PANJ GRANTHI

PANJ GRANTHI, a pothi or small book containing five chosen texts, from the Guru Granth Sahib. The word panj means `five` and grantht is the diminutive form from granth (holy book). The Guru Granth Sahib is a large volume and can be enthroned and opened for recitation only in the prescribed ritualistic manner in gurudwaras or in a room especially set apart in a private house for this purpose. To facilitate private recitation or study of selected barns, small anthologies began to be prepared. The origin of the gutka (lit. a casket of gems; a breviary) is traced to the time of Guru Ram Das.

A gutka comprising the text of the Japu in Guru Ram Das` own hand is still preserved in a descendant family at Kartarpur, in Jalandhar district of the Punjab. A gutkd as a rule contained one barn, mostly Japu, but later it took the form of the Panj Granthi incorporating five of the barns. The Panj Grantht, as it first appeared, included the Japu by Guru Nanak; So Dam and SoPurakhu, collectively known as Rahrdsi and containing verses by Guru Nanak and by Guru Ram Das, Sohild verses by Guru Nanak, Guru Ram Das and Guru Arjan. Also, sometimes Asd ki Vdrby Guru Nanak, and Anandu by Guru Amar Das. As the number of professional copyists multiplied, gutkds and panj granthis began to have enlarged texts.

In course of time, Panj Granthi, as a title, became a misnomer, for the anthology no longer remained confined to the initial five barns.The name did survive, though more in the symbolic sense. A current Panj Grantht gathered by Bhai Vir Singh (1872-1957) comprises ten barnsJapu, Jdpu, Shabad Hajdre, Rahrdsi, Sohild, Sidh Gosti, Anandu, Bdvan Akhan, Sukhmarn and Asd kt Vdr. Japu, Jdpu, Rahrdsi, Sohild and Anandu are usually the five daily prayers of the Sikhs.

The devout also include in their daily regimen Shabad Hajdre and Sukhmarn in the morning. Asd kt Vans sung in the gurudwaras in the early hours of the morning. For its constituent texts, Panj Granthi continues exclusively to draw upon the Guru Granth Sahib, whereas the gutkds now include barns from the Guru Granth Sahib as well as from the Dasam Granth. T.s.