Kirtan Sohila ਕੀਰਤਨ ਸੋਹਿਲਾ
Night
The night prayer recited before sleep, composed of hymns on the impermanence of life and union with the divine.
What it is
Sohila — the “song of praise” — is the shortest of the daily banis: five hymns, three of Guru Nanak with one each of Guru Ram Das and Guru Arjan, gathered near the Guru Granth Sahib’s opening. Its central image is among the most loved in the scripture: the aarti hymn in which the sky is the salver, sun and moon the lamps, the stars its pearls — all creation itself the worship, no platter of flames required.1,2
What it faces
This is the prayer with which Sikhs keep company with death. Its hymns speak of the summons that comes to every house, the wedding-day of the soul, union with the divine as homecoming rather than loss — which is why Sohila is recited not only nightly but at cremations, where its calm reframes the faith’s understanding of dying as return.1,2
When it is read
Kirtan Sohila is recited last thing before sleep, and it is sung as the scripture is ceremonially rested for the night at the Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar — the same words closing the day of a household and of the faith’s centre alike.1,2
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