Sri Guru Granth Sahib

The Sri Guru Granth Sahib is regarded by Sikhs as their eternal living Guru. Found in every Gurdwara, it contains the words spoken by the Gurus, Bhagats (saints), and poets of the Sikh religion. Some Sikhs refer to the Sri Guru Granth Sahib as Aadh Sri Guru Granth Sahib.

Each day, Sikhs open the Guru Granth Sahib at random and read a passage aloud. The contents of the passage are believed to be the Guru’s way of communicating guidance to the congregation.

The Guru at the John Rylands Research Institute and Library is rare for being centuries older than most standardised Sri Guru Granth Sahibs worshipped by Sikhs today. Few older Sri Guru Granth Sahibs survive, and the majority are privately owned and inaccessible to communities.

Sri Guru Granth Sahib

[date not identified]

The University of Manchester Library

The Guru has been digitised by our Imaging team and can be viewed in full online. Please note that any reproductions of the text should be treated with the utmost respect.

Punjabi MS 5

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An Early Guru

Sri Guru Granth Sahibs contain a compilation of hymns and passages, developed and shared over generations. The numerous revisions in this Guru hint at continued engagement with the text by members of the Sikh faith in a way that is typical of early Sri Guru Granth Sahib birs.

Additions made to the Guru in a later hand could indicate a date before the death of the tenth Guru in 1708. At the end of the contents page is a list of dates for the Gurus who have departed this world. A different scribe appears to have added the death date for the tenth Guru, which may suggest that this Sri Guru Granth Sahib was written while Guru Gobind Singh was still alive.

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Language and Script

Writing appears in the Gurmukhi language, an alphabet from the Punjab created by the second Guru, Guru Angad Dev Ji (1504-1552).

Unlike modern printed Sri Guru Granth Sahibs, the text is written in joined-up larivaar script. As the words are interconnected with no spaces, reading this Guru Granth is difficult and requires a high level of skill.

A living Guru, Sikhs refer to angs, or limbs, instead of pages. Every handwritten Guru Granth Sahib is unique, and the number of angs varies according to the scribes’ handwriting. There are 873 angs in this Guru Granth Sahib, compared to 1430 in standardised birs.

Given these differences, there are some in the Sikh community who do not regard this as a Guru Granth Sahib.

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The Ink Recipe

The text is handwritten in a traditional ink, common practice in early Sri Guru Granth Sahibs. The recipe and ingredients can be found on the final ang, including gold and copper.

The ink is important as it is the physical form of Gurbani, the words of the Guru.

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Swastikas

Hand–daubed yellow swastikas appear on the opening and closing angs, perhaps symbolising the complete recital of the Guru.

This mark is often found in older Sri Guru Granth Sahibs as a sign of good fortune.

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Corrections

A yellow paste called hartal has been used for adjustments and corrections. Two sets of corrections run through the text, distinguished by the use of different pastes.

These reveal changes made to the text over time, as Sikhs revised the contents of the Guru over centuries to establish the standardised text in use today.

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