Standardised by Guru Angad so scripture would not need Sanskrit or Persian: 35 letters, the script the Guru Granth Sahib is written in, and now the script of Punjabi itself.
Gurmukhi is the script in which the Guru Granth Sahib is written and in which Punjabi is written in India today. Guru Angad, the second Guru, standardised it in the mid sixteenth century from earlier local writing systems. Its base alphabet has 35 letters, ordered so that the first three are vowel carriers, and it was adopted so that Sikh scripture could be read without Sanskrit or Persian.
| Literally | From the mouth of the Guru, from gur, the Guru, and mukh, mouth or face |
|---|---|
| Origin | Standardised from the Landa and Sharada family of scripts already used in Punjab for trade and accounts |
| Established by | Guru Angad, the second Guru, in the mid sixteenth century |
| Where it appears | The entire Guru Granth Sahib, and Punjabi as written in India today |
| Where you meet it | On every page of the volume in a gurdwara, and on signage across Indian Punjab |
The decision behind Gurmukhi is easier to see by asking what it displaced. Religious and administrative authority in sixteenth-century Punjab ran through two languages a person had to be granted access to: Sanskrit, held by brahmins, and Persian, the language of the court. Both were effectively closed to ordinary people, and a scripture written in either would have arrived pre-filtered through the class that could read it.
Guru Angad standardised a script from the local writing systems already in use for trade and accounts, and set scripture in the everyday language of Punjab. The consequence is direct: a farmer could be taught to read the Guru Granth Sahib without becoming a scholar first. That is the same instinct behind the langar and behind Guru Amar Das's manjis, applied to literacy instead of to food or to organisation.
The name is usually read as from the mouth of the Guru, and Guru Angad's standardisation is the reason his contribution to Sikhi is described as structural rather than textual. He contributed 62 saloks to the volume, a small number, and gave the tradition the script the whole of it is written in.
He also taught it. At Khadur Sahib he ran a school teaching the new script to children, which put literacy inside the community rather than in a priestly class. Gurmukhi went on to become the standard script for Punjabi in India, so a decision made for scriptural reasons ended up giving a language its written form. In Pakistani Punjab, Punjabi is generally written in the Perso-Arabic Shahmukhi script instead, and that divide is one of the more visible consequences of Partition.
The choice of script was a choice about who could read scripture without permission.
| Language | Who controlled access | Consequence for scripture |
|---|---|---|
| Sanskrit | Brahmins, as the language of Hindu religious learning | Scripture would reach ordinary people only through the class able to read it |
| Persian | The Mughal court and administration | Scripture would carry the language of political power rather than of the people addressed |
| Gurmukhi | Nobody; taught openly, including to children at Khadur Sahib | A farmer could be taught to read the Guru Granth Sahib without first becoming a scholar |
Punjabi is written in two different scripts either side of the 1947 border.
| Script | Where | Derived from |
|---|---|---|
| Gurmukhi | Indian Punjab, and all Sikh scripture | The Landa and Sharada family of Indic scripts |
| Shahmukhi | Pakistani Punjab | The Perso-Arabic script |
Guru Angad's role is best described as standardising rather than inventing, and popular accounts often blur the two. Scripts of the Landa and Sharada family were already in use in Punjab for trade and accounts before him, and Gurmukhi developed from them; what Guru Angad did was fix and regularise a form and put it to a new purpose. The derivation of the name is also given more than one way, most commonly as from the mouth of the Guru, though other readings are proposed. Neither point diminishes the decision itself, which was about who would be able to read scripture without permission.
Sevahey publishes no Gurmukhi text of any bani, and this page describes the script as a writing system rather than rendering scripture in it. Sevahey does not teach Gurmukhi, offer lessons, or supply learning materials, and no Sevak reads or translates scripture for anyone. For learning the script, a gurdwara's own classes are the usual route and are generally free.
The Guru Granth Sahib a granthi stands before is written in the script Guru Angad fixed, and the hukamnama read after an ardas is read from it. A verified Sevak requests the ardas in your name and gotra at the gurudwara you choose, and sends you the hukamnama with same-day proof. Sevahey passes on what was read without translating or interpreting it.
Gurmukhi is the script the Guru Granth Sahib is written in, and the script Punjabi is written in across Indian Punjab today. Guru Angad, the second Guru, standardised it in the mid sixteenth century from writing systems already used locally for trade and accounts. Its base alphabet has 35 letters.
So that scripture could be read without Sanskrit or Persian. Both were languages a person had to be granted access to, held by brahmins and by the Mughal court respectively, and scripture written in either would have reached ordinary people only through the class able to read it. Gurmukhi put Sikh scripture in the everyday language of Punjab.
Gurmukhi is usually read as from the mouth of the Guru, joining gur, the Guru, to mukh, mouth or face. Other derivations have been proposed, but this is the reading most commonly given and the one taught in gurdwaras.
Guru Angad standardised Gurmukhi rather than inventing it, and popular accounts often blur the two. Scripts of the Landa and Sharada family were already in use in Punjab for trade and accounts; Guru Angad fixed and regularised a form from them and put it to a new purpose. His larger contribution to Sikhi was structural rather than textual.
The base alphabet has 35 letters, which is why it is often called the painti, from the Punjabi for thirty-five. The first three are vowel carriers rather than consonants. Additional letters were added later to represent sounds borrowed from Persian and other languages.
No. Punjabi is written in Gurmukhi in Indian Punjab and in Shahmukhi, a Perso-Arabic script, in Pakistani Punjab. The split is one of the more visible consequences of the 1947 Partition, and it means a single spoken language is now read in two scripts that share no letters.
Gurdwaras commonly run classes and they are generally free, which follows the pattern Guru Angad set at Khadur Sahib, where he ran a school teaching the new script to children. Sevahey does not teach Gurmukhi, offer lessons or supply learning materials.
No. Sevahey publishes no Gurmukhi, no transliteration and no translation of any bani, and this page describes the script as a writing system rather than rendering scripture in it. For the words themselves, read the Guru Granth Sahib or use a gurudwara's own resource.
Choose the gurudwara, name your sankalp, receive the proof.
* These pages explain Sikh terms and do not reproduce scripture. A full seva is ₹899; sevas start from ₹251. Sevahey is a service platform and does not promise a spiritual, medical, financial, legal, or personal outcome from any prayer or ritual.