Salok Sahaskriti Mahala 1

These four saloks are revealed by Guru Nanak Sahib (1469-1539 CE) and are recorded on page 1353 of the Guru Granth Sahib. Of these, salok one has ten lines, second and third saloks have four lines each, and salok four has three lines.

Of these four saloks, with some textual difference, the first salok is recorded with the twelfth pauri and the third and fourth saloks with the fourteenth pauri of ‘Asa Ki Var’ also. As per the pointer mahala in ‘Asa Ki Var’ Guru Nanak Sahib uttered the first salok and Guru Angad Sahib (1504-1552 CE) uttered the third and fourth saloks. The second salok appearing in Salok Sahaskriti is recorded with twenty-third pauri of ‘Majh Ki Var’ under the title of M: 2. In Kartarpur Bir, this salok is preceded by the inscription ‘ੴ.’

Textual differences
The difference noticed in the text of these saloks recorded at different places in the Guru Granth Sahib is as follows:

Salok 1

Salok Sahaskriti

par̖i

pustak

jhūṭhu

bibhūkhan

tilak

jo

jānasi

sabh

niscai

niscau

dhiyāvai

binu

bāṭ

Asa Ki Var

paṛi

pustak

jhūṭh

bibhūkhaṇ

tilaku

je

jāṇasi

sabhi

niscau

nihcau

dhiāvai

viṇu

vāṭ

Salok 2

Salok Sahaskriti	tasya	janmasya	jāvad	sansārasya
Majh Ki Var	tasi	janmasi	jāvatu	sansārasi

Salok 3

Salok Sahaskriti	khyatrī	jānasi	nānak	ko
Asa Ki Var	khatrī	jāṇai	nānaku	kā

Salok 4

Salok Sahaskriti	krisnaṅ	ātmah	ātmaṅ	bāsvadevasya	koī	jānasi	bhev	nānak	ko	dev
Asa Ki Var	krisnaṅ	ātmā	ātmā	bāsvadevasiah	ko	jāṇai	bheu	nānaku	kā	deu

Linguistic Dimension
Bhai Kahn Singh Nabha considers Sahaskriti to be synonymous with ‘Gatha’ and accepts it as a mixture of Sanskrit, Pali, and Prakrit languages. He is of the opinion that ‘Salok Sahaskriti’ are recorded in this same language.

The authors of Shabdarth Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji too consider ‘Gatha’ and ‘Sahaskriti’ to be the same linguistic form and state: Just as in the ancient times there was ‘Sanskrit’ parallel to ‘Prakrit,’ in the Guru period, an artificial language was prevalent in comparison to the common regional dialects, which was called ‘Gatha’ or ‘Sahaskriti.’ It was understood in the monasteries of saints across South Asia. It was independent of the grammatical differences between the languages ​​of the different provinces. For example, instead of regional forms like ‘karte hain, karde hain,’ (they do) ‘karanti’ was used.

According to Bhai Vir Singh, ‘sahas’ means naturally and with ease. ‘Krit’ means, composed, created, or made. Consequently, Sahaskriti means a language that can be created naturally or easily. He considers Sahaskriti as a kind of ‘Prakrit’ language similar to ‘Sanskrit.’ He writes that ‘Sanskrit’ was in fact a polished language; books were written in it. ‘Prakrit’ was spoken by the common people of the country. Earlier, it had a mixture of words from the native language and colloquial terms from the ‘Sanskrit.’ The form of ‘Prakrit,’ which developed because of some changes, was written as ‘Sahaskriti’ by Guru. This form of ‘Prakrit’ preceded the old Panjabi used in the Guru Granth Sahib. This language was used by the saints. The ‘Sahaskriti Salok’ are an example of that language. The line ‘koī paṛtā sahsā kirtā’ (one reads Sahaskriti) indicates that during the Guru period there was still a tradition of reading and teaching that language. Later, many variants of it developed, which eventually became old Panjabi and then new Panjabi.

According to Prof. Sahib Singh, the word ‘sahas’ of Sahaskriti is a Prakrit form derived from Sanskrit’s ‘sans,’ just as the Prakrit form ‘sahasa’ is derived from the word ‘sanshaya.’ So, the word ‘sahaskriti’ is a Prakrit form of the word ‘sanskrit.’ According to him, the saloks under the title ‘Sahaskriti’ are not Sanskrit. All these saloks are in Prakrit dialect.

According to Giani Haribans Singh, Prakrit has vocabulary from Sanskrit, but it changes its form. Therefore, it is not suitable to understand Prakrit according to the grammar of Sanskrit.

Contrary to the notion of the above scholars that ‘Sahaskriti’ is a mixed language, Sant Kirpal Singh considers ‘Sahaskriti’ to be the mother language of Sanskrit. He is of the opinion that ‘Sahaskriti’ has existed from the beginning. It is the mother of Sanskrit, and Sanskrit is born of it. ‘Sahaskriti,’ ‘Prantik Bhasha’ (regional language), and ‘Desh Bhasha’ (native language) are its different names. It has been used for commentaries on other texts including in ‘Prantik or Desh Bhasha.’ According to him, ‘sahas’ means Sheshnag which has a thousand mouths and ‘krit’ means poetry recited by Sheshnag. Thus, ‘Sahaskriti’ is a composition that contains both poetry and music.

The above notion of ‘Sahaskriti’ presented by Sant Kirpal Singh is interesting and unique. Researchers need to pay attention to it and do further research in this area.

In the words of Dr. Ratan Singh Jaggi, the above discussion on the linguistic aspect of ‘Sahaskriti’ can be summed as: The word ‘sahaskriti’ is a Prakrit form of the word ‘sanskrit.’ It is used for the language which was formed on the lines of Sanskrit with a combination of Pali and Prakrit and was generally spoken in the monasteries of earlier Sidhs and Naths. Just as in the Medieval Age, ‘Sadhu-Bhasha’ was understood all over South Asia, before the development of Apabhransh, this language was universally accepted for spiritual deliberation. It is also known as ‘Gatha.’