Originality is one of the special fea-tures of Sri Guru Granth Sahib which makes it distinct from other holy scriptures. Bhai Gurdas, a learned scholar who inscribed the first copy of Sri Guru Granth Sahib under the supervision of Guru Arjan Dev, has written in the 1st ballad of his book Varan Bhai Gurdas (Var 1, Pauri 32) that when Guru Nanak Dev went to Mecca, he carried a stick in his hand and a book under his arm, evidently comprising his own compositions.

Late Professor Sahib Singh, a famous scholar of Gurbani, has stated in 'Sri Guru Granth Darpan' Part 3, pages 803 to 916 that Guru Nanak had a notebook ( Pothi) with him even when he was traveling and noted the hymns uttered by him in that note book. He also collected the compositions of other holy persons during his travels.

According to the Puratan Janam Sakhi, a biography of Guru Nanak Dev, Guru Nanak handed over such a manuscript to Guru Angad Dev as he passed on the spiritual office to him. The second Guru added his own and handed over to his successor.

The 3rd and 4th Gurus followed the same practice. Late Professor Sahib Singh, a renowned scholar of Gurbani, proved it by giving many examples showing similarity in vocabulary used by different Gurus and quoting hymns composed by them. In a sacred hymn, Guru Arjan Dev has mentioned in SGGS at page 186, 'When I opened up and gazed the treasures of my father and grandfather, my mind became very happy.'

Guru Arjan Dev added his own compositions. He realized the necessity of compiling all the sacred hymns into a Granth and did it with the help of Bhai Gurdas.

On page 248 of SGGS, there is a hymn by Guru Arjan Dev in praise of Mohan. Some people say that Guru Ji went to Baba Mohan, s/o Guru Amar Das, the 3rd Master, praised him and begged for the (Pothis) notebooks containing the hymns of his predecessors. First part of this hymn means:- 'O sweetheart, lofty are Thy buildings and unsurpassed Thy mansions. My Enticer! Beauteous are Thine gates.

They are the places where the saints worship.' Prof. Sahib Singh has refuted this theory. He writes that in Guru Granth Sahib the word Mohan has been used many times for God, the Enticer and here too it stands for God and not for Baba Mohan as he had no lofty building and mansions where saints assembled to pray. Surely authenticity is a distinct feature of Sri Guru Granth Sahib. It is the only

Holy Scripture in the world which has been written by those who uttered it and compiled by one of the founders of the religion. Since its compilation, there has been no further addition nor there will be any. Not even a letter has been added or deleted.

Every hymn is numbered. Once Ram Rai s/o Guru Har Rai, the seventh Master, changed a word of a hymn to please Aurangzeb, the Mughal emperor.

When Guru Har Rai came to know of it, he ordered that Ram Rai must not show him his face and Sikhs should not deal with him. It shows that authenticity of Sri Guru Granth Sahib cannot be questioned.

Max Arthur McAuliffe, a judicial officer in the Punjab in the late19th century, resigned his job and with the help of his Sikh friends like Bhai Kahan Singh Nabha, a well known scholar of his time, translated SGGS into English.

He writes in the second chapter of introduction of his book The Sikh Religion volume 1, edition 1963 at page 53: "The Sikh religion differs as regards the authenticity of the dogmas from most other great theological systems.

Many of the great teachers the world has known have not left a line of their own compositions, and we only know what they taught through tradition or second hand information. If Pythagoras wrote any of his tenets, his writings have not descended to us.

"We know the teachings of Socrates only through the writings of Plato and Xenophon. Buddha has left no written memorials of his teachings. Kung fu-tze, known to Europeans as Confucius, left no documents in which he detailed the principles of his moral and social system.

"The founder of Christianity did not reduce his doctrines to writing, and for them we are obliged to trust to the Gospels according to Mathew, Mark, Luke and John.

The Arabian Prophet did not himself reduce to writing the chapters of Quran. They were written or compiled by his adherents and followers. But the compositions of the Sikh Gurus are preserved and we know at first hand what they taught"