Divinity Atlas

Sacred Correspondences
Scriptures & Texts

Sarbloh Granth

Sikh Scriptures

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The Sarbloh Granth (All Steel Scripture, also called the Manglacharan Puran) is a large Sikh scriptural text used within the Nihang and Damdami Taksal traditions, traditionally attributed to Guru Gobind Singh, though its authorship and dating are a genuinely contested question in Sikh textual scholarship, distinct from and considerably longer than the Dasam Granth with which it is sometimes confused.

Traditional authorship attribution to Guru Gobind Singh is contested by most modern textual scholars, who date the bulk of the text later; standard Sikh reference works record the tradition and the scholarly doubt side by side rather than resolving it.
Facts
Disputed
Attributed Author / Compiler
Authorship and dating are a genuinely contested question in Sikh textual scholarship, distinct from the similarly debated Dasam Granth (critical) 2
Two standard reference works document the same open question. The Historical Dictionary of Sikhism, third edition, by Louis E. Fenech and W. H. McLeod, Rowman and Littlefield, 2014, and Robin Rinehart's Debating the Dasam Granth, Oxford University Press, 2011, a study of the closely related corpus the Sarbloh Granth is sometimes grouped alongside, both treat its authorship and dating as genuinely contested in Sikh textual scholarship rather than as an unstudied gap. Their shared method is comparative textual and stylistic analysis: internal variation across the text's different sections suggests composition or compilation by more than one hand over an extended period rather than single authorship at one fixed moment, and no contemporary external record survives to settle the question either way. Its own text states this directly, that its authorship and dating are a genuinely contested question in Sikh textual scholarship, and both cited references support that statement rather than resolving it.
Attributed Author / Compiler
Guru Gobind Singh (traditional) 1
Two standard reference works document the same open question. The Historical Dictionary of Sikhism, third edition, by Louis E. Fenech and W. H. McLeod, Rowman and Littlefield, 2014, and Robin Rinehart's Debating the Dasam Granth, Oxford University Press, 2011, a study of the closely related corpus the Sarbloh Granth is sometimes grouped alongside, both treat its authorship and dating as genuinely contested in Sikh textual scholarship rather than as an unstudied gap. Their shared method is comparative textual and stylistic analysis: internal variation across the text's different sections suggests composition or compilation by more than one hand over an extended period rather than single authorship at one fixed moment, and no contemporary external record survives to settle the question either way. Its own text states this directly, that its authorship and dating are a genuinely contested question in Sikh textual scholarship, and both cited references support that statement rather than resolving it.
Structure
Structure
A large scriptural text used within the Nihang and Damdami Taksal traditions, considerably longer than the Dasam Granth with which it is sometimes confused; its authorship and dating remain a genuinely contested question in Sikh textual scholarship. 1
Origins
Language
Braj Bhasha 1
Text
Literary Form
Text collection / anthology 1
Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

This source names Guru Gobind Singh directly: "traditionally attributed to Guru Gobind Singh, though its authorship and dating are a genuinely contested question in Sikh textual scholarship, distinct from and considerably longer than the Dasam..."

Source Historical Dictionary of Sikhism, 3rd editionLouis E. Fenech and W. H. McLeod

Belongs to Tradition

Sikhism, Religions
Source Historical Dictionary of Sikhism, 3rd editionLouis E. Fenech and W. H. McLeod

Related To

Sources
1. Historical Dictionary of Sikhism, 3rd edition
Louis E. Fenech and W. H. McLeod, Rowman and Littlefield, 2014s.v. Sarbloh GranthView the Source
2. Debating the Dasam Granth
Robin Rinehart, Oxford University Press, 2011on the disputed authorship of the associated Nihang scriptural corpus
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