Sikh Holy Scripture
There are two main sources of scripture for the Sikhs: the Gurū Granth Sāhib and the Dasam Granth. The Gurū Granth Sāhib is often referred to as the Ādi Granth, meaning literally, The First Volume, and the two terms are often used synonymously. Here, however, the Ādi Granth refers to the version of the scripture that was created by Arjan Dev in 1604. The Gurū Granth Sāhib refers to the final version of the scripture which was created by Gobind Singh.
Adi Granth
The Ādi Granth was compiled by Bhai Gurdas under the supervision of Arjan Dev during the years 1603 and 1604. It is written in the Gurmukhī script, The Gurmukhī script was standardised by Arjan Dev for use in the Sikh scriptures and is also thought to have been influenced by the Śāradā and Devanāgarī scripts. An authoritative scripture was created in order to protect the integrity of hymns and teachings of the Sikh gurus and selected bhagats. At the time, Arjan Sahib was trying to prevent undue influence from the followers of Prithi Chand, the guru’s older brother and rival.
The original version of the Ādi Granth is claimed to be held by the Sodhi family of Kartarpur. (In fact the original volume was burned by Ahmad Shah Durrani’s army in 1757 when they burned the town of Kartarpur.)
Guru Granth Sahib
The final version of the Gurū Granth Sāhib was compiled by Gobind Singh during 1678. It consists of the original Ādi Granth with an addition of Teg Bahadur’s hymns. It was decreed by Gobind Singh that the Granth was to be considered the eternal guru for all Sikhs; however, this tradition is not mentioned in either ‘Guru Granth Sahib’ or in ‘Dasam Granth’.
It contains the compositions of the first five gurus, Teg Bahadur and just one śalōk (couplet) from Gobind Singh. It also contains the traditions and teachings the sants (saints) Kabir, Namdev, Ravidas, and Sheikh Farid along with a few others.