How long did it take to write Gurumukti (sikh language), and why was the religion called Sikhism?

Question

The first person and more detailed answer, I'll chose the best answer and you'd get some serious points>

Answer 1

Punjabi is a language ( what is spoken) - Gurmukhi is a script (how Punjabi is written ).The word 'Gurmukhi' literally means from the mouth of the Guru. Gurmukhi has some similarities to older Indian scripts of the times, but it's thirty five characters and vowel modifiers were standardized by Guru Angad. Rather than use the Hindu scripts such as Sanskrit, Guru Angad Dev chose to make a new script the standard for the Sikhs. Sanskrit was only restricted to the priestly Hindu class, but the Gurus did not believe in this elitism. Guru Angad Dev spent his lifetime teaching the Gurmukhi script to the common people of Punjab. Gurmukhi is not only used by Sikhs but by Hindus as well as Muslims living in Punjab to represet their common spoken language, Punjabi. Sikhs are expected to make an effort at learning the Gurmukhi script and teaching it to their children in order to read the Guru Granth Sahib in its original written form.

Gurmukhi has 35 letters as well as nine vowel modifiers. In addition there are five special sound modifiers symbols. A vertical bar is used to indicate the end of a sentences. Two vertical bars indicate a longer pause between sentences or paragraphs. The table below presents the letters, numbers and vowel modifiers. The vowel modifiers are presented with english words, the sounds that they make being emphasized in capital letters.

It is commonly accepted that Gurmukhi is a member of the Brahmi family; the Brahmi script was introduced between the 8th and the 6th. Century BC. Scholars have tried to establish relationships of Gurmukhi with Devanagri (G.H. Ojha), Ardhanagan (C.B. Singh), Siddhamatrika (Pritam Singh), Sharda Diringer) and Brahmi (generally) . Changes came in the forms of aaraa, haaha, and lalla in the first half of the nineteenth century. The manuscripts belonging to the eighteenth century have slightly different forms of these letters. But the modern as well as old forms of these letters are found in the orthography of the same writers in seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

The term Sikhism originates from the Punjabi language and originally from the Sanskrit "shishya" where it means a disciple or follower.

Answer 2

The above answer is excellent Well done. The religion is called Sikhism because the pillar of philosophy is taught from the Guru to the Sikh (literally from the teacher to its disciple). As Guru Nanak Dev founded the religion, 9 subsequent Gurus preached the religion. The 10th Guru: Guru Gobind Singh collaberated all the teachings and writings of the majority of the Gurus and embodied it in the next and final Guru of the Sikhs: Guru Granth Sahib, the Siky holy scriptures. Since all religious practices eminate from Guru Granth Sahib, it is quite fitting to suggest that we still learn from the scriptures. Hence is why the religion is called Sikhism.

I am not exactly sure of the linguistics specifics of Gurmukhi, but I can attest that it is a much different language than modern Punjabi which rely on the same alphabet. It should be said that Gurmukhi was made by Guru Angad Dev to be able to communicate same message over a vast majority of people in India at its time of conception. At that time and still India has a lot of dialects, so to standardize a language for all to understand is quite an undertaking. The underlying motive for this is that Sikhs believe in equality in all human beings so to bring the scripture out to the masses required a lot of standardization.