SRI GURU GRANTH PRAYAY, a glossary of the Guru Granth Sahib, is an anonymous and undated manuscript preserved in the Khalsa College at Amritsar under catalogue No. 1473. It comprises 147 folios, 24 cms x 16 cms, with 21 lines to a page, and is possibly a late eighteenth century or early nineteenth century work. Although the word prayay would signify /1 a glossary or lexicon, this work is not a | dictionary in the strict sense of the term, for it | lacks the alphabetical order and attempts | neither etymology nor uncovering varying shades of meanings of the words. Words chosen for explanation are in fact listed in the order in which they occur in the text.
For instance, the first entry in Prayay is on “Satinam Karta Purakh” which words figure in the very first line of the first composition, Japu, in the Guru Granth Sahib. Then follow words and phrases picked from succeeding lines or stanzas. Meanings given are those applicable to the textual use of the words. It is but rarely that an alternative meaning has been recorded.
On the back side of folio 147 are mentioned the names of scholars whose works the author had studied. Among them : Bhai Man! Singh, Surat Singh, Gurdas Singh, Santa Singh, Amar Singh, Bhai Chanda Singh, and Bhai Sant Singh. The last two unnumbered pages contain the mythologically accepted divisions of time and their duration.
References :
1. Kirpal Singh, A Catalogue of Punjabi and Urdu Manuscripts. Amritsar, 1962
