This question is often asked: why did the Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Guru Sahib Ji not utter Bani? Some people, due to lack of understanding, simply say that these Guru Sahiban did not receive Bani at all. But this is completely incorrect, because such a thing could never be possible.

The reason is this: a Satguru (true Guru) is one who has the ability to reveal Gurbani. Bhai Randhir Singh Ji also writes the same in his book, that a Satguru is one who has the capability to reveal Dhur Ki Bani (the divine word originating from the Eternal Source).

Just as sunlight comes from the sun, and waves arise from the ocean, in the same way Gurbani is revealed through Guru Sahib.

Therefore, the Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Guru Sahib Ji fully possessed the ability to reveal Gurbani. They could utter it and make it manifest. However, they deliberately did not do so.

We will now explain the real reason behind this. But first, it is important to clearly understand that all Guru Sahiban, from Guru Nanak Dev Patshah to Dhan Guru Gobind Singh Patshah Ji, are of one Jot (divine light).

The Jot and the Jugut (method or way) remained the same, meaning the same divine light passed from Guru Nanak Dev Patshah through to the Tenth Patshah.
That same Jot is now present and seated within Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji.

Now, because all Guru Sahiban were one Jot Saroop (embodiment of the same divine light), that is why Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji is the form of all ten Patshahis. Even though three Guru Sahiban did not utter Bani, this does not reduce their Guruship, their greatness, or their status in any way. Even so, this Gurbani is their very own form.

Now, let us explain the hidden history behind why three Guru Sahiban did not utter Bani.
The truth is that during the time of the Guru Sahiban, the Sikh Panth faced a very serious and dangerous attack. Because of this situation, three Guru Sahiban did not utter Bani.

The background of this attack begins during the time of Dhan Guru Ram Das Patshah Ji, when a group called the Meenas (a faction opposed to the Guru Ghar (Guru’s house) ) emerged. The Meena group was started by Baba Prithi Chand.

Guru Ram Das Patshah Ji had three sons: Prithi Chand, who was the eldest, Baba Mahadev, and Guru Arjan Dev Ji, who was the youngest. It was the eldest son, Baba Prithi Chand, who started the Meena group. He believed that because he was the eldest, the Guruship should come to him.

However, when Guru Ram Das Patshah Ji bestowed the Gurugaddi (seat of Guruship) upon the youngest son, Guru Arjan Dev Sahib Ji, Prithi Chand became filled with jealousy. On the very day of the Gurugaddi, he created a major dispute and conflict. He argued with Guru Ram Das Patshah Ji and also fought intensely with Baba Budha Ji.

When Prithi Chand realized that he would not receive the Gurugaddi and that no one supported his claim, he became increasingly consumed by hatred and hostility. He turned into a fierce opponent of Guru Arjan Dev Patshah Ji and began trying every possible way to take the Gurugaddi by force.

First, he aligned the Masands (local Sikh representatives who collected offerings) with himself. He provoked them and began spreading propaganda against Sikhi, claiming falsely that the Gurugaddi actually belonged to him. He sent these Masands throughout different regions. When Sikh congregations came, these Masands would mislead them with false teachings, telling them that Prithi Chand was the true Guru.

By lying, they would take the congregations to Prithi Chand’s dera. They kept all the offerings and wealth for themselves. When it was time for Langar (community kitchen), they would send everyone to Guru Arjan Dev Patshah Ji. In this way, the flow of offerings to the Guru’s house stopped, and at the same time, the Langar at the Guru’s house often remained limited for many days because of lack of resources.

In this manner, Prithi Chand carried out many actions in direct opposition to Guru Sahib. When Guru Arjan Dev Patshah Ji constructed Harmandar Sahib, Prithi Chand also built a grand building in the village of Hehar. Around it, he created a Sarovar (water tank) similar in appearance. He called this deceptive structure Sachkhand Darbar. Today, only the ruins of it remain.

In competition with Guru Sahib, he also began holding his own separate court. He had his own Masands, his own preachers, and his own ragis (kirtan singers). Among the Sikhs, he continued spreading false propaganda.

Later, when Guru Hargobind Patshah Ji was born, Prithi Chand used many schemes to try to have the child Guru Hargobind Ji killed.

Because of his actions against the Guru’s house, Bhai Gurdas Ji referred to him as a Meena. The word Meena means deceitful and dishonest, someone who cannot be trusted. That is why Prithi Chand and all his descendants after him came to be known as Meenas.

Prithi Chand remained alive until the year 1618. He continued to act as the leader of the Meenas. After his death, his son Manohar Das, who was also known as Meharban, became their leader. Like his father, he was also a fierce opponent of the Guru’s house.

After Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji left Amritsar, Meharban took control of Darbar Sahib and the city of Amritsar. Up until the time of Guru Gobind Singh Patshah Ji, meaning until the year 1696, the Meenas remained in control of Amritsar and Darbar Sahib.

Guru Sahib did not wish to engage in any conflict, especially within a sacred place like Darbar Sahib. Because of this, Guru Sahib stayed at a considerable distance from the city of Amritsar.

Now, Meharban himself was a writer and a poet. The greatest role in spreading Meena propaganda was played by Meharban. Like his father, he fully copied the structure of the Guru’s house. However, he went even further than Prithi Chand, because he began producing a large amount of written material.

Now we come to the main point of why the Guru Sahiban did not utter Bani. The reality is that the Meenas began creating false compositions, which are known as Kachi Bani (unauthentic or fabricated compositions).

Kesar Singh Chhibber mentions this in his book Bansavali Nama. He writes that Meharban, the son of Prithi Chand, engaged in poetic writing.

The Meenas’ compositions were sung using musical styles similar to those of the Guru’s house. They set up another darbar and tried to present it as a place of Guruship. This means that even some ragis (kirtan singers) from the Guru’s house, due to confusion, began singing the poetry composed by the Meenas as kirtan.

This was a very serious attack, because great confusion began to spread among the Sangat. People started to wonder which Bani was the true Bani of Guru Sahib and which was the Kachi Bani (unauthentic or fabricated compositions) created by the Meenas.

The first person to begin writing Kachi Bani was Meharban himself. He remained alive until the time of Guru Hargobind Patshah Ji. After his death, his son Har Ji also began creating false Bani and became the leader of the Meenas. Together, Har Ji and Meharban wrote a very large amount of Kachi Bani.

The most dangerous aspect, as mentioned earlier, was that they mixed their fabricated Bani with the genuine Bani of the Guru Sahiban. They blended the false with the authentic and wrote it together.

Just as the earlier Guru Sahiban used the word Nanak in their Bani, in the same way the Meenas also began using the word Nanak in their own poetry. At that time, the Bani of the Guru Sahiban existed in separate handwritten volumes, known as Pothis (manuscript collections).

The Meenas also began creating their own Pothis. They would take authentic Bani and add fabricated Kachi Bani under the same names. They then used the name of Guru Nanak Dev Patshah Ji within their compositions. This created the illusion that the writings belonged to Guru Nanak Dev Patshah Ji or to other Guru Sahiban, even though they were actually Kachi Bani.

After this, the Meenas made many copies of these Pothis and distributed them widely among Sikh congregations in distant places. Their aim was to create the impression that this fabricated Kachi Bani, which was composed by the Meenas, had originated from the Guru’s house itself.

As mentioned earlier, the most important point to understand is that the Meenas used the word Nanak in their poetry in order to create confusion among the Sangat and make it appear that they were the rightful heirs to the seat of Guru Nanak Dev Patshah Ji. However, in Sikh tradition, the word Nanak was used only by the rightful successor Guru Sahiban of Guru Nanak Dev Patshah Ji. No one else had the right to use the word Nanak.

Neither the Bhagats, nor the Bhats, nor the Gursikhs ever used the word Nanak in their compositions. Just as the Meenas misused the word Nanak, they also misused the word Mahalla. The word Mahalla indicates which Guru Sahib a particular Bani belongs to. For example, Mahalla Pehla means the Bani of the First Guru, Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji. Mahalla Teeja means the Bani of Guru Amar Das Patshah Ji.

So, the Meenas did not only write Kachi Bani, but they also composed poetry under the headings Mahalla Pehla through Mahalla Panjva. They used these headings in their writings in order to create confusion among the Sangat, making it appear that this was the Bani of the earlier Guru Sahiban.

What this shows is that the Meenas possessed copies and manuscripts of the Shabads that were originally uttered by the Guru Sahiban. Using these, they copied the authentic Gurbani and then distorted it, rewriting it in their own style. Within these fabricated compositions and poems, they used the word Nanak and also used the Mahalla headings.

After the Shaheedi (martyrdom) of Guru Arjan Dev Patshah Ji, they carried out another scheme. They began writing Guru for Guru Arjan Dev Patshah Ji in their fabricated Bani and spread the claim that before attaining martyrdom, Guru Arjan Dev Patshah Ji had bestowed the Gurugaddi upon Baba Prithi Chand.

This was a deliberate plan by the Meenas. Their intention was that when future generations of the Sikh Panth read their texts and poems, people would become confused and believe that the Meenas were the rightful heirs to the Gurugaddi, and that their compositions should be accepted within the Sikh Panth.

In the lineages of the Meenas themselves, writers such as Har Ji, Kushal Das, and Darbari Das recorded this claim in their manuscripts. This is found written in all of their Pothis.

So, the Sixth Guru became followed by his son Meharban as the Seventh Guru, and Meharban’s son Har Ji became the Eighth Guru. After that, the line continued with Kamal Nain, Har Nand, Abhe Ram, and so on. However, after Meharban’s son Har Ji, no one wrote any poetry or Kachi Bani.

That is why in the Meenas’ Pothis, you find headings for Mahalla Chheva (Sixth Guru), Mahalla Satva (Seventh Guru), and Mahalla Atthva (Eighth Guru). 

The main way to identify Meenas’ Pothis is this: their writings contain compositions or poems under the headings Mahalla Chheva to Mahalla Atthva. As mentioned earlier, after Har Ji, that is, after the Eighth Guru, no one wrote any poetry or compositions. Therefore, their texts only go up to Mahalla Atthva. After that, there is no Kachi Bani or any composition.

In contrast, Guru Arjan Dev Patshah Ji compiled and edited the original Adi Granth, which contains authentic Bani, covering Mahalla Pehla (First Guru) to Mahalla Panjva (Fifth Guru). The Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Gurus’ Bani is absent from this compilation. This was done so that the original Gurbani would remain separate and distinct from the Meenas’ texts.

Now, the Meenas’ texts go only up to Mahalla Atthva. After that, there is nothing. That is why in Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, the Bani reappears in the form of Mahalla Nauva (Ninth Guru). Guru Sahiban revealed Bani again in the form of the Ninth Guru.

This was the most important reason: the Meenas’ false propaganda had spread so widely, and so much Kachi and fabricated Bani was circulating that the purity of Gurbani and its authentic form was at risk.

Therefore, by the hukam of Waheguru, Guru Sahiban made this important decision: the Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Gurus did not utter any new Bani, did not compose any Shabad, so that the authentic Bani would always remain separate from the Kachi Bani.

This created a clear and permanent marker: authentic Gurbani will always be found only up to Mahalla Panjva. The Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Mahallas will always appear in the Meenas’ texts. Mahalla Nauva is found in the authentic Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, but it is completely absent from the Meenas’ Pothis.

So, in this way, during the Guru Sahib’s time, whenever a Sikh saw any Granth containing Bani, they could immediately recognize which Bani was authentic, which Granth was genuine, and which was fake.

This is the main reason why the Guru Sahiban made the important decision, by the will of Waheguru, to not compose new Bani. This decision was taken to protect the Sikh Panth from a major attack. It was not because the Guru Sahiban could not create Bani – that is completely wrong. The truth is that it was their own decision to avoid composing Bani so that it could be kept safe from corruption.

The Meenas’ hostility towards the Sikh Panth continued for a long time. They were always enemies of the Guru’s household. Because of their opposition, when Guru Gobind Singh Patshah Ji administered Amrit, he instructed the Khalsa not to have any dealings with the Meenas. This order is still followed today.

Even though the Meenas’ line has ended, and only a few families remain in Punjab claiming to be from the Meenas’ lineage, they no longer pose any threat to the Panth. However, in the past, they used to oppose the Guru Sahib strongly, setting themselves up as equals to the Guru Darbar and calling themselves Gurus. Many similar groups have also arisen in Punjab, such as the Narkadhariye, Radha Swamis, Sirsa Wala Sadh, and Naamdhariye.

Sikhs must remain alert. As per the Guru Sahib’s hukam, there should be no sharing of food or family ties with the Meenas. In the same way, the Khalsa cannot share food or family relations with any other dehdhari person’s followers. The true Guru is Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, not any dehdhari.