The Adi Granth, the original holy scripture of Sikhism now known as Guru Granth Sahib, was first installed at the Harmandir Sahib Golden Temple.
Beginning with Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, the gurus had distributed collections of hymns to distant Sikh communities. The Adi Granth was a compilation of these texts assembled by Guru Arjan, the fifth Sikh Guru, who had inherited the role from his father, Guru Ram Das, in 1581.
While collating the work of his predecessor, Guru Arjan realised that some of the legitimate writings had been infiltrated by forged works from other people who sought the guruship. Keen to stop the illegitimate texts from spreading, Guru Arjan set about compiling the writings of Guru Ram Das and the first three gurus into a single volume.
The Adi Granth manuscript was completed in 1604 and it was installed at the Golden Temple, which Guru Arjan had also designed, on 1 September that year. Copies were sent to Sikh communities across northern India while the book remained unchanged until the tenth guru, Guru Gobind Singh, added the writings of his predecessor to it. Guru Gobind Singh later ended the human line of gurus by announcing the text itself as his successor on 20 October 1708. Consequently this second rendition of the Adi Granth became known as Guru Granth Sahib.
Guru Gobind Singh instructed Sikhs to respect the Guru Granth as an embodiment of the ten Gurus who had come before it. Consequently Guru Granth Sahib is considered within Sikhism to be the final Guru, since it contains answers to all questions regarding religion and morality.
