The term ‘Ghar’ enshrined in Sri Guru Granth Sahib that had been a cause of concern for the Sikh diaspora, for long, has now been thoroughly explained for the first time.

During my childhood, impressed by my Gurbani Kirtan, my mother Sardarni Tripat Kaur, put me to formal study of musicology from Pracheen Kala Kendra, Chandigarh under the guidance of Prof. Kartar Singh and later, at Gandharb University, New Delhi under the guidance of Shri Chaman Lal Bhalla. While preforming Kirtan, however, there remained a query at the back of my mind, throughout, that despite I sang Gurbanisabads starting from the phrase titled “Rahao”, yet Rahao phrase was almost always the second phrase of the sabad and seldom as its first phrase. I kept asking myself that why Rahao phrase wasn’t always the first phrase in sabads.

Later, it so happened that as I descended from a stage after reading a lead paper about ‘Uniqueness of Sikh youth’, during World Sikh Youth Conference, organized by Guru Gobind Singh Study Circle, Ludhiana in collaboration with Shiromani Gurdwara Parbhandak Committee (SGPC), Sri Amritsar in 1995, an elderly person put forth that I should try to clear doubts about the term “Ghar” in Sri Guru Granth Sahib. His words were so impactful that I finally resolved to explore the concept of ‘Ghar’ in Gurbani.

To understand the term ‘Ghar’, I had to understand Gurbani in Sri Guru Granth Sahib. I, therefore, studied Gurbani Grammar and Guru Granth Sahib Darpan by Prof. Sahib Singh. The ten volumes of this magnanimous work by Prof Sahib is such a towering contribution, without which, the present accomplishment would not have been possible. Most respectfully, I express my gratitude to Prof Sahib Singh for his noble work.

Acquiring requisite knowledge of music helped me to differentially compare the correlation of Ghar with Raag (the melodic framework) and Taal (Rhythm). I continued my practice in music while preparing my nephew Ishmeet Singh (who later became Voice of India) and my daughter Gurleen Kaur (who is now an accomplished vocalist at Texas, USA).

Earlier, during my childhood, I used to join my father, Inder Singh Sodhi, Advocate in daily sewa of Sri Guru Granth Sahib, at our place, that imbibed reverence within me for the holy Sri Guru Granth Sahib, right from my childhood.

While doing Sehaj Path of Sri Guru Granth Sahib from Sri Guru Granth Sahib Darpan by Prof Sahib Singh, I could comprehend certain sections within the sentences of Gurbani. I could see that the sentences of Gurbani were so constructed that first part of the sentence had some bearing with the third or fourth part and vice versa. It kept ringing behind my mind that there seems some significance behind this unique construction of sentences in Sri Guru Granth Sahib.

Since the start of my professional career in a university since 1987, I had been a research worker. I carried out life long research on Rabies in animals. I got ample opportunities to interact with scientists across the globe during my professional visits to Switzerland, America, France and China. WHO, Geneva and OIE, Paris invited me to share my research work with the inter-national research fraternity. My inter-national exposure while participating in professional conferences abroad and publication of my research articles in inter-national research journals, refined and sharpened my research skills.

My background of reverence to Sri Guru Granth Sahib, requisite knowledge of music and orientation for research, provided me the necessary prerequisites to take up the task of clearing the ambiguity surrounding the concept of Ghar in Gurbani.

Now, working as Director of Ishmeet Singh Music Institute, while I am endeavoring to enliven the personality and achievements of my nephew Ishmeet Singh, I have also continued in my pursuit to explore the concept of Ghar in Sri Guru Granth Sahib.

www.searchGurbani.com website has been a lot helpful in accomplishment of this work. The MSWord file of Sri Guru Granth Sahib in unicode fontwas rendered by Gurbani Files web site. The Gurmukhi ‘Unicode Typing Pad’ of www.g2s.learnpunjabi.org helped me to convert the Punjabi translation work into Unicode font for publication wherein professional guidance by Dr C P Kamboj of Punjabi University, Patiala, in this regard, is gratefully acknowledged.

During the continued research, in pursuit of Ghar in Gurbani, that took me about twenty years, I ventured to study the old manuscripts. I am especially grateful to Dr Amar Singh of Guru Nanak Dev University, Sri Amritsar and Dr Anurag Singh, Former Director, Sikh Reference Library, Sri Amritsar, for their help to refer to and interpret the copies of hand-written old versions of Sri Guru Granth Sahib.

Although the concept of Ghar in Gurbani has been resolved with blessings of Almighty, yet, with application of one humanly effort, there might be shortcomings. I, therefore, pray that Sikh scholars, at large, might dwell into the refinement of the concept of Ghar so that significance of Ghar in Gurbani, as enshrined in Sri Guru Granth Sahib, might be realized in its completeness and fullness.

For the kind cooperation in accomplishing this long drawn research effort of Ghar in Sri Guru Granth Sahib, I am thankful to my wife Dr Amarjeet Kaur, my daughter Gurleen Kaur and my son Bir Apaar Singh.