Timeline
- 30 August 1604: Completion of Adi Granth
- 1 September 1604: Adi Granth installed for the first time at Harmandir Sahib
Golden Temple or Harmandir Sahib , informally referred to as The Golden Temple or Temple of God, is culturally the most significant place of worship of the Sikhs and one of the oldest Sikh gurdwaras...
by Guru Arjan DevGuru Arjan Dev Ji or Guru Arjun Dev Ji was the fifth of the Ten Gurus of Sikhism and became a Guru on 1 September 1581 following in the footsteps of Guru Ram Das. He was born at Goindval, and was the youngest of the sons of Guru Ram Das and Bibi Bhani, the daughter of Guru Amar Das...
ji
- 1705: The Takht Damdama Sahib Bir was completed by Guru Gobind Singh
Guru Gobind Singh was the tenth Guru of Sikhism. He was born in Patna, Bihar in India and became a Guru on 11 November 1675, at the age of nine years, succeeding his father Guru Tegh Bahadur...
from memory.
- 20 October 1708: Installation of the Guru Granth Sahib
The Guru Granth Sahib , or Adi Sri Guru Granth Sahib, is the holy scripture and the final Guru of the Sikhs. It is a voluminous text of 1430 angs , compiled and composed during the period of Sikh Gurus, from 1469 to 1708...
as eternal Guru
The original copy of the scripture, called Adi Granth, compiled and authenticated by
Guru Arjan DevGuru Arjan Dev Ji or Guru Arjun Dev Ji was the fifth of the Ten Gurus of Sikhism and became a Guru on 1 September 1581 following in the footsteps of Guru Ram Das. He was born at Goindval, and was the youngest of the sons of Guru Ram Das and Bibi Bhani, the daughter of Guru Amar Das...
still exists today and is kept at
KartarpurKartarpur , was established by Guru Nanak in 1522. When Guru Nanak died, Hindus and Muslims disagreed on how to perform his last rites. A samadh lies in the Gurudwara and a grave lies on the premises as a reminder of this discord...
which is a town about 15 km. north west of the city of
JalandharJalandhar , is a city in Jalandhar District in the state of Punjab, India. In Hindu mythology, Jalandhar was the eponymous kingdom of a devil in Satyuga...
, Punjab, India. It contains the hymns of both
HinduA Hindu is an adherent of Hinduism, a set of religious, philosophical and cultural systems that originated in the Indian subcontinent. The vast body of Hindu scriptures, divided into Śruti and Smriti , lay the foundation of Hindu beliefs which primarily include dhárma, kárma, ahimsa and saṃsāra...
and
Muslim:A Muslim , , is an adherent of the religion of Islam. The feminine form is Muslimah . Literally, the word means "one who submits ". Muslim is the participle of the same verb of which Islam is the infinitive. Muslims believe that there is only one God, translated in Arabic as Allah...
saints.
Compilation
One of the classic simplifications of Sikh history pertains to the preparation of the sacred scripture, the
Guru Granth SahibThe Guru Granth Sahib , or Adi Sri Guru Granth Sahib, is the holy scripture and the final Guru of the Sikhs. It is a voluminous text of 1430 angs , compiled and composed during the period of Sikh Gurus, from 1469 to 1708...
. The event is generally described in the briefest terms. The Holy Volume was compiled by Guru Arjan (AD 1563-1606) and the first copy was calligraphed by
Bhai GurdasBhai Gurdas was a Punjabi Sikh writer, historian, missionary, and religious figure. He was the original scribe of the Guru Granth Sahib and a companion of four of the Sikh Gurus.-Early life:...
at his dictation — this is all we learn from most of the sources. What amount of planning, minute attention to detail and went into this work is slurred over.
An old text which gives some detailed information is the
"Gurbilas Chhevin Patshahi". Written in A.D. 1718, this, in fact, is the oldest source. Although it does not go into the technical and literary minutiae, it narrates the entire process from the beginning of the transcription of the Holy Volume to its installation in the newly built
Harimandir SahibGolden Temple may refer to:*Golden Temple Park, a Taoist temple in Kunming, China*Harmandir Sahib, the most significant place of worship of the Sikhs, in Amritsar, India*Kinkaku-ji, a Zen Buddhist temple in Kyoto, Japan...
at
AmritsarAmritsar is a city in the northwestern part of India and is the administrative headquarters of Amritsar district in the state of Punjab, India. The 2001 Indian census reported the population of the city to be over 1,500,000, with that of the entire district numbering just over 3,695,077...
.
Why Guru Arjan undertook the task is variously explained. One commonly accepted assumption is that the codification of the Gurus' compositions into authorized volume was begun by him with a view to preserving them from garbling by schismatic groups and others. According to the Mahima Prakash (A.D. 1776), he set to work with the announcement: "As the Panth (Community) has been revealed unto the world, so there must be the Granth (Book), too."
Bani included in the Granth
The "
BaniGurbani is the term used by Sikhs to refer to any compositions of the Gurus. Gurbani is composed of two words: 'Gur' meaning 'the Guru's' and 'bani' meaning 'word'....
", Gurus inspired utterance, had always been the object of highest reverence for the
SikhSikh is the title and name given to an adherent of Sikhism. The term has its origin in the Sanskrit term , meaning "disciple, learner" or , meaning "instruction"....
s as well as for the Gurus themselves. It was equated with the Guru himself.
"The bani is the Guru and the Guru bani" sang
Guru Ram DasGuru Ram Das as the fourth of the Ten Gurus of Sikhism, and he became Guru on 30 August 1574 following in the footsteps of his father in law Guru Amar Das.He was born in Lahore to a Sodhi family of Khatri clan...
in measure Nat Narain. By accumulating the canon, Guru Arjan wished to affix the seal on the sacred word. It was also to be the perennial fountain of inspiration and the means of self-perpetuation for the community.
Guru Arjan called
Bhai GurdasBhai Gurdas was a Punjabi Sikh writer, historian, missionary, and religious figure. He was the original scribe of the Guru Granth Sahib and a companion of four of the Sikh Gurus.-Early life:...
to his presence and expressed to him the wish that the compositions of the Gurus as well as those of some of the saints and sufis be collected. Massages were sent to the disciples to gather and transmit to him the hymns of his predecessors.
Baba Mohan, son of
Guru Amar DasGuru Amar Das was the third of the Ten Gurus of Sikhism and was given the title of Sikh Guru on 26 March 1552.-His life:...
, Nanak III, had two manuscript collections of the Gurus' hymns inherited from his father.
Bhai GurdasBhai Gurdas was a Punjabi Sikh writer, historian, missionary, and religious figure. He was the original scribe of the Guru Granth Sahib and a companion of four of the Sikh Gurus.-Early life:...
travelled to Goindwal to bring these Pothis but the owner refused to see him.
Baba Buddha, one of the oldest Sikhs from Guru Nanak's days, was similarly turned away from his door. Then Guru Arjan went himself. He sat on the street below Mohan's home, serenading him on his tambura. Mohan was disarmed to hear the hymn. He came downstairs with the pothis and presented these to the Guru. As says the Gurbilas, the pothis were placed on a palanquin bedecked with precious stones. The Sikhs carried it on their shoulders and Guru Arjan walked behind barefoot. He refused to ride his horse, saying that the pothis were the very spirit of the four Gurus — his predecessors.
The journey with the Pothis
The cavalcade broke journey at
Khadur Sahib to make obeisance at shrines sacred to Guru Angad. Two kos from
AmritsarAmritsar is a city in the northwestern part of India and is the administrative headquarters of Amritsar district in the state of Punjab, India. The 2001 Indian census reported the population of the city to be over 1,500,000, with that of the entire district numbering just over 3,695,077...
, it was received by Hargobind, Guru Arjan's young son, accompanied by a large number of Sikhs. He bowed at his father's feet and showered petals in front of the pothis. Guru Arjan, Hargobind, Bhai Gurdas and Bhai Buddha now bore the palanquin on their shoulders and marched towards Amritsar, led by musicians, with flutes and drums.
In
AmritsarAmritsar is a city in the northwestern part of India and is the administrative headquarters of Amritsar district in the state of Punjab, India. The 2001 Indian census reported the population of the city to be over 1,500,000, with that of the entire district numbering just over 3,695,077...
, Guru Arjan first went to the
Harimandir SahibGolden Temple may refer to:*Golden Temple Park, a Taoist temple in Kunming, China*Harmandir Sahib, the most significant place of worship of the Sikhs, in Amritsar, India*Kinkaku-ji, a Zen Buddhist temple in Kyoto, Japan...
to offer
Karah Prasad in gratefulness. To quote the Gurbilas again, an attractive spot in the thick of a forest on the outskirts of Amritsar was marked out by Guru Arjan. So dense was the foliage that not even a moonbeam could pray into it. It was like Panchbati itself, peaceful and picturesque. A tent was hoisted in this idyllic setting. Here Guru Arjan and Bhai Gurdas started work on the sacred volume.
The inscription of the Granth
The making of the Granth was not an easy task. It involved sustained labour and a rigorous intellectual discipline. Selections had to be made from a vast amount of material. Besides the compositions of the four preceding Gurus and the Guru Arjan who himself was a poet with a rare spiritual insight, there were songs and hymns by saints, both Hindu and Muslim. What was genuine had to be sifted from what was counterfeit. Then the selected material had to be assigned to appropriate musical measures and transcribed in a minutely laid out order.
Guru Arjan carried out the work with extraordinary exactness. He arranged the hymns in thirty different ragas, or musical patterns. A precise method was followed in setting down the compositions. First came
shabadShabad may refer to one of the following.*Shabad , hymn, a piece of Holy Text in Indian culture** Shabad Hazaray*Zemach Shabad, Yiddish doctor and political activist*Shabad, Rangareddi district, a village in India...
s by the Gurus in the order of their succession. Then came hands,
varVar, VAR, VAr, VaR or var can mean:VAR:* Varna Airport, IATA airport code* Vacuum arc remelting, a process for production of steel and special alloys...
s, and other poetic forms in a set order. The compositions of the Gurus in each raga were followed by those of the Bhaktas in the same format. Gurmukhi was the script used for the transcription.
A genius, unique in spiritual insight and not unconcerned with methodological design, had created a scripture with an exalted mystical tone and a high degree of organization. It was large in size—nearly 7,000 hymns, comprising compositions of the first five Sikhs Gurus and fifteen Bhaktas and sufis from different parts of
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
, including Sheikh
Fariduddin GanjshakarHazrat Bābā Farīduddīn Mas'ūd Ganjshakar or , commonly known as Baba Farid was a 12th century Sufi preacher and saint of the Chishti Order of South Asia.Hazrat Baba Fariduddin Ganjshakar, a Muslim Sufi, is generally recognized as the first major poet of the Punjabi language...
,
KabirKabīr Kabīr (also Kabīra) Kabīr (also Kabīra) (Hindi: कबीर, Punjabi: ਕਬੀਰ, Urdu: کبير (1440—1518) was a mystic composer and saint of India, whose literature has greatly influenced the Bhakti movement of India.-Early life and background:...
and
RavidasGuru or Bhagat Ravidas was a north Indian Sant mystic of the bhakti movement who was active in the 15th century CE. Venerated in northern India and in the Indian state of Maharashtra, he is the Satguru of the Ravidasi sect and one of the fifteen Bhagats of the Sikhs...
.
The Granth completed
The Sacred Volume consisted of 974 leaves, or 1948 pages, 12" X 8", with several blank ones at the end of a
ragaRāga refers to melodic modes used in Indian classical music. It is a series of five or more musical notes upon which a melody is made. In the Indian musical tradition, rāgas are associated with different times of the day, or with seasons. Indian classical music is always set in a rāga...
when there were not
shabadShabad may refer to one of the following.*Shabad , hymn, a piece of Holy Text in Indian culture** Shabad Hazaray*Zemach Shabad, Yiddish doctor and political activist*Shabad, Rangareddi district, a village in India...
s enough to fill the section assigned to it. The site of these marvellous labours is now marked by a shrine called
GurdwaraA gurdwara , meaning "the doorway to the guru", is a place of worship for Sikhs, the followers of Sikhism and also a place where weary travellers and pilgrims may rest and eat. A gurudwara is also referred to as a "Sikh temple"...
Ramsar.
The completion of the Granth Sahib was, says the
"Gurbilas", celebrated with much jubilation. In thanksgiving,
Karah Prasad was prepared in huge quantities. Sikhs came in large numbers to see the Holy Book. They rejoiced in their hearts by a sight of it and bowed before it in veneration. Among the visitors was Bhai Banno, who had led a group of Sikhs from
MangatFor the Article on Jat clan, see MangatMangat is a town and Union Council of Mandi Bahauddin District in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is located at 32°31'0N 73°30'0E and has an altitude of 223 metres ....
, in western
PunjabThe Punjab The Punjab The Punjab (pronounced or ; Punjabi: ਪੰਜਾਬ, The Punjab (pronounced or ; [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]]: [[Gurmukhī script|ਪੰਜਾਬ]], The Punjab (pronounced or ; [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]]: [[Gurmukhī script|ਪੰਜਾਬ]], [[Shahmukhi script|, ), also spelled Panjab ' onMouseout='HidePop("17193")' href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Amritsar">Amritsar
Amritsar is a city in the northwestern part of India and is the administrative headquarters of Amritsar district in the state of Punjab, India. The 2001 Indian census reported the population of the city to be over 1,500,000, with that of the entire district numbering just over 3,695,077...
with his sacred charge, it occurred to him to have a second copy transcribed. The first copy, he argued, would remain with the Guru. There must be an additional one for the
sangatSangat is the Punjabi form of the Sanskrit term sangha, which means company, fellowship and association. In Sikh vocabulary, the word has a special connotation. It stands for the body of men and women who meet religiously, especially in the presence of the Guru Granth Sahib...
. The Guru's direction was that he should not stay longer than one night at a place, but he had said nothing about the time to be spent on the journey. So he proceeded with his plans and sent a Sikh to purchase paper.
He proposed to his companions that they should travel by easy marches of five miles a day. The time thus saved was utilized in transcribing the holy text. Sikhs wrote with love and devotion and nobody shirked his duty whether it was day or night. By the time they reached
LahoreLahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in Pakistan after Karachi. Historically the main city of the undivided Punjab, it is often called the Garden of Mughals because of its rich Mughal heritage...
, the second copy was ready. But Banno had added to it some apocryphal texts. He had both volumes bound and returned to Amritsar as fast as he could.
The Granth arrives
At
AmritsarAmritsar is a city in the northwestern part of India and is the administrative headquarters of Amritsar district in the state of Punjab, India. The 2001 Indian census reported the population of the city to be over 1,500,000, with that of the entire district numbering just over 3,695,077...
, Banno was received with due ceremony, though Guru Arjan was not a little surprised to see two volumes instead of one. Bhai Banno spoke truthfully: "Lord, there is nothing that is hidden from you. This second copy I have had made for the sake of the
sangatSangat is the Punjabi form of the Sanskrit term sangha, which means company, fellowship and association. In Sikh vocabulary, the word has a special connotation. It stands for the body of men and women who meet religiously, especially in the presence of the Guru Granth Sahib...
" But the Guru put his seal only on the volume written by
Bhai Gurdas'sBhai Gurdas was a Punjabi Sikh writer, historian, missionary, and religious figure. He was the original scribe of the Guru Granth Sahib and a companion of four of the Sikh Gurus.-Early life:...
hand. He enjoined the Sikhs to own the Granth equal with the Guru and make no distinction between the two. "He who would wish to see the Guru, let him see the Granth. He who would seek the Guru's word, let him read the Granth with love and attention."
Guru Arjan asked his Sikhs where the Granth Sahib be installed. Bhai Buddha said,
"You are omniscient, Master! But there is no place more suitable than the Harimandir." The Guru was happy to hear these words
"like one who has sighted the new moon." He then recited the praise of the Harimandir:
"There is nothing like it in all the three worlds. Harimandir is like the ship—the means for the people to cross over the worldly ocean triumphantly. A new joy pervades here every day. A sight of it annuls all sins."
Reverence and respect
It was decided to spend the night at
Ramsar and return to
AmritsarAmritsar is a city in the northwestern part of India and is the administrative headquarters of Amritsar district in the state of Punjab, India. The 2001 Indian census reported the population of the city to be over 1,500,000, with that of the entire district numbering just over 3,695,077...
the next morning. The Granth Sahib rested on a seat under the canopy, whereas the Guru and the Sikhs slept on the ground. A disciple had to be chosen to take charge of the Granth Sahib. As says the Gurbilas, Guru Arjan lay awake through the night reflecting on the question. His choice formally fell on old Bhai Buddha whose devotion was universally applauded.
As they awoke, the Guru and his Sikhs made ablutions in Ramsar. The former there upon practiced his wonted meditation. At dawn, the entire
sangatSangat is the Punjabi form of the Sanskrit term sangha, which means company, fellowship and association. In Sikh vocabulary, the word has a special connotation. It stands for the body of men and women who meet religiously, especially in the presence of the Guru Granth Sahib...
marched towards Harimandir. Bhai Buddha carried the Holy Book on his head and Guru Arjan walked behind swinging the whisk over it. Musicians sang
shabadShabad may refer to one of the following.*Shabad , hymn, a piece of Holy Text in Indian culture** Shabad Hazaray*Zemach Shabad, Yiddish doctor and political activist*Shabad, Rangareddi district, a village in India...
s. Thus they reached the Harimandir. The Granth Sahib was ceremonially installed in the center of the inner sanctuary on Bhadon Sudi 1, 1661 sK/1 September 1604.
Bhai Buddha opened it with reverence to obtain from it the divine command, as Guru Arjan stood in attendance behind.
The following hymn was read as God's own announcement for the occasion:
"He Himself hath succoured His saints in their work, He himself hath come to see their task fulfilled. Blessed is the earth, blessed the tank. Blessed is the tank with amrit filled. Amrit overfloweth the tank: He hath had the task completed; Eternal is the Perfect Being, His praises Vedas and Puranas sing. The Creator hath bestowed on me the nine treasures, and all the charisms, No lack do I suffer now. Enjoying His largesse, bliss have I attained, Ever-expanding is the Lord's bounty."
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