What is Saroop? All about the copies of the Sikh Holy Book here

India helped the Sikhs in Afghanistan escape recently through its Operation Dev Shakti. They brought the Sikh Holy Books copies called Saroop with them back to India which were carried by Hardeep Singh Puri(Union Minister) on his head. Know what Saroop is below. 

Under the rehat maryada or the Sikh Code of Conduct for the Granth Sahib, five baptised Sikhs can carry the Holy Book to other places. 

To respect the book, the Bir of the Guru Granth Sahib has to be carried over the head and the person has to walk barefoot. Even when a devotee sees a Bir being carried, he/she removes his/her shoes as a mark of respect. 

What is Saroop?

Know all about the book of Sikhs below.

1. Saroop is actually a physical copy of the Sri Guru Granth Sahib. It is also called Bir in Punjab. 
2. Each of this Bir has 1430 pages called Ang. 
3. Each page has the same number of verses. 
4. As per the beliefs of the Sikhs, the Saroop of the Guru Granth Sahib is an actual guru and they also treat it with utmost respect. 
5. The Sikhs believe that all their 10 gurus were the same spirit in different bodies and the Guru Granth Sahib is their eternal form now. 
6. The first Bir was composed by Guru Arjan Dev. This was done in 1604. He installed it in the Golden Temple. 
7. As per Giani Harpreet Singh, Akal Takht Jathedar, “Guru Granth Sahib is a compendium of hymns written by six Sikh gurus,15 saints, including Bhagat Kabir, Bhagat Ravidas, Sheikh Farid and Bhagat Namdev, 11 Bhatts (balladeers) and four Sikhs. The verses are composed in 31 ragas."
8. Later the 10th Guru of the Sikhs, Guru Gobind Singh added verses that were written by Guru Tegh Bahadur, his father. He compiled the Bir for the second and the last time. 
9. He then in 1708 declared Guru Granth Sahib as the living Guru of the Sikhs and chose no successor.  

Who published the Copies of Guru Granth Sahib?

It was a tradition among the Sikhs, Punjabis and the Hindus to copy verses from the Guru Granth Sahib by hand and pass on to generations in multiple copies. The sects that played a role in making handwritten copies of the Birs until the printing press came into being were Udasi and Nirmala. 

The bRitish also published a few copies of the Guru Granth Sahib small in size for the Sikh soldiers to carry with them. 

In recent times the sole rights to publish the Guru Granth Sahib lies with the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) in Amritsar. 

Fate of the Old Birs:

The old and torn Birs have been brought to Goindwal Sahib in Tarn Taran district where they were cremated. But now only the printed Birs are cremated as the SGPC and other bodies are trying to protect the handwritten ones. 

Afghanistan had 13 Saroops of which six were already shifted to India earlier. Three have come back on this trip and three remain there, India plans to get them back soon. 

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