Sikh scriptures

The principal Sikh scripture is the Adi Granth (First Scripture), more commonly called the Guru Granth Sahib. The second most important scripture of the Sikhs is the Dasam Granth. Both of these consist of text which was written or authorised by the Sikh Gurus. Within Sikhism the Sri Guru Granth Sahib or Adi Granth is more than just a scripture. Sikhs consider this Granth (holy book) to be a living Guru. The holy text spans 1430 pages and contains the actual words spoken by the Gurus of the Sikh religion and the words of various other Saints from other religions including Hinduism and Islam. The word 'bir' (ਬੀੜ; alternatively spelt as 'birh') in Sikhism refers to a complete volume of a Sikh scripture as an individual corpus. The term "Bir" is dervied from the Sanskrit verb vīḍ which means "to make strong or firm, strengthen, fasten, or to be strong, firm or hard." The first birs in Sikh history were the Kartarpuri Bir (also known as the Adi Bir, meaning "first corpus") and the Bhai Bhanno Bir. Copies of these corpuses are also referred to as "Birs". The word 'pothi' (ਪੋਥੀ) originally meant 'book' in Old Punjabi (cognate to 'pustak' in Hindi, with both derviving from the Sanskrit word pustaka). However, amongst Sikhs the term evolved to refer to a sacred book, especially one containing Gurbani or scriptural texts and of a moderate size. Initially, the corpurses of the earlier Sikh gurus were termed as pothis rather than as birs. The literary corpus that Guru Nanak passed down to his successor, Guru Angad, is referred to as a pothi. A gutka (ਗੁਟਕਾ) is an extract of Gurbani, which is smaller in size in-comparison to a Pothi and contains lesser amounts of hymns or specific selections. They became popularized in the 18th century, when state-enacted oppression of Sikhs forced them to be ever on the move and the portable nature of gutkas served well in this time. They became further hyped with the introduction of the printing press in the Punjab in the 19th century.