20 Facts About Granth Sahib

Guru Granth Sahib is the central holy religious scripture of Sikhism, regarded by Sikhs as the final, sovereign and eternal Guru following the lineage of the ten human gurus of the religion.

The Guru Granth Sahib is written in the Gurmukhi script, in various languages, including Lahnda, Braj Bhasha, Kauravi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Marathi and Persian.

Vision in the Guru Granth Sahib is of a society based on divine freedom, mercy, love and justice without oppression of any kind.

The Granth Sahib is revered as eternal gurbani and the spiritual authority in Sikhism.

Many minor variations, and three significant Adi Granth Sahib recensions, are known; these provide insights into how the Sikh scripture was compiled, edited and revised over time.

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In 1604, the first edition of the Sikh scripture, Adi Granth Sahib, was complete and officially approved by Guru Arjan.

Compositions of Guru Gobind Singh were not included in the Guru Granth Sahib and set into the Dasven Padsah ka Granth, which is more popularly known as the Dasam Granth.

Entire Guru Granth Sahib is written in the Gurmukhi script, which was standardized by Guru Angad in the 16th century.

The Guru Granth Sahib is divided by musical settings or ragas into 1430 pages known as angs "limbs" in Sikh tradition.

Granth Sahib sent his eldest son Ram Rai as an emissary to the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in Delhi.

Guru Granth Sahib is always the focal point in any gurdwara, seated on a raised platform known as a Takht, while the congregation of devotees sits on the floor and prostrate before the guru as a sign of respect.

The Guru Granth Sahib is normally carried on the head and as a sign of respect, never touched with unwashed hands or put on the floor.

Guru Granth Sahib is taken care of by a Granthi, who is responsible for reciting from the sacred hymns and leading Sikh prayers.

The Granthi acts as caretaker for the Guru Granth Sahib, keeping the scripture covered in clean cloths, known as rumala, to protect from heat and dust.

The Guru Granth Sahib rests on a manji sahib under a rumala until brought out again.

Max Arthur Macauliffe – a British civil servant, was next to publish a major but incomplete translation of the Guru Granth Sahib, covering the same ground as Trumpp but interspersed his translation between Janamsakhis-based mythical history of the Sikh Gurus.

Granth Sahib used considerable freedom in restating the archaic poetry into a "vaguely psalm-like translation".

Original Guru Granth Sahib is in the possession of the Sodhi family of Kartarpur village, and is placed at Gurdwara Thum Sahib.

Any copies of the Guru Granth Sahib deemed unfit to be read from are cremated, with a ceremony similar to that for cremating a deceased person.

The Guru Granth Sahib is currently printed in an authorized printing press in the basement of the Gurudwara Ramsar in Amritsar; misprints and set-up sheets, and printer's waste with any of its sacred text on, are cremated at Goindval.