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ON THE SIKHS.
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contains illustrations of his doctrines by various hands, in different dialects of Panjábí and Hindí.
This exposition of the Sikh faith, if anything so vague deserves the appellation of a faith, is known as the Adi Granth, the First Book' to distinguish it from another scriptural authority of the Sikhs of a later date. It is a large volume but contains no systematic exposition of doctrines--no condensed creedno rules for ritual observances. It is an imconnected compilation of verses of a mystical or a moral purport, ascribed mostly to Nának, but comprehending the writings of other persons, many of whom had nothing in common with Nának, except a general accordance in a sort of spiritual quietism and the acknowledgment of one divine cause and essence of all things. The Adi Granth was put together by ARJUNMAL—the fourth Sikh Guru or pontiff in descent from Nának—who flourished in the reign of Jehángir, towards the end of the sixteenth century. The bulk of the materials are attributed to the predecessors of Arjummal, but it is admitted that thirteen other persons contributed to its contents-or, as the Sikhs say, twelve and a-half, intending, most ungallantly, by the half, a female author. The copies of the Adi Granth, however, found in different parts of India, vary considerably as to the subordinate contributors * ; the greater number of the poems bear the name of Nának, but the rest are by different hands, as Kabir,
* [Comp. also Garcin de Tassy, histoire de la littérature Hindoui et Hindoustani, I, 385 ff.]
