The structure of the Granth

Explanation, not scripture — scholar review pending. These pages explain the scripture to engineers and students. Every quoted line is verbatim from the pinned database and cited by Ang; everything else is explanation, written by engineers and awaiting a Granthi’s review. Where this page and the scripture differ, the scripture is right.

The Granth is one long, deliberately ordered text. Press Next on the poster to build it up; every number on it is read from the pinned database, which the tables below list in full.

Poster 13 — The structure of the Granth: Angs 1–1430 as one bar with the opening banis, the thirty-one raags, the closing sections, the twenty-two Vaars and the voices · open full size

1. One bar, 1,430 Angs. The whole scripture drawn to scale: every Ang is the same width, from Ang 1 at the left to Ang 1430 at the right. Hover a segment for its name and span. Every number on this poster comes from the pinned database, the same one the site and the app serve.
2. The opening: Angs 1–13. The Granth opens with the Mool Mantar and Japji Sahib (Angs 1–8, 385 lines, no author line in the print), then So Dar, So Purakh and Sohila — the evening and night prayers — before the first raag begins on Ang 14.
3. Thirty-one raags: Angs 14–1353. From Ang 14 the hymns are arranged by raag, the musical mode they are sung in — Sireeraag first, Jaijaavantee last on Ang 1353. Inside a raag the compositions follow the Gurus in order, then the Bhagats. A raag’s span in the database is the longest run of Angs where it is the majority, so a liturgical mention elsewhere never drags a raag’s start. Gaurhee, Maaroo and Raamakalee are the largest.
4. After the raags: Angs 1353–1430. The closing sections leave the raag framework: the Sahaskriti saloks, Gatha, Phunhe and Chaubole (Guru Arjan Dev Ji), the Bhatts’ Swaiyye in praise of the Gurus (1385–1409), the saloks beyond the Vaars, Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji’s saloks, Mundavani — the seal — and Raagmala. The database clears the raag column here and detects these sections from their headings.
5. The twenty-two Vaars. Twenty-two Vaars sit inside the raags, marked under the bar: ballads of pauris by one author with saloks interleaved from several Gurus. The pipeline detects them by their title headers, and a Vaar’s pauris keep the Vaar’s author even where the interleaved saloks carry other ਮਃ headers.
6. The voices, and the numbers. Six Gurus, fifteen Bhagats, eleven Bhatts, Satta and Balwand, and Bhai Mardana: 29 attributed authors, with Japji carrying no author line. 60,658 lines in 4,527 compositions; 13 named sections outside the raags; 54 themes in the concept index. Every figure is read from the database — the structure page lists them all.

Three parts

1. The opening, Angs 1–13. The Mool Mantar and Japji Sahib (385 lines, Angs 1–8), then So Dar, So Purakh and Sohila — the evening and night prayers. In the database these are the first four named sections; Japji’s lines carry author = null because the print has no ਮਹਲਾ line for it.
2. The raags, Angs 14–1353. Thirty-one raags, from ਸਿਰੀਰਾਗੁ on Ang 14 to ਜੈਜਾਵੰਤੀ on Ang 1353. Inside a raag the compositions run through the Gurus in order, then the Bhagats; the headings name the Guru as Mahalla (ਮਹਲਾ ੧ to ੫, and ੯). A raag’s span in the database is the longest run of Angs where it is the majority, so a liturgical mention of a raag elsewhere never drags its start.
3. After the raags, Angs 1353–1430. The Sahaskriti saloks, Gatha, Phunhe and Chaubole, the Bhatts’ Swaiyye, the saloks beyond the Vaars, Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji’s saloks, Mundavani — the seal — and Raagmala. The database clears the raag column from Ang 1353 (POST_RAAG_ANG) and detects these sections from their headings.

The named sections (13)

Section	Angs	Lines
ਜਪੁ	1–8	385
ਸੋ ਦਰੁ	8–10	84
ਸੋ ਪੁਰਖੁ	10–12	64
ਸੋਹਿਲਾ	12–13	56
ਸਲੋਕ ਸਹਸਕ੍ਰਿਤੀ	1353–1360	261
ਗਾਥਾ	1360–1361	61
ਫੁਨਹੇ	1361–1363	94
ਚਉਬੋਲੇ	1363–1384	815
ਸਵਈਏ	1385–1409	780
ਸਲੋਕ ਵਾਰਾਂ ਤੇ ਵਧੀਕ	1410–1426	601
ਸਲੋਕ ਮਹਲਾ ੯	1426–1429	117
ਮੁੰਦਾਵਣੀ	1429–1429	11
ਰਾਗ ਮਾਲਾ	1429–1430	62

The raags (31)

#	Raag	Roman	Angs	Compositions	Lines
1	ਸਿਰੀਰਾਗੁ	sireeraag	14–93	208	3,163
2	ਮਾਝ	maajh	94–150	177	2,518
3	ਗਉੜੀ	gaurhee	151–346	740	9,628
4	ਆਸਾ	aasaa	347–488	448	6,203
5	ਗੂਜਰੀ	goojaree	489–526	194	1,467
6	ਦੇਵਗੰਧਾਰੀ	devagandhaaree	527–536	47	346
7	ਬਿਹਾਗੜਾ	bihaagarhaa	537–556	79	712
8	ਵਡਹੰਸੁ	vadahans	557–594	119	1,425
9	ਸੋਰਠਿ	sorath	595–659	243	2,643
10	ਧਨਾਸਰੀ	dhanaasaree	660–695	105	1,415
11	ਜੈਤਸਰੀ	jaitasaree	696–710	75	590
12	ਟੋਡੀ	todee	711–718	33	282
13	ਬੈਰਾੜੀ	bairaarhee	719–720	7	51
14	ਤਿਲੰਗ	tilang	721–727	19	275
15	ਸੂਹੀ	soohee	728–794	207	2,656
16	ਬਿਲਾਵਲੁ	bilaaval	795–858	230	2,615
17	ਗੋਂਡ	gond	859–875	49	834
18	ਰਾਮਕਲੀ	raamakalee	876–974	270	4,469
19	ਨਟ	nat	975–983	25	290
20	ਮਾਲੀ ਗਉੜਾ	maalee gaurhaa	984–988	15	201
21	ਮਾਰੂ	maaroo	989–1106	311	5,183
22	ਤੁਖਾਰੀ	tukhaaree	1107–1117	11	380
23	ਕੇਦਾਰਾ	kedaaraa	1118–1124	20	227
24	ਭੈਰਉ	bhairau	1125–1167	105	2,133
25	ਬਸੰਤੁ	basant	1168–1196	81	1,449
26	ਸਾਰੰਗ	saarang	1197–1253	282	2,207
27	ਮਲਾਰ	malaar	1254–1293	161	1,633
28	ਕਾਨੜਾ	kaanarhaa	1294–1318	115	906
29	ਕਲਿਆਨੁ	kaliaan	1319–1327	24	280
30	ਪ੍ਰਭਾਤੀ	prabhaatee	1328–1351	65	1,046
31	ਜੈਜਾਵੰਤੀ	jaijaavantee	1352–1353	4	33

The voices (29 attributed authors)

Six Gurus, fifteen Bhagats, eleven Bhatts (plus the generic Bhatt attribution where a Swaiyya’s signature names no single bard), Satta and Balwand, and Bhai Mardana. Japji’s 385 lines are unattributed in the print.

Author	Angs	Lines
Guru Arjan Dev Ji (M5)	10–1430	25,285
Guru Nanak Dev Ji (M1)	8–1412	11,792
Guru Amar Das Ji (M3)	26–1421	10,170
Guru Ram Das Ji (M4)	10–1424	6,612
Bhagat Kabir Ji	91–1375	3,284
Bhagat Namdev Ji	345–1351	680
Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji (M9)	219–1429	614
Bhagat Ravidas Ji	345–1293	473
Guru Angad Dev Ji (M2)	83–1290	294
Bhatt Kalsahar (ਭਟ)	1389–1408	279
Bhagat Beni Ji	93–1351	99
Satta & Balwand	966–968	91
Sheikh Farid Ji	488–1378	90
Bhatt Nal (ਭਟ)	1398–1401	84
Bhagat Trilochan Ji	525–695	70
Bhatt Mathura (ਭਟ)	1404–1409	69
The Bhatts (ਭਟ)	1389–1410	54
Bhatt Kirat (ਭਟ)	1395–1406	40
Bhatt Gayand (ਭਟ)	1402–1404	38
Bhatt Bal (ਭਟ)	1405–1405	26
Bhatt Jalap (ਭਟ)	1394–1395	25
Bhatt Sal (ਭਟ)	1396–1406	18
Bhagat Bhikhan Ji	659–659	16
Bhagat Ramanand Ji	1195–1195	16
Bhagat Jaidev Ji	526–526	15
Bhai Mardana	553–553	15
Bhatt Bhikha (ਭਟ)	1395–1396	13
Bhatt Haribans (ਭਟ)	1409–1409	7
Bhatt Bhal (ਭਟ)	1396–1396	4

The numbers, from the database

Line records	60,658
Compositions (comp_id)	4,527 distinct, max(comp_id) 5,376 — the gaps are permanent
Heading lines	5,147
Rahao lines	2,676
Lines carrying ੴ	568 (the health check requires at least 560)
Raags · sections · Vaars · themes	31 · 13 · 22 · 54

Check yourself

Read next: Vaars, saloks and pauris.