The Compilation of Guru Granth Sahib Ji

Before the Adi Granth: the early pothis

From the time of Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the Guru's compositions were sung in the sangat and written down so they could be shared. Tradition holds that Guru Nanak Dev Ji kept his compositions in a pothi (manuscript volume) and passed it to Guru Angad Dev Ji, and that the collection grew as each Guru added his own bani.

Historians give particular attention to the Goindwal pothis (also called the Mohan pothis), manuscripts associated with the period of Guru Amar Das Ji. Their exact dating, contents and relationship to the later Adi Granth are discussed by scholars, and the surviving volumes have not always been easy to study. What is widely accepted is that by the late sixteenth century a substantial written tradition of the Gurus' bani, together with some compositions of the bhagats, already existed.

Guru Arjan Dev Ji compiles the Adi Granth

Guru Arjan Dev Ji, the fifth Guru, undertook the task of gathering this bani into one authoritative volume. According to tradition, the work was carried out near Ramsar in Amritsar, with Bhai Gurdas Ji serving as scribe while the Guru selected, arranged and dictated the text. One reason often given in Sikh tradition is the need to protect the Gurus' authentic bani from imitations that were circulating under the name "Nanak".

The completed volume, known as the Adi Granth (the "first" or "original" Granth), was installed at Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar in 1604, with Baba Buddha Ji appointed as its first granthi. A manuscript preserved by the Sodhi family of Kartarpur (near Jalandhar), known as the Kartarpur Bir, is traditionally identified with this volume; historians continue to study its history and relationship to other early manuscripts.

Whose Word is included

Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji contains the bani of six Gurus: Guru Nanak Dev Ji, Guru Angad Dev Ji, Guru Amar Das Ji, Guru Ram Das Ji, Guru Arjan Dev Ji and Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji. Alongside them are the compositions of bhagats — commonly counted as fifteen — from many regions and social backgrounds, including Bhagat Kabir Ji, Bhagat Ravidas Ji, Bhagat Namdev Ji and Sheikh Farid Ji. The Granth also includes the savaiye of the Bhatts (their number is counted differently by different traditions), the Ramkali ki Vaar of Satta and Balwand, and the Sadd of Baba Sundar Ji.

This inclusiveness is one of the most remarkable features of the scripture. The bhagats' words stand beside the Gurus' because their message of devotion to the One, and their rejection of caste pride and empty ritual, agrees with the Gurus' own teaching. Their inclusion was a statement that spiritual truth is not the property of any one community.

Arranged by raag, written in Gurmukhi

Most of the Granth is arranged not by author or subject but by raag, the musical measure in which a composition is to be sung. The main raags are commonly counted as thirty-one. Within each raag the compositions follow a careful order — by form (such as padas, ashtpadis and vaars) and then by author — and each author's work is identified by the Guru's sequence (Mahala 1, Mahala 2 and so on) rather than by personal name. Some compositions, such as Japji Sahib at the opening and the saloks near the close, sit outside the raag sections.

The text is written in the Gurmukhi script, but its language is remarkably varied. It includes old Punjabi and its regional forms, the Braj and Sant Bhasha idiom used by devotional poets across north India, vocabulary from Persian and Arabic, and a style known as Sahaskriti drawing on Sanskrit. This mix reflects both the Gurus' travels and the wide origins of the bhagats.

The Damdama Sahib recension and Guruship

According to tradition, Guru Gobind Singh Ji prepared a further recension of the Granth at Damdama Sahib (Talwandi Sabo) in the early eighteenth century, adding the bani of his father, Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji, with Bhai Mani Singh Ji commonly named as scribe. This form of the text — sometimes called the Damdami Bir — is the basis of the Saroop Sikhs read today.

In 1708 at Nanded, before his passing, Guru Gobind Singh Ji ended the line of human Gurus and vested Guruship in the Granth, which Sikhs have since honoured as Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, the living Guru. The standard printed Saroop is commonly cited as having 1,430 angs (pages), a pagination that has been standardised in modern printing and makes references consistent across the world.

For Sikhs, the compilation is not only a historical process but an act of Guru-given care: the Word that guided the ten Gurus' followers was preserved so that every generation could meet the Guru directly.