The Making of Sikh Scripture

Front Cover
Oxford University Press, 2001 - Religion - 193 pages
The Adi Granth ("original book"), the primary scripture of the Sikhs, comprises approximately 3,000 hymns. Although the authorship of the hymns is well-recorded, the history of the compilation the Adi Granth - the creation of the Sikh "canon" - is the subject of considerable speculation and debate. In this book, Gurinder Mann attempts to construct a comprehensive secondary literature on the topic. His findings on some key issues differ from the traditional Sikh position and from the hypotheses of other 20th-century scholars, as well as raising some entirely fresh questions. Mann's revised and expanded picture of the history of the text and institution of Sikh scripture will be of interest not only to scholars of Sikhism and Sikh religionists, but to scholars of comparative canon formation.
 

Contents

1 Sikhs and Their Scripture
3
An Overview
18
3 The Beginning of the Scriptural Tradition
32
4 The Expansion of the Scriptural Text
51
5 Toward the Adi Granth
69
6 The Emerging Structure of the Adi Granth
86
7 The Adi Granth and the Issue of the Bhagat Bani
102
8 The Guru Granth Sahib
121
Notes
137
Glossary of Punjabi Terms
179
Bibliography
183
Index
191
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About the author (2001)

Gurinder Singh Mann is at University of California at Santa Barbara.

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