Shabad
Also called: Shabd · Topic: Bhakti and Sufi Traditions · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 2 "Bhakti-Sufi Traditions"
Meaning
Shabad are the hymns that Guru Nanak (1469–1539) composed in Punjabi. He used them to teach that people should worship by repeating the Divine Name. His attendant Mardana played the rabab, a string instrument, while the hymns were sung. Later, the fifth guru, Guru Arjan, gathered these hymns into the Adi Granth Sahib. The hymns in it are called gurbani.
Example
Guru Nanak sang shabad in sangat, the congregation of his followers. His hymns were later placed in the Adi Granth Sahib alongside verses by his successors and by Baba Farid, Ravidas and Kabir.
Don't confuse with
- Ginan: These are devotional poems of the Khojahs, a branch of the Ismaili Shi'a sect. They are sung in ragas, but they are not Sikh hymns.