Writers of the Guru Granth Sahib
The Guru Granth Sahib, is the central religious text of Sikhism, considered by Sikhs to be the final sovereign Guru of the religion. It contains 1430 Angs, containing 5,894 hymns of 36 saint mystics which includes Sikh gurus, Bhagats, Bhatts and Gursikhs. It is notable among foundational religious scriptures for including hymns from writers of other religions, namely Hindus and Muslims. It also contains teachings of the Sikh gurus themselves.
Categorization of authors
Scholars categorize the authors of the Guru Granth Sahib into four groups:Sikh gurus
Philosophically, Sikhs are bound to believe in Shabad Guru — the words written in the Guru Granth Sahib — but the general belief is that the Sikh gurus established Sikhism over the centuries, beginning in the year 1469. The hymns of six Sikh Gurus are in the Guru Granth Sahib:Whilst these six gurus are widely accepted as having their writings included in the Guru Granth Sahib, there are some who argue compositions of Guru Har Rai and Guru Gobind Singh are also included. A Salok Mahalla Satvan and Dohra Mahalla Dasvan have been attributed by some to the seventh and tenth gurus, respectively.
Bhagats
In the below list, the Bhagats were holy men of various sects whose teachings are included in the Guru Granth Sahib. Their bani come under the title Bani Bhagtaan Ki. The word "Bhagat" means devotee, and comes from the Sanskrit word Bhakti, which means devotion and love. Bhagats evolved a belief in one God that preceded Kabir's selecting the writings of the great Hindu Bhaktis and Sufi saints.The 15 Bhagat authors were:
Bhatts
Many Hindu Saraswat Brahmins who started to follow the word of Guru Nanak were known as Bhatts, meaning bards. The 11 Bhatt authors were:Gursikhs
The four Gursikhs were:Controversial authors
Mardana and Tall
Two more writers of the present recension of the Adi Granth are a matter of debate among scholars, namely Bhai Mardana and Bhatt Tall.According to different scholars:
- Two hymns under the title Mardana 1 are said to be compositions of Bhai Mardana; however, others refute this claim, because the pen name Nanak is used inside the hymn, and because Mardana is a type of shalok.
- Similarly, there is a Swaiya under the name of Bhatt Tall, which according to some scholars is a Gurmukhi copyist's error for Kal i.e. Bhatt Kalshar.