Origin from 1604
By the early 1600s, hymns attributed to the Sikh Gurus were circulating in variant and sometimes spurious versions, and Guru Arjan, the fifth Guru, set out to fix an authoritative text. He gathered the compositions of his four predecessors together with verses from Hindu and Muslim saint poets whose teaching matched Sikh belief, editing and arranging them by musical measure, and dictated the finished selection to the scribe Bhai Gurdas. The compilation was completed on 29 August 1604, and on 1 September 1604 Guru Arjan installed the finished volume, the Adi Granth, inside the newly built Harmandir Sahib at Amritsar, appointing Baba Buddha as its first granthi. Guru Arjan bowed before the completed scripture, a gesture placing its authority above his own as Guru, and the installation began the continuous daily recitation that has marked Harmandir Sahib ever since.
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Dates
Start YearSourced to the subject's own account StatusSourced to the subject's own accountEstablished marks this 1604 compilation and installation of the Adi Granth at Harmandir Sahib, the founding of Sikhism's own scripture as an authoritative text kept at its central shrine, not Guru Nanak's founding of the Sikh community at Kartarpur in 1522 or the founding of the Khalsa at Anandpur Sahib in 1699, both already recorded here. Cross-Tradition Connections
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This source names Guru Arjan directly: "and sometimes spurious versions, and Guru Arjan, the fifth Guru, set out to fix an authoritative text."
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Spread Event Of
Adds a specific, dated event between Guru Nanak's 1522 founding of the Sikh community at Kartarpur and the Khalsa's founding at Anandpur Sahib in 1699 already recorded here: Guru Arjan's own 1604 compilation and installation of the Adi Granth at Harmandir Sahib, fixing an authoritative scripture and beginning the continuous daily recitation that has marked the shrine ever since.
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