1 APPENDIX E.
2 EARLIEST EDITIONS OF THE QRANTH SAHIB.
3 (Compiled from Macavliffe's " The Silch Religion")
4 There were three editions of the Qranth Sahib made in the days
5 of the Gurus, the first transcribed by Bhai Gur Das and dictated
6 by Guru Arjun, the second by Bhai Banno, and the third by Bhai
7 Mani Singh under the supervision of Guru Govind Singh. The two
8 first are said to be in existence still, one at Kartarpiir, and the other
9 at Manjat in the Gujarat district of the Punjab. The third and
10 most complete edition was either destroyed or taken away by
11 Ahmad Shah Durani when he despoiled the temple at Amritsar.
12 On the arrival of Guru Arjun at Amritsar, he made plans for the
13 compilation of the Granth Sahib. He fixed for the purpose on a
14 secluded spot, where gand, wild caper, Indian fig, and pipal trees
15 yielded agreeable shade, while green herbage gratified the eye and
16 offered a pleasant carpet for the feet. The followers of the principal
17 Indian saints, Hindu and Muhammadan, since the days of Jaidev,
18 were invited by the Guru to attend and suggest suitable hymns for
19 insertion in the sacred volume ; and such of the recitations as
20 conformed to the spirit of reform then in vogue, and were not
21 inconsistent with the teaching of the Guru, were adopted and in-
22 corporated. The hymns of the Granth were arranged according to
23 rags, or musical measures. The hymns of the first Guru, Makalla I.,
24 came first, those of the second Guru, Makalla II., second, and so
25 on. After the Gurus' hymns the hymns of the Bhagats, or other
26 Hindu saints, were inserted, though without any fixed order of
27 precedence.
28 When all the hymns for insertion had been selected, the Guru
29 sat within his tent and dictated them to his scribe, Bhai Gur Das.
30 After much time and labour, the volume was completed on the first