The Guru Granth Sahib
The Sikh scripture and, since 1708, the eternal Guru — a collection of sacred hymns compiled by the Gurus themselves.
The eternal Guru
Before his death in 1708, Guru Gobind Singh ended the line of human Gurus and vested eternal Guruship in the scripture itself. For Sikhs the Guru Granth Sahib is a living Guru, treated with the reverence due to a sovereign.1,2,3
How it was compiled
Guru Arjan compiled the first edition — the Adi Granth — in 1604, dictated to the scribe Bhai Gurdas, and installed it in the Harmandir Sahib. A century later, in 1706, Guru Gobind Singh prepared the final recension at Damdama Sahib, adding the hymns of the ninth Guru, Guru Tegh Bahadur.1,2,3
What it contains
The scripture runs to 1,430 angs (pages). It gathers the hymns of the Sikh Gurus alongside those of Hindu and Muslim saints — the bhagats, among them Kabir, Sheikh Farid, Namdev and Ravidas — an inclusion striking for its time. The compositions are written in the Gurmukhi script and arranged by raag, the musical measure to which they are sung.1,2,3
In the history
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