Structure of the Siri Guru Granth Sahib

Within its 1430 pages, the Shabads of the Siri Guru Granth Sahib, the living Guru of the Sikhs, are arranged in 31 Ragas, the traditional Indian musical measures and scales.

Within the Ragas, they are arranged by order of the Sikh Gurus, with the Shabads of the Hindu and Muslim Saints following.

The Shabads are written in various meters and rhythms, and are organized accordingly. For instance, Ashtapadi—eight steps, or Panch-padi—five steps.

The Siri Guru Granth Sahib is written in Gurmukhi script, which makes for easy reading of all the Shabads, which were originally written in many different languages including Punjabi, Sanskrit and Persian.

The Siri Guru Granth Sahib contains compositions by:

  • Six Sikh Gurus: Guru Nanak (first Sikh Guru), Guru Angad (second Sikh Guru), Guru Amar Das (third Sikh Guru), Guru Ram Das (fourth Sikh Guru), Guru Arjan (fifth Sikh Guru) and Guru Teg Bahadur (ninth Sikh Guru)
  • 17 Bhagats (saints): Kabir Ji, Farid Ji, Namdev Ji, Ravidas Ji, Beni Ji, Trilochan Ji, Jaidev Ji, Surdas Ji, Parmanand Ji, Sadhana Ji, Ramanand Ji, Dhanna Ji, Pipa Ji, Sain Ji, Bhikhan Ji, Surday Ji, and Mardana Ji
  • Poets (Balwand & Sata) and eleven Bhatts or poets of the Sikh Gurus: Bhatt Balh, Bhatt Bhalh, Bhatt Bhika, Bhatt Gayand, Bhatt Harbans, Bhatt Jalap, Bhatt Kalshar, Bhatt Kirat, Bhatt Mathura, Bhatt Nalh, and Bhatt Salh

The Siri Guru Granth Sahib contains 5877 hymns or Shabads/Sloks. Of these:

  • 974 hymns are written by Guru Nanak
  • 62 are written by Guru Angad
  • 907 are written by Guru Amar Das
  • 679 are written by Guru Ram Das
  • 2218 by the fifth, Guru Arjan Dev
  • 115 are written by Guru Teg Bahadur
  • 541 hymns are written by Bhagat Kabir Ji
  • The remaining 381 hymns are written by the other, Bhagats Bhatts and poets listed above

 

Pre-Raga Section

The Siri Guru Granth Sahib begins with the word “Ek Ongkar,” which translates as “the all-pervading being,” and the rest of the Mul Mantra and Japji Sahib, the bani written by Guru Nanak, the first Sikh Guru, directly follows.

The next composition directly after Japji Sahib is in two parts – “So Dar” and “So Purkh.” These two compositions comprise most (but not all) of the evening bani (prayer) of the Sikhs, Rehras Sahib.

After this is the bani (prayer) Sohila, or Kirtan Sohila, the bed-time bani or prayer of the Sikhs.

  • Japji Sahib by Guru Nanak: Ang (pages) 1-8
  • Part of Rehras Sahib (So Dar and So Purkh): Ang (pages) 8-12
  • Kirtan Sohila: Ang (pages) 12-13

Raga Section

Within it’s 1430 pages, most of the Shabads (hymns) of the Sri Guru Granth Sahib are arranged in 31 Ragas, the traditional Indian musical measures and scales. Within the Ragas, they are arranged by order of the Sikh Gurus, with the shabads of the Hindu and Muslim saints following. The shabads are written in various meters and rhythms, and are organized accordingly.

Within each Raag, the compositions are arranged in the following order: Shabads, followed by Astpadis, followed by Chhants, followed by compositions of the Bhagats. Each section of Shabads, Ashtpadis, Chhants are arranged in the order of the Gurus. Each section of Shabads in each Raag is followed by Ashtpadi again in order of the Gurus. After the Ashtpadi section are Chhants in the same chronological order of the Gurus.

TheVars (ballads or long poems) are a group of pauris and Sloks which are written in praise of God in the Siri Guru Granth Sahib. Altogether, there are in all 22 Varan in the Sri Guru Granth Sahib, of which 21 have been written by the Gurus, and one by Bhatts Satta and Balwand.

Post-Raga Section

After the completion of the Raag section, which forms the majority of the Siri Guru Granth Sahib, ten compositions appear—four Sloks; Gaatha and Phunhe (special type of Sloks) by Guru Arjan; three Swayye (particular stanza form in praise of God) and Chaubole (utterance of four Bhats) by Guru Arjan.

 

~Resources: this information was originally shared in the book Victory & Virtue: Ceremonies & Code of Conduct of Sikh Dharma (2001) by the Office of the Bhai Sahiba of Sikh Dharma of the Western Hemisphere and “Structure of Guru Granth Sahib” (SikhiWiki).