This paper is concerned
with the textual study of the Sikh scripture, the Adi Granth.
Beginning with a survey of previous approaches to the text of
the Adi Granth, it argues that the traditional framework that
has previously governed such studies is unable to deal with
the complexity of the extant manuscript traditions of the bānī
(the corpus of compositions in the Granth). In the earliest
period, a number of concurrent oral repertoires of the bānī
were in existence; over time, the written Adi Granth evolved
into a number of relatively standardized recensions. Future
textual studies on the Adi Granth must also begin to take into
account the ways in which the text was received and read in
the pre-modern period. Finally, the field must take cognizance
of the contexts within which texts were produced and read, particularly
those arising from merchant literacy.