Guru Nanak composed hymns, which were sung by his followers in
rāga set to music. His successor,
Guru Angad, opened centers and distributed these hymns. The community would sing the hymns and his agents collected donations. This tradition was continued by the third and fourth gurus as well. The fifth guru, Guru Arjan, discovered that
Prithi Chand – his eldest brother and a competing claimant to the Sikh guruship – had a copy of an earlier
pothi (
palm-leaf manuscript) with hymns and was distributing hymns of the earlier gurus along with his own of hymns. Guru Arjan began compiling an officially approved version of the sacred scripture for the Sikh community. He sent his associates across the Indian subcontinent to collect the circulating hymns of Sikh gurus and convinced Mohan, the son of Guru Amar Das, to give him the collection of the religious writings of the first three gurus in a humble manner by singing the hymns registered in
Guru Granth Sahib, 248. Another early variant manuscript is called the Guru Harsahai pothi, preserved by
Sodhis and is believed to be the one that existed before Guru Arjan's compilation and one he gave to his eldest brother
Prithi Chand. It was initially installed in Amritsar, then was moved in the 18th-century and preserved in Guru Harsahai (35 kilometers west of
Faridkot, Punjab) till 1969, when the state government requested it be displayed for the 500 years celebrations. It was moved for the first time in over 200 years and briefly displayed in Patiala for the event. Thereafter, the Sodhis consented to transfers. In 1970, however, during another such transfer, this early version of the Adi Granth manuscript was stolen. However, photos of some pages have survived. This manuscript is claimed by the Sodhis to be the oldest and one written in part by Guru Nanak. However, this claim is first observed only much later, in texts attributed to the 17th-century Hariji, the grandson of Prithi Chand. Based on the evidence in the surviving photos, it is unlikely that Guru Nanak wrote or maintained a pothi. The features in its Gurmukhi script and the language suggest that the hymns are significantly older, and that the pre-canonical hymns were being written down in early Sikhism and preserved by the Sikh Gurus prior to the editing by Guru Arjan. The existence of Guru Harsahai manuscript attests to the early tradition of Sikh scripture, its existence in variant forms and a competition of ideas on its contents including the
Mul Mantar. Many minor variations, and three significant Adi Granth recensions, are known; these provide insights into how the Sikh scripture was compiled, edited and revised over time. While Guru Gobind Singh was in Nanded in the Deccan, he suffered a fatal injury and died on 6 October 1708. Shortly before his death, he proclaimed that the
Ād Granth be the guru to succeed him, ending the tradition of a living (
dehdhari) guruship, with the scripture being proclaimed the new guru for eternity.
Sectoral groups after the death of Guru Gobind Singh attempted to continue the guruship in the form of a physical human but they were sidelined by the main faction, led by
Mata Sundari and
Bhai Mani Singh, whom supported Guru Gobind Singh's wish for the scripture to be the eternal-guru.
Bhai Nand Lal also wrote supporting the Guru Granth tradition. No hymns were added by
Guru Hargobind,
Guru Har Rai and
Guru Har Krishan. In the Sikh tradition, Guru Hargobind is credited for adding the
rāga tunes for nine out of 22 Vars. The hymns of IX Guru Tegh Bahadur, after his beheading in Delhi, were added to the scripture by his son and successor Guru Gobind Singh. Prior to Guru Gobind Singh, three versions of the Adi Granth pothi with minor variations were in circulation at Sikh shrines across the Indian subcontinent. The 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.
Extensions of the Guru Granth Sahib The
Akali Nihang sect of Sikhs consider the
Dasam Granth and the
Sarbloh Granth as extensions of the Guru Granth Sahib. As such, they refer to these scriptures as Sri Dasam Guru Granth Sahib, and Sri Sarbloh Guru Granth Sahib. They call the Guru Granth Sahib, Aad Guru Granth Sahib. They also sometimes refer to the granths as "Durbar", such as Aad Guru Durbar. The Sarbloh Granth has another name, as Sri Manglacharan Purana. They believe that all three of these scriptures are authentic, written by the Gurus and are one of the same.
, written by
Guru Gobind Singh. Within this composition, it praises various types of weapons from all over the world, including swords, saifs, curved swords (tulwars), arrows, guns, etc. There is a famous line within the composition which states, ਅਸ ਕ੍ਰਿਪਾਨ ਖੰਡੋ ਖੜਗ ਤੁਪਕ ਤਬਰ ਅਰੁ ਤੀਰ ॥ ਸੈਫ ਸਰੋਹੀ ਸੈਹਥੀ ਯਹੈ ਹਮਾਰੈ ਪੀਰ ॥੩॥ “As Kripan Khando Kharag, Tupak Tabar Ar Teer || Saif Sarohee Saithhee, Yehai Hamare Peer||3||” The
kirpan, the
khanda, the scimitar, the axe, the rifle, and the arrow. The
saif, the dagger, the spear: these indeed are our
pirs (saints)! (Shastar Naam Mala, Dasam Guru Granth Sahib) For this reason, weapons are meant to be kept in front of the Guru Granth Sahib. A
Salok Mahalla Satvan (7) and
Dohra Mahalla Dasvan (10) have been attributed by some to the seventh and tenth gurus, respectively. Twenty-two of the thirty-one ragas contain the contributions of
bhagats. as well as the number of hymns they contributed: • The first view held by scholars such as Balwant Singh Dhillon states that there was a consistent "mother tradition", where the hymns of Guru Nanak were carefully preserved as a single codex without any corruption or unauthorized changes, to which the later Gurus added additional hymns. The Sikh scripture developed in linear, pure form becoming first the Adi Granth and finally the closed version of the Guru Granth Sahib. According to this view, there was no pre-canonical diversity, the scripture developed in an organized and disciplined format, and it denies the existence of alternate hymns and texts that were cherished by Sikhs of an earlier era. ==Composition==