Evie Nichols 9y3Can Sikhism continue to exist without the Guru Granth Sahib?The Guru Granth Sahib is the sovereign and active guru of the Sikhs. It is a voluminous text, 1,430 pages long, compiled and composed during the period of the Sikh gurus, from 1469 to 1708. A collection of 5,894 hymns and 1,430 pages, the Guru Granth Sahib describes the qualities of God and why you should meditate on God's words. name. The hymns are organized into 31 ragas (musical groups). Each copy of the Guru Granth Sahib, regardless of its size, is identical with regard to the layout of the pages. Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708), the tenth guru, affirmed the text as his successor. It remains the sacred scripture of the Sikhs and is considered the teaching of the ten gurus. The Guru Granth Sahib plays a central role in Sikh worship, as a source or guide to prayer. It is written in the Gurmukhī script, in various dialects – including Lehndi Punjabi, Braj Bhasha, Khariboli, Sanskrit and Persian – often grouped under the generic title of Sant Bhasha. There are around 20 million followers worldwide, most of whom live in the Indian province of Punjab. The 2001 census recorded 336,000 Sikhs living in the United Kingdom. In this essay, I will examine the information surrounding the Guru, and I will analyze whether Sikhism could exist without him, and come to the conclusion that it could not. First, I will look at the history of the Guru Granth. Sahib. During the reign of Guru Nanak (1469-1539), collections of his hymns were compiled and sent to Sikh communities for use in worship. Guru Nanak wrote 974 published hymns. His successor, Guru Angad, collected these writings. This tradition was continued by the third, fourth and fifth gurus. Guru Amar Das wrote...... middle of paper ...... sonism and embodies all its principles: if it disappeared, Sikhism would no longer have a collection of teachings on its principles: Sikhs would have nothing to follow. In support of the assertion in the previous paragraph, I will explain how the Guru Granth Sahib has a central role in Sikhism. Firstly, even to become a Sikh, the only thing you need to do is to believe in the Guru Granth Sahib and accept it as your personal Guru: follow its ideology. This shows that the Guru is the main object of Sikhism, on whom it depends. Additionally, Gurdwara means path to the Guru. Therefore, if the Guru did not exist, the Gurdwaras (as we know them) would not exist either because the Guru is the purpose of their existence. In conclusion of the last two paragraphs, without the Guru, Sikhism could not exist: he plays an extremely central role in the religion: guiding their way of life. So, to conclude,