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GRANTH

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 359 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GRANTH , the See also:

holy scriptures of the Sikhs, containing the spiritual and moral teaching of See also:Sikhism (q.v.). The See also:book is called the Adi Granth See also:Sahib by the Sikhs as a See also:title of respect, because it is believed by them to be an embodiment of the gurus. The title is generally applied to the See also:volume compiled by the fifth guru Arjan, which contains the compositions of Guru Nanak, the founder of the See also:Sikh See also:religion; of his successors, Guru Angad, Amar Das, See also:Ram Das and Arjan; See also:hymns of the See also:Hindu bhagats or See also:saints, Jaidev, Namdev, Trilochan, Sain, Ramanand, See also:Kabir, Rai Das, Pipa, Bhikhan, Beni, Parmanand Das, Sur Das, Sadhna and Dhanna Jat; verses of the See also:Mahommedan See also:saint called See also:Farid; and panegyrics of the gurus by bards who either attended them or admired their characters. The compositions of the ninth guru, Teg Bahadur, were subsequently added to the Adi Granth by Guru Govind Singh. One recension of the sacred volume pre-served at Mangat in the See also:Gujrat See also:district contains a hymn composed by Mira See also:Hai, See also:queen of Chitor. The Adi Granth contains passages of See also:great picturesqueness and beauty. The See also:original copy is said to be in Kartarpur in the See also:Jullundur district, but the See also:chief copy in use is now in the Har Mandar or See also:Golden See also:Temple at See also:Amritsar, where it is daily read aloud by the attendant Granthis or scripture readers. There is also a second Granth which was compiled by the Sikhs in 1734, and popularly known as the Granth of the tenth Guru, but it has not the same authority as the Adi Granth. It contains Guru Govind Singh's Jdpji, the Akal Ustit or Praise of the, Creator, See also:thirty-three sawaias (quatrains containing some of the See also:main tenets of the guru and strong reprobation of See also:idolatry and See also:hypocrisy); and the Vachitar Natak or wonderful See also:drama, in which the guru gives an See also:account of his parentage, divine See also:mission and the battles in which he was engaged. Then come three abridged See also:translations by different hands of the Devi Mahatamya, ' The permanent See also:tomb is of See also:white See also:granite and white See also:marble and is 15o ft. high with a circular See also:cupola topping a square See also:building 90 ft. on the See also:side and 72 ft. high; the See also:sarcophagus, in the centre of the building, is of red See also:Wisconsin See also:porphyry. The cornerstone was laid by See also:President See also:Harrison in 1892, and the tomb was dedicated on the 27th of See also:April 1897 with a splendid See also:parade and addresses by President See also:McKinley and See also:General See also:Horace See also:Porter, president of the See also:Grant See also:Monument Association, which from 90,000 contributions raised the funds for the tomb. an See also:episode in the Markandeya Puran, in praise of See also:Durga, the goddess of See also:war.

Then follow the Gyan Parbodh or awakening of knowledge, accounts of twenty-four incarnations of the deity, selected because of their warlike See also:

character; the Hazare de Shabd; the Shastar Nam Ylala, which is a See also:list of offensive and defensive weapons used in the guru's See also:time, with See also:special reference to the attributes of the Creator; the Tria Charitar or tales illustrating the qualities, but principally the deceit of See also:women; the Kabit, compositions of a See also:miscellaneous character; the Zafarnama containing the tenth guru's See also:epistle to the See also:emperor See also:Aurangzeb, and several metrical tales in the See also:Persian See also:language. This Granth is only partially the See also:composition of the tenth guru. The greater portion of it was written by bards in his employ. The two volumes are written in several different See also:languages and dialects. The Adi Granth is largely in old Punjabi and See also:Hindi, but See also:Prakrit, Persian, Mahratti and Gujrati are also represented. The Granth of the Tenth Guru is written in the old and very difficult Hindi affected by See also:literary men in the See also:Patna district in the 16th See also:century. In neither of these sacred volumes is there any separation of words. As there is no separation of words in See also:Sanskrit, the gyanis or interpreters of the guru's hymns prefer to follow the See also:ancient practice of junction of words. This makes the See also:reading of the Sikh scriptures very difficult, and is one of the causes-of the decline of the Sikh religion. The hymns in the Adi Granth are arranged not according to the gurus or bhagats who compose them, but according to rags or musical See also:measures. There are thirty-one such measures in the Adi Granth, and the hymns are arranged according to the neasures to which they are composed. The gurus who composed hymns, namely the first, second, third, See also:fourth, fifth and ninth gurus, all used the name Nanak as their nom-de-plume.

Their compositions are distinguished by mahallas or wards. Thus the compositions of Guru Nanak are styled mahalla one, the compositions of Guru Angad are styled mahalla two, and so on. After the hymns of the gurus are found the hymns of the bhagats under their several musical measures. The Sikhs generally dislike any arrangement of the Adi Granth by which the compositions of each guru or bhagat should be separately shown. All the doctrines of the Sikhs are found set forth in the two Granths and in compositions called Rahit Namas and Tanakhwah Namas, which are believed to have been the utterances The of the tenth guru. The See also:

cardinal principle of the sacred Sikh doctrines. books is the unity of See also:God, and starting from this premiss the rejection of idolatry and superstition. Thus Guru Govind Singh writes: " Some worshipping stones, put them on their heads; Some suspend lingams from their necks; Some see the God in the See also:South ; some See also:bow their heads to the See also:West. Some See also:fools See also:worship idols, others busy themselves with worshipping the dead. The whole See also:world entangled in false ceremonies hath not found God's See also:secret." Next to the unity of God comes the equality of all men in His sight, and so the abolition of See also:caste distinctions. Guru Nanak says: " Caste hath no See also:power in the next world; there is a new See also:order of beings, Those whose accounts are honoured are the See also:good." The concremation of widows, though practised in later times by Hinduized Sikhs, is forbidden in the Granth. Guru Arjan writes: " She who considereth her beloved as her God, Is the blessed sati who shall be acceptable in God's See also:Court." It is a See also:common belief that the Sikhs are allowed to drink See also:wine and other intoxicants. This is not the See also:case.

Guru Nanak wrote: " By drinking wine See also:

man committeth many sins." Guru Arjan wrote: " The See also:fool who drinketh evil wine is involved in See also:sin." And in the Rahit Nama of Bhai Desa Singh there is the following: " Let a Sikh take no intoxicant; it maketh the See also:body lazy; it diverteth men from their temporal and spiritual duties, and inciteth them to evil deeds." It is also generally believed that the Sikhs are See also:bound to abstain from the flesh of kine. This, too, is a See also:mistake, arising from the Sikh See also:adoption of Hindu usages. The two Granths of the Sikhs and all their canonical See also:works are absolutely silent on the subject. The Sikhs are not bound to abstain from any flesh, except that which is obviously unfit for human See also:food, or what is killed in the Mahommedan See also:fashion by jagging an See also:animal's See also:throat with a See also:knife. This flesh-eating practice is one of the main See also:sources of their See also:physical strength. Smoking is strictly prohibited by the Sikh religion. Guru Teg Bahadur preached to his See also:host as follows: " See also:Save the See also:people from the vile See also:drug, and employ thyself in the service of Sikhs and holy men. When the people abandon the degrading See also:smoke and cultivate their lands, their See also:wealth and prosperity shall increase, and they shall want for nothing . . . but when they smoke the vile See also:vegetable, they shall grow poor and lose their wealth." Guru Govind Singh also said: " Wine is See also:bad, See also:bhang destroyeth one See also:generation, but See also:tobacco destroyeth all generations." In addition to these prohibitions Sikhism inculcates most of the See also:positive virtues of See also:Christianity, and specially See also:loyalty to rulers, a quality which has made the Sikhs valuable servants of the See also:British See also:crown. The Granth was translated by Dr Trumpp, a See also:German missionary, on behalf of the See also:Punjab See also:government in 1877, but his rendering is in many respects incorrect, owing to insufficient knowledge of the Punjabi dialects. The Sikh Religion, &c., in 6 vols. (See also:London, 1909) is an authoritative version prepared by M.

Macauliffe, in See also:

concert with the See also:modern leaders of the Sikh See also:sect. (M.

End of Article: GRANTH

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