The Guru Granth Sahib is unique among religious scriptures for including teachings of not just the Sikh Gurus but also Hindu and Muslim saints. It is also unique because it is considered a living Guru of the Sikhs. The Guru Granth Sahib is written in the Gurumukhi script. It has 1,430 pages. The contents are called bani (utterances) or gurbani (utterances of the Gurus). Individual hymns are called shabad (divine word). Shabad is the thoughts of the Gurus about the Akal Purakh—the timeless being, God.
The Guru Granth Sahib does not contain any stories or accounts of the lives of Sikh Gurus or Sikh history. It is a collection of hymns. The first Guru, Nanak composed 974 hymns; the second, Guru Angad 62; the third, Guru Amar Das 907; the fourth, Guru Ram Das composed 679; while the fifth, Guru Arjan Das composed 2,218 hymns. Guru Arjan collected the hymns of the previous four Gurus along with 30 Hindu and Muslim saints like Shaikh Farid, Jayadev, Namdev, Ravidas and Ramanand, with Kabir being a particularly significant contributor.
This collection was called the Adi Granth. He installed it at the Golden Temple in Amritsar. He placed it on a raised throne under a canopy and bowed down before it, thus setting a tradition that is followed to this day. The hymns of the ninth Guru Teg Bahadur were added after his beheading, by the 10th Guru Gobind Singh.
The compositions of Guru Gobind Singh were not included in the Guru Granth Sahib and were compiled after his death into the Dasam Granth—the Book of the 10th Guru.
The Guru Granth Sahib is carried on the head as a mark of respect, and never put on the floor. When not being read, it is kept covered under a clean cloth called rumal to protect it from heat and dust. Sikhs always cover their heads and remove their shoes in the presence of the Guru Granth Sahib. Every evening, the Guru Granth Sahib is carried on the head and placed into a palanquin, which carries it to its bedroom where it retires for the night.
This ritual is called sukhasan, meaning the position of rest. Every morning, in a ritual called prakash, meaning light, the Guru Granth Sahib is taken out of its bedroom, carried on the head, and placed into the palanquin and carried to the sanctum. Any place where the Guru Granth Sahib is kept, becomes a gurdwara. The Guru Granth Sahib is printed only at an authorised printing press in the basement of Gurdwara Ramsar in Amritsar and any misprints or waste papers are not thrown away, but duly cremated.