The Source Book On Sikhism

1.6.1. The hymns of the Sikh Gurus:

All hymns written by the Sikh Gurus end with the name ‘Nanak’. Guru Arjan gave a heading consisting of a word ‘Mehla’ meaning the body and a number 1-5 spoken as first, second and so on representing the Gurus in the successive order i.e. 1 is Guru Nanak, 2 is Guru Angad, 3 is Guru Amardas, 4 is Guru Ramdas and 5 is Guru Arjan. Guru Gobind Singh when he added the hymns of Guru Tegh Bahadur gave the number as 9. Thus heading ‘Mehla 1’ means hymns are composed by Guru Nanak: ‘Mehla 2’ means hymns are composed by Guru Angad; ‘Mehla 3’ means hymns are composed by Guru Amardas and so on. Japji Sahib, the first hymn has no such heading, but it is widely believed that the Japji was composed by Guru Nanak. At the end of the Granth the Swayas of Guru Arjan has a heading ‘Swaya uttered in person Mehla 5’ which is different from other headings used (see pages ,385-87 of Guru Granth Sahib).