Reading puratan handwritten saroops

Before printing, every saroop of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji and every gutka or pothi was copied by hand. These manuscripts, written over several centuries by scribes (likhari) in different regions and traditions, are the puratan hathlikhat saroops. They range from large volumes written for gurdwaras to pocket gutkas carried by travellers and soldiers.

Each scribe worked in a house style, so no two manuscripts look identical. The conventions below are the ones you will meet most often; a particular saroop may follow some and not others.

Manuscripts are written in Larivaar, with no spaces between words. The line runs to the edge of the ruled area and a word may be split across two lines without any hyphen. Pankti ends are marked with a dandi (।) or double dandi (॥) and the verse number is written in Gurmukhi numerals, often inside the double dandi: ॥੧॥.

The ruled margins (hashiya) are usually drawn in red or gold, and the text block is justified by stretching the headline of the final letters rather than by adding space. Headings such as the raag and mahalla are written in red ink or in a larger hand.

Most letters are recognisable, but several have older shapes worth learning:

• Open yayya. ਯ is often written with its loop open at the top (khula yayya), looking somewhat like a ਮ with a tail. When ਯ is the second half of a conjunct it appears as a reduced form below or beside the first letter (ardh yayya, Unicode ੵ), as in ਸ੍ਯਾਮ for ਸਿਆਮ.
• ਛ and ਝ. Their loops are frequently drawn more open or more angular than the printed form, and ਛ may look close to a ਡ at first glance.
• ਟ, ਠ and ਡ. The retroflex row often has smaller heads and a longer tail.
• Vowel signs. Sihari and bihari are long curved strokes that can reach the baseline, kanna is short, and hora and kanaura may be drawn as a hook joined to the headline. Aunkarh and dulainkarh under a letter can be small dashes or dots.
• Subjoined letters. Pairin rara (੍ਰ), pairin haha (੍ਹ) and pairin vava (੍ਵ) are tucked under the letter, often very small. ਸ੍ਰੀ and ਪ੍ਰਭ are common examples.

Tat Khalsa's Puratan Hathlikhat Sampuran font is drawn from these manuscript forms, so typing a line in it and comparing with the printed form is a quick way to train your eye.

• No addhak. Gurbani text is written without the doubling sign. ਸਚੁ, ਪਕੜਿ and ਵਡਾ are the normal spellings.
• No bindi letters. ਸ਼, ਖ਼, ਗ਼, ਜ਼ and ਫ਼ are later additions; manuscripts write ਸ, ਖ, ਗ, ਜ and ਫ.
• Tippi everywhere. The modern distinction between tippi and bindi was not yet fixed, so tippi appears with long vowels too. Occasionally a nasal is written with a full ਨ or ਮ instead.
• Numerals. Gurmukhi digits ੦ ੧ ੨ ੩ ੪ ੫ ੬ ੭ ੮ ੯ are used throughout for verse and page numbers, and some scribes use older digit shapes.
• Abbreviations. Mahalla is written as ਮਹਲਾ or shortened to ਮਃ followed by a numeral, and the visarga-like double dot (ਃ) marks an abbreviation. ਰਹਾਉ marks the refrain.
• Ik Onkar. ੴ is written with a long sweeping kaar at the start of each major section, often decorated.

1. Find the structure first: the ੴ or heading at the top, the red raag and mahalla lines, and the verse numbers inside the double dandis. These anchor you in the text.
2. Read a line aloud. Because you already know the vocabulary of Gurbani, the rhythm will suggest the word breaks.
3. When a letter is unclear, look for the same letter elsewhere on the page. Each scribe is consistent with themselves, so a confirmed ਛ in one line tells you how ਛ looks everywhere.
4. Check doubtful words against a printed pad chhed edition. The Hathlikhat pothi in the Tat Khalsa Pothi app shows manuscript pages alongside the typed text so you can compare directly.
5. Keep notes of the scribe's habits: how they form ਯ, where they place aunkarh, which abbreviations they use. After a few pages you will not need the printed copy.

Saroops of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji are treated with the same maryada whether handwritten or printed. If you are studying from photographs or scans, keep the same respect: do not crop or overlay text on a page in a way that would be inappropriate for the printed saroop, and credit the collection or gurdwara that holds the manuscript. For design work that needs the look of a manuscript without reproducing one, set your text in Puratan Hathlikhat Sampuran and place it on a hashiya using the Gurbani Poster Maker.