Kirtan Sohilaਕੀਰਤਨ ਸੋਹਿਲਾ

Kirtan Sohila is the night prayer of the Sikhs, five hymns sung last in the day, before sleep. Its name means Song of Praise, and its five shabads, three by Guru Nanak Dev Ji and one each by Guru Ram Das Ji and Guru Arjan Dev Ji, move from the pain of separation to the bliss of union with God. Sikhs recite it at the close of the evening in the gurdwara, at the bedside at home, and at funerals, where its wedding imagery teaches the sangat to meet death as a bride meets her Lord.

What is Kirtan Sohila?

Kirtan Sohila, captioned simply Sohila in the Guru Granth Sahib and also called Arti Sohila, is the bedtime prayer prescribed in the Sikh Rehat Maryada: the Sohila, to be recited at night before going to bed. It stands in the scripture on pages 12 to 13, immediately after the hymns of Rehras, as the fourth composition at the Guru Granth Sahib's opening. The word Sohila is derived from the Punjabi for the time of sleep, and tradition also hears it as a song of union: its first hymn pictures the soul as a bride whose wedding day, fixed in advance, is her meeting with God. Short enough to recite in a few minutes, it is the last word of the Sikh day.

What are the five hymns of Kirtan Sohila?

The first hymn, by Guru Nanak Dev Ji in Raag Gauri Deepaki, opens where praise is sung: in that house where the Creator is praised and contemplated, sing the Sohila and remember the Creator. It promises that the Giver watches over every being day after day, and then turns to the wedding: the day is written, friends are called to pour the oil on the threshold and to bless the bride, and the summons, it says, is sent to every house every day, so remember the One who sends it, for that day is coming. The second hymn, in Raag Asa, sets the six schools of philosophy with their six teachers against the one Teacher of teachers who appears in many forms, and compares the one God to the one sun from which all the measures of time and all the seasons come.

The third hymn, in Raag Dhanasari, is the famous Aarti: the sky itself is the prayer plate, the sun and moon its lamps, the stars its pearls, the sandal scented wind its incense and fan, and all the forests its flowers, while the unstruck sound is its drum. It rejects the small lamp lit ceremony in favour of the worship the whole universe is already performing. The fourth hymn, by Guru Ram Das Ji in Raag Gauri Poorabi, says the body is filled with lust and anger until the saint breaks them, and that through the Name all suffering and the pain of birth and death are ended. The fifth, by Guru Arjan Dev Ji, also in Gauri Poorabi, is an urgent invitation: listen, my friends, now is the time to serve the saints; earn the profit of the Name in this life, for life is diminishing day and night.

How was Kirtan Sohila put together?

The five hymns were gathered in stages. Bhai Gurdas records that in Guru Nanak Dev Ji's time, So Dar and Aarti were sung in the evening and Japji was recited in the early morning. At first, it seems, only the first two of the present hymns were called Sohila, while the third, the Aarti hymn, stood as a distinct bani under its own caption, as it still does in the Guru Granth Sahib. Guru Arjan Dev Ji added two more hymns, his own and Guru Ram Das Ji's, and entered all five in the Guru Granth Sahib in 1604 as one bani under the title Sohila. The bani was then prescribed, authoritatively, as the bedtime prayer in 1699, when Guru Gobind Singh Ji inaugurated the Khalsa and laid down its code of discipline.

Why is Kirtan Sohila recited at funerals?

Because the prayer itself is built on the meeting with death. Its first hymn does not hide the summons: the call is sent to every house daily, the wedding day is already written, and the friends' part is to bless the bride on her way. Recited at a Sikh funeral, and before the cremation, Sohila frames a death not as an ending to fear but as the soul's appointed union, and it reminds those who remain to accept that death is the ultimate truth while turning their own remaining days toward the Name. The same words therefore do two kinds of work in Sikh life: every night they rehearse, in miniature, the surrender that a funeral demands in full, and at a funeral they bring the comfort of a prayer the departed themselves said every night.

How is Kirtan Sohila recited today?

Kirtan Sohila is recited at night before sleep, at home and in gurdwaras at the conclusion of the evening ceremonies, after Rehras Sahib and Ardas have closed the diwan. Many families keep the practice of reading it together at the bedside, and recordings of its sung kirtan are among the most listened to of all Sikh prayer. Its themes are protection, gratitude and surrender: the hymns calm the mind at the day's end, give thanks for the Giver who watches over all beings, and hand the night, like the life it shadows, over to God. A Sikh day that began in the ambrosial hours with Japji Sahib thus ends in the dark with five short hymns and a single trust: the One who sends the summons is also the One who receives.