Sri Guru Granth Sahib is a unique spiritual text, for it has been compiled with great care. A stylistic analysis of this text reveals pan-Indian underpinnings and a full-fledged analysis of this complex text in terms of its detailed structural and functional features poses a great challenge. A striking feature of the Holy Granth is the use of many languages within the same text, a multilingual phenomenon typical of South Asia. It may be pointed out that a remarkable aspect of this text is its functional use of many languages making it a text that signifies multilingual India even in the Middle Ages. The compilers of this text chose authors who used different languages but whose spiritual intent was similar. The differences in language use did not really matter to them.

Sri Guru Granth Sahib, though transcribed in the Gurmukhi script, reveals a symphony of different languages of the subcontinent. This shows that not only did the Gurus use a variety of languages but also the Bhagats and the Bhatts, many of whom hailed from different regions of India. They too added to the variety, for their compositions show a strong influence of their respective mother tongues. The dominant languages, however, used are the Saadhu Bhaashaa (language used by the saints all over India with Braj as base code mixed with the lexicon from the user’s first language) and Punjabi (both Western and Eastern varieties). Besides these, one finds the use of Sanskrit, Persian and various dialects of

Hindi particularly Braj. The holy Gurus themselves have left a small body of their compositions in a tongue resembling Sanskrit, termed Sahiskriti, a variety believed to have been the universal India-wide medium of exchange of serious thought between different saints. It is important to note that Sri Guru Granth Sahib covers a period of about five hundred years through its representative selections, thus making it possible to view various Apbhramsha forms. In the examples cited the Tilda ‘~’ after the vowels in the transcriptions represents the nasalization of the vowel and the capital letters /T/, /D/, /N/, /S/ and /R/ represent the retroflexed /t/, /d/, /n/, /s/ and the retroflex flap /r/ respectively.

Let us look at the examples of Saadhu Bhaashaa as used by the saint poet Kabir, hailing from eastern India:

Saadhu bhasha

Jannii jaanat sut baDaa hotu hai itnaa ko na jaanai je din din avadh ghaTatu hai. (91)

(The mother thinks that her son is growing up; she does not understand that, day by day, his life is diminishing.)

And Namdev, hailing from Maharashtra:

Aaniilay kaagad kaaTiilay guuRii aakaas madhay bharmiialay. (972)

(The boy takes paper, cuts it and makes a kite, and flies it in  the sky.)

Panc janaa sio baat batauu-aa ciit so Dorii raakhiialay. (972)

(Talking with his friends, he still keeps his attention on the kite string.)

In the Saadhu Bhaashaa used by Kabir the influence of Eastern Hindi can be seen in verb forms ‘hotu’ (progressive marker) and ‘ghaTatu’ (diminishing), and in the variety used by Namdev the influence of Marathi can be seen in verb forms like ‘aaniilay’ (takes), ‘kaaTiilay’ (cuts), ‘raakhiialay’ (keeps) etc. This shows that the language could be understood with all its code-mixing and variety emanating from different regions.

Punjabi

In the context of Punjabi, there is substantial use of both Western and Eastern Punjabi. Eastern Punjabi can be seen below in the hymns of Guru Nanak in Japji:

Bhukhiaa bhukh na utrii je bannaa puriiaa bhaar. (1)

(The hunger of the hungry is not appeased, even by piling up loads of worldly goods.)

Sahas siaaNpaa lakh hohi ta ik na chalai naal. (1)

(Hundreds of thousands of clever tricks, but not even one of them will go along with you in the end.)

As distinct from Eastern Punjabi, Western Punjabi is marked  by  the  use  of  /s/  in  future  tense  forms  which change with person and number as in ‘mai~ karsaa~’ (I will do), ‘tusaa~ karso‘ (You will do) which is replaced by /g/ in present-day Eastern Punjabi where forms undergo change as per gender, person and number as in ‘mai~ karaa~gaa/karaa~gii‘   {I   will   do   (masc./fem.)}, ‘tusi karoge/karogiaa~‘  (You  will  do  (masc./fem.)  etc.  Take  the example of Guru Ram Das:

Piaaray hari binu premu na khelsaa. (452)

(Without the Beloved Lord, there is no play of love.)

Kiu paaii guru jitu lagi piaaraa dekhsaa. (452)

(How can I find the Guru? Grasping hold of Him, I behold my Beloved.)

In the example above the suffix /saa/ can be seen to be attached to the words ‘khel‘ (play) and ‘dekh‘ (see/behold). There are of course many other differences between the two varieties, particularly one of de-aspiration of the word initial voiced aspirates resulting in formation low tone on the following vowel (nucleus of the syllable) in Eastern Punjabi.

Braj

Braj is dominant in the Baani of Guru Tegh Bahadur, as can be seen from the following hymn:

Gun gobind gaaio nahii janamu akaarath keenu. (1426)

(If you do not sing the Praises of the Lord, your life is rendered useless.)

Kahu naanak hari bhaj manaa jih bidhi jal kau miinu. (1426)

(Says Nanak, meditate, vibrate upon the Lord; immerse your mind in Him, like the fish in the water.)

Braj is marked by the absence of number/gender concordances unlike modern Punjabi and the current

standard form of Hindi, hence the form ‘gaaio’ (sing) and not ‘gaayaa’ or ‘gaayee’.

Persian

An example from Persian can be seen in the following lines of Guru Nanak:

Yak araj guphtam pesi to dar gos kun kartaar. (721)

(I offer this one prayer to you; please listen to it, O Creator Lord.)

Hakaa kabiir kariim tuu be-aib parvadagaar. (721)

(You are true, great, merciful and spotless, O  Cherisher Lord.)

Dunii-aa mukaame phaanii tehkiik dil daanii. (721)

(The world is a transitory place of mortality – know this for certain in your mind.)

Mam sar muu-i ajraa-iil giraphtah dil heci na daanii. (721)

(Azraa-eel, the Messenger of Death, has caught me by the hair of my head, and yet, I do not know it at all in my mind.)

The Persian used also appears to be colloquial Persian for the lines do not articulate the labio-dental /f/ and the palatal /sh/ and /zh/ sounds of the Persian in words like ‘guphtam’

{I offer (say)}, ‘gos’ (listen) and ‘araj’ (prayer) respectively. Also, a form like ‘mam’ appears to be a colloquial form of ‘man’ (the first person pronoun).

Sahiskriti

The Slokas in Sahiskriti form occur mainly in the hymns of Guru Nanak and Guru Arjan Dev. In this variety while most nouns, adjectives and verbs retained the Sanskritic suffixes a fair amount of local lexicon etc also got incorporated for it had no fixed standard form. E.g.:

Nihphalam tasya janmasya jaavad brahm na bindte. (1353)

(The mortal’s life is fruitless, as long as he does not know God.)

Saagram sansaarasya gur parsaadii tarahi ke. (1353)

(Only a few, by Guru’s Grace, cross over the world ocean.)

KaraN kaaraN samrathu hai kahu naanak biichaari. (1353)

(The Creator, the Cause of causes, is All-powerful. Thus speaks Nanak, after deep deliberation.)

KaaraNu karte vas hai jini kal rakhii dhaari. (1353)

The Creation is under the control of the Creator. By His Power, He sustains and supports it.

Jog sabdam giaan sabdam bed sabdam ta barahmaNeh. (1353)

(The Shabad is Yoga, the Shabad is spiritual wisdom; the Shabad is the Vedas for the Brahmin.)

Khaytarii sabdam suur sabdam suudar sabdam paraa kriteh. (1353)

(The Shabad is heroic bravery for the Khshaatriya; the Shabad is service to others for the Soodra.)

Sarab sabdam ta ek sabdam je ko jaanasi bheu. (1353)

(The Shabad for all is the Shabad, the Word of the One God, for one who knows this secret.)

Naanak taa ko daasu hai soii niranjan deu. (1353)

(Nanak is the slave of the Divine, Immaculate Lord.)

In this variety the sounds of Sanskrit are simplified such as in the first line ‘nihphalam’ (fruitless) appears to be a colloquialized form of ‘niSphalam’, ‘javad’ (as long as) of ‘yavad’ and ‘bidante’ (know) of ‘vindate’. Similarly, in other lines the code-mixing of words from the colloquial language forms such as ‘bicaar’ (Sanskrit. – vicaar), ‘sabad’ (Sanskrit. – Sabd), ‘bed’ (Sanskrit. – veda), ‘jog’ (Sanskrit. – yoga) etc. make this variety different. Also, there is code-switching, for Punjabi sentences (third and fourth lines) occur between the other lines in colloquialized Sanskrit. Further, the sentences lack the complex forms that Sanskrit has.

Conclusion

The use of different languages shows that the Gurus were in favour of using the contemporary prevalent language forms, for their aim was to reach out to the large masses. They wanted their message to be comprehended directly. The prevalent language, Saadhu Bhaasha or Punjabi as well as other languages were marked by certain common features such as:

The palatal sounds /S/ and /Z/ did not exist in the language of Sri Guru Granth Sahib as is also attested in Pali, Prakrit, and Apabhramsa where only /s/ and /j/is articulated from amongst the alveolar and palatal fricatives.

Vowel-nasality in the language of the Gurus’ period was not as much in vogue as in the modern period. In fact, the language of Gurbani is nearer to Prakrit and Apabhramsa from the aspect of nasality.

There are words with multiple forms in the language of the Gurbani, phenomena highly restricted in the Punjabi of today, e.g. in present-day Punjabi, for the noun form ‘hukam’ only the forms ‘hukam’ (sg.) and ‘hukmaa’ (pl.) are available while the  forms  ‘hukam’,  ‘hukmaa’,  ‘hukmu’,  ‘hukmi’, ”hukmii’, ‘hukmai’, ‘hukamhu’, ‘hukmau’, ‘hukmaavai’  and ‘hukman’ are found in the Sri Guru Granth Sahib. Also there are other words with more than one form, e.g., ‘akaas’, ‘aakaas’. ‘agaas’, and ‘aagaas’  (sky),  or  ‘kaagad’,  ‘kaagar’,  and ‘kaagal’ (paper) etc.

The vowel markings at the end of nouns indicated case markings. For example, the short /u/ represented the masculine singular forms in the nominative, accusative and ablative cases, the final short /i/ represented the masculine singular in the instrumental, locative and ergative cases, the /ai/ represented the masculine singular forms for /+aa/ ending vowels in the instrumental, locative and genitive cases and the /+ho/ ending for the plural vocatives etc.

The first-person and second-person pronouns show greater variation. The first person pronouns used are ‘mai’, ‘meraa’, ‘maiDaa’,  ‘mokau’,  ‘muu’,  ‘ham’,  ‘hamra’,  ‘hamaaraa’,  ‘hamaare’. The second person pronouns are the following: ‘tuu’, ‘tuu~’, ‘tau’, ‘tudh’ (‘tudhahi’, ‘tudahu’), ‘tujh’ (‘tujhai’, ‘tujhahi’,  ‘tujhahu’),  ‘tehi’,  ‘tohi’,  ‘teraa’,  ‘terii’,  ‘tere’,  ‘tero’, ‘taiDe’ etc.

The numerous linguistic variations in Sri Guru Granth Sahib manifest the state of flux in which the Indian languages were before they got stabilized into their present modern form. The selections of the Baani with cosmic ramifications from amongst the saint-poets hailing from different parts of the sub-continent not only makes this great text a pan- Indian text but also indirectly highlights the geographical boundary of India. Further, these selections spanning a period of around five hundred years provide a unique philosophical depth that links the contemporary to ancient times.

The numerous linguistic variations in the Sri Guru Granth Sahib manifest the state of flux in which the Indian languages were before they got stabilized into their present modern form. The selections of the Baani with cosmic ramifications from amongst the saint-poets hailing from different parts of the sub-continent not only makes this great text a pan-Indian text but also indirectly highlights the geographical boundary of India. Further, these selections spanning a period of around five hundred years provide a unique philosophical depth that links the contemporary to ancient times.