Gurbani Search App

The Gurbani Search App is a study instrument for the text of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji.

Akhar model

Each written akhar is analysed as base letter + pairin + signs:

• Base: one of the 35 letters of the painti and ੜ. Independent vowels are analysed as bearer + sign, so ਆ = ਅ + ਾ, ਈ = ੲ + ੀ, ਓ = ੳ + ੋ.
• Pairin: a letter written small beneath the base: pairin haha ੍ਹ (ਪੜ੍ਹਹਿ, ਵਰ੍ਹਿਆ), ੍ਰ ੍ਵ, pairin yayya ੍ਯ੍ਯ (ਧ੍ਯ੍ਯਾਨੁ, ਰਖ੍ਯ੍ਯਾ), and the rarer ੍ਨ ੍ਚ ੍ਟ (ਇਸ੍ਨਾਨੁ, ਨਿਸ੍ਚਲ, ਦ੍ਰਿਸ੍ਟਿ).
• Signs: kanna, sihari, bihari, aunkar, dulainkar, lavan, dulavan, hora, kanaura, bindi, tippi, visarga, and the halant under a letter: under ਨ ਮ ੜ ਲ in ਗਾਵਨ੍ਹਿ, ਤਿਨ੍ਹ, ਤੁਮ੍ਹ, and under ਸ before ਤ in ਮਸ੍ਤਕ, ਹਸ੍ਤ.

The well-known double marking of hora with aunkar (ਤੋੁਹੀ, ਲੋੁਭਾਨੁ, ਜੋੁਲਾਹਾ, ਓੁਹੀ) is encoded in the text as ੋ followed by ੁ on the same letter. The engine reads the set of signs on a letter, not their order, so any combination can be searched: choose “Only these signs” for that pair alone, or “With other signs too” to also allow further signs.

Word model

A word is the run of akhar between two spaces, read exactly as written, with every lagaan-matra, pairin and halant. So ਨਾਮੁ, ਨਾਮ and ਨਾਮਿ are three different word-forms, each with its own count.

• Whole word (ਪੂਰਾ ਸ਼ਬਦ) finds tuks containing that word-form; several words find tuks containing all of them, in any order.
• Part of a word (ਸ਼ਬਦ ਦਾ ਹਿੱਸਾ) finds every word that begins with, ends with, contains or is exactly the typed part: ਸਤਿ finds ਸਤਿਗੁਰ, ਸਤਿਗੁਰੂ, ਸਤਿਨਾਮੁ.
• The halant and the pairin haha may be typed either way (ਤਿਨ੍ਹ or ਤਿਨ੍); a word with pairin haha is kept apart from the same word without it (ਪੜ੍ਹਹਿ is not ਪੜਹਿ).
• Every result lists the word-forms found, with how often each occurs; click one to see only its tuks.
• Under Letters & Signs, an akhar can be placed within the word: first letter, in-between, last letter, or a word of one akhar only. A one-akhar word (ਸੋ, ਤੂ) counts as a first letter.

First-letter search

The first akhar of each word is folded to its base letter, and vowels to their bearer (ਆ ਐ ਔ → ਅ; ਇ ਈ ਏ → ੲ; ਉ ਊ ਓ → ੳ), as in conventional Gurbani software. Words and letters may also be typed in English as they sound: satgur, waheguru, shabad. The usual variant spellings are accepted (aa/a, ee/i, oo/u, sh/s, bh/b), and short vowels may be left out. For first letters, each English letter stands for the Gurmukhi letters it can spell, e.g. t for ਟ ਠ ਤ ਥ.

Meaning (ਅਰਥ)

The ਅਰਥ shown under each tuk, and in the reader, are taken from Prof. Sahib Singh’s Sri Guru Granth Sahib Darpan (ਪ੍ਰੋ. ਸਾਹਿਬ ਸਿੰਘ, ਸ੍ਰੀ ਗੁਰੂ ਗ੍ਰੰਥ ਸਾਹਿਬ ਦਰਪਣ), used with permission. Only the ਅਰਥ are given, not the ਪਦ ਅਰਥ or ਭਾਵ. Under each tuk found, only the ਅਰਥ of its own stanza is shown. Use the ਅਰਥ button to show or hide them.

Install on your phone (ਫ਼ੋਨ ਤੇ ਐਪ)

The app can be added to the home screen of a phone, tablet or computer, where it opens from its own Gurbani Foundation icon, full screen, like any other app. Nothing is downloaded from an app store.

• Android (Chrome): on the website’s home page, tap Get the Gurbani Search app on your phone, then Install. Or open Chrome’s menu ⋮, scroll down and choose Add to Home screen → Install. (Not the download arrow at the top of Chrome’s menu: that only saves a copy of the page as a file.)
• iPhone / iPad (Safari): tap Share (□↑), then Add to Home Screen.
• Computer (Chrome or Edge): click Install app at the top, or the install icon at the right of the address bar.

Once installed, the Gurbani text and the app are kept on the device, so searching works without internet. The ਅਰਥ are kept for every part you have already opened. Updates arrive by themselves whenever you are online.

Attribution and its limits

Raag sections follow the Tatkara at the front of the Granth. Authorship is inferred from headings (ਮਹਲਾ ੧–੯, ਮਃ, ਕਬੀਰ ਜੀਉ and so on). It is reliable for the great majority of the text but is a computational reading, not an authority; the Bhatt Swayye are grouped under one heading, and composite shabads follow their opening heading. Always confirm against the saroop.