ਧੂਪ (dhoop) is natural incense — a kneaded blend of woods, resins, roots and fragrances burned on live coals, older and richer than the bamboo-core agarbatti most of us grew up seeing. In the Guru’s darbar it is not an offering made to anything; it is ਸਤਿਕਾਰ — the protocol of a royal court. The same instinct that gives Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji a chandoa, a chaur and a palki also perfumes the darbar: the Guru is Patshah, and the court is kept like one.

This page is written for home practice. Everything here — the samagri, the method, the jot, the shastar seva — is what puratan maryada does daily in the Guru’s darbars, scaled to a household: so that your own darbar can have dhoop you made with your own hands, a jot you tend, and shastars kept in daily satkar, not just on Dussehra.

Dhoop in Gurbani

Gurbani’s most famous image of incense is Guru Nanak Dev Ji’s Aarti (Raag Dhanasari, Ang 663 — also in Sohila), where the entire cosmos performs the aarti that others perform with a platter:

ਗਗਨ ਮੈ ਥਾਲੁ ਰਵਿ ਚੰਦੁ ਦੀਪਕ ਬਨੇ ਤਾਰਿਕਾ ਮੰਡਲ ਜਨਕ ਮੋਤੀ ॥ ਧੂਪੁ ਮਲਆਨਲੋ ਪਵਣੁ ਚਵਰੋ ਕਰੇ ਸਗਲ ਬਨਰਾਇ ਫੂਲੰਤ ਜੋਤੀ ॥

The sky is the platter; the sun and moon are the lamps, the stars its pearls. The sandalwood-scented wind from the Malay mountains is the dhoop, the breeze the chaur, and all vegetation the flowers.

Bhagat Ravidas Ji makes the same move in Naam Tero Aarti (Ang 694): the Naam itself is the water, the sandalwood, the saffron, the lamp, the garland. Nothing we can burn adds anything to Vaheguru — so physical dhoop in Sikh practice is satkar of the Guru’s darbar and sangat, never appeasement. These are the very shabads sung in the Aarta maryada at Takht Sachkhand Sri Hazur Sahib and Takht Sri Patna Sahib to this day.

Puratan sampradas carry this as living maryada: dhoop at parkash and sukhasan, dhoop burning through Akhand Paath alongside the jot, dhoop accompanying the shastars in darbar — at the Takhts, in the Nihang dals, and in the Nanaksar tradition of Baba Nand Singh Ji, whose sevadars are known for dhoop prepared from rich samagri rather than market agarbatti. The common thread everywhere: dhoop is prepared and burned as seva, with ਸੁੱਚਮ (sucham — purity of preparation), in the Guru’s hazoori.

The puratan dhoop samagri

The measures — ਰੱਤੀ, ਮਾਸਾ, ਤੋਲਾ, ਛਟਾਂਕ — are the old subcontinental jeweller’s and bazaar weights, which itself tells you the recipe’s age.

Traditional measures: 1 ਰੱਤੀ (ratti) ≈ 0.12 g · 1 ਮਾਸਾ (masa) = 8 ratti ≈ 0.97 g · 1 ਤੋਲਾ (tola) = 12 masa ≈ 11.66 g · 1 ਛਟਾਂਕ (chhatank) = 5 tola ≈ 58.3 g

How the composition fits together

① Rare essences measured in ratti & masa — pinches ਕਸਤੂਰੀ kasturi* · ਕੇਸਰ saffron ਮੁਸ਼ਕਪੂਰ musk camphor · ਸੁੱਚੇ ਮੋਤੀ pearl ਮੁਸ਼ਕ ਅੰਬਰ ambergris* *use ethical substitutes — see note ② Woods, roots & barks ਸਭ ੧-੧ ਤੋਲਾ — one tola (~11.7 g) each ਚੰਦਨ ਚਿੱਟਾ/ਲਾਲ white & red sandalwood ਅਗਰ agarwood · ਤਗਰ tagar ਬਾਲਛੜ jatamansi · ਕਪੂਰ ਕਚਰੀ kachri ਫੁਲ ਛਲੀੜਾ stone flower · ਭੋਜ ਪੱਤਰ birch ਜਾਵਿਤ੍ਰੀ mace · ਅਲੈਚੀ both cardamoms ਦੇਸੀ ਜੌਂ barley · ਇੰਦਰ ਜੌਂ indarjau the aromatic heart of the smoke ③ Nuts, seeds & grains ੨-੨ ਤੋਲੇ — two tolas (~23.3 g) each ਖੋਪਾ coconut · ਗਰੀ ਬਦਾਮ almond ਛੁਹਾਰੇ dried dates · ਖਸ vetiver ਧੂਪ ਲਕੜ dhoop wood · ਨਾਗਰ ਮੋਥਾ ਤਿਲ sesame, black & white ਬਾਸਮਤੀ ਚੌਲ rice — ੩ ਤੋਲੇ slow fuel — rich, steady smoke ④ Binding base measured in chhatank ਗੋਕਾ ਘਿਉ cow's ghee — ੩ ਛਟਾਂਕ (~175 g) ਦੇਸੀ ਖੰਡ raw sugar — ੨ ਛਟਾਂਕ (~117 g) binds the dough, carries the fragrance ⑤ Finishing fragrances no fixed measure — small amounts ਅਤਰ ਗੁਲਾਬ rose attar · ਲੋਹਬਾਨ loban ਬ੍ਰਹਮੀ brahmi · ਹਾਊ ਬੇਰ juniper berries ਫੁਲ ਧਾਵੇ dhawa flowers · ਦਾਲਚੀਨੀ cinnamon ਕਚੂਰ ਊਦ kachur-oud added last, once the dough is bound ਧੂਪਦਾਨੀ · dhoop-dani loose dhoop on live coals — the most puratan form

Full ਧੂਪ ਸਮੱਗਰੀ list

ਸਮੱਗਰੀ English Measure as written Approx.
ਕਸਤੂਰੀ Kasturi (deer musk)* ੨ ਰੱਤੀ ~0.24 g
ਕੇਸਰ Saffron ੪ ਮਾਸੇ ~3.9 g
ਮੁਸ਼ਕਪੂਰ Mushakpur (musk camphor) ੩ ਮਾਸੇ ~2.9 g
ਸੁੱਚੇ ਮੋਤੀ Real pearl (powdered) — a pinch
ਗੋਕਾ ਘਿਉ Cow’s ghee ੩ ਛਟਾਂਕ ~175 g
ਦੇਸੀ ਖੰਡ Desi khand (raw sugar) ੨ ਛਟਾਂਕ ~117 g
ਜਾਵਿਤ੍ਰੀ Mace ੧ ਤੋਲਾ ~11.7 g
ਦੇਸੀ ਜੌਂ Desi barley ੧ ਤੋਲਾ ~11.7 g
ਇੰਦਰ ਜੌਂ Indarjau (kurchi seeds) ੧ ਤੋਲਾ ~11.7 g
ਫੁਲ ਛਲੀੜਾ Chharila / stone flower (lichen) ੧ ਤੋਲਾ ~11.7 g
ਕਪੂਰ ਕਚਰੀ Kapoor kachri (Hedychium spicatum) ੧ ਤੋਲਾ ~11.7 g
ਚੰਦਨ ਚਿੱਟਾ White sandalwood ੧ ਤੋਲਾ ~11.7 g
ਚੰਦਨ ਲਾਲ Red sandalwood ੧ ਤੋਲਾ ~11.7 g
ਬਾਲਛੜ Balchhad / jatamansi (spikenard) ੧ ਤੋਲਾ ~11.7 g
ਭੋਜ ਪੱਤਰ Bhojpatra (birch bark) ੧ ਤੋਲਾ ~11.7 g
ਅਗਰ Agarwood (oud) ੧ ਤੋਲਾ ~11.7 g
ਤਗਰ Tagar (Indian valerian root) ੧ ਤੋਲਾ ~11.7 g
ਛੋਟੀ ਅਲੈਚੀ Green cardamom ੧ ਤੋਲਾ ~11.7 g
ਵੱਡੀ ਅਲੈਚੀ Black cardamom ੧ ਤੋਲਾ ~11.7 g
ਖੋਪਾ Dried coconut ੨ ਤੋਲੇ ~23.3 g
ਗਰੀ ਬਦਾਮ Almond kernels ੨ ਤੋਲੇ ~23.3 g
ਛੁਹਾਰੇ Dried dates ੨ ਤੋਲੇ ~23.3 g
ਖਸ Khas (vetiver root) ੨ ਤੋਲੇ ~23.3 g
ਧੂਪ ਲਕੜ Dhoop wood ੨ ਤੋਲੇ ~23.3 g
ਕਾਲੇ ਤਿਲ Black sesame ੨ ਤੋਲੇ ~23.3 g
ਚਿੱਟੇ ਤਿਲ White sesame ੨ ਤੋਲੇ ~23.3 g
ਨਾਗਰ ਮੋਥਾ Nagarmotha (Cyperus rotundus) ੨ ਤੋਲੇ ~23.3 g
ਬਾਸਮਤੀ ਚੌਲ Basmati rice ੩ ਤੋਲੇ ~35 g
ਅਤਰ ਗੁਲਾਬ Rose attar — few drops
ਬ੍ਰਹਮੀ ਖੁਸ਼ਬੂਦਾਰ Fragrant brahmi — small amount
ਹਾਊ ਬੇਰ Hauber (juniper berries) — small amount
ਫੁਲ ਧਾਵੇ Dhawa flowers (Woodfordia fruticosa) — small amount
ਲੋਹਬਾਨ Loban (benzoin resin) — small amount
ਮੁਸ਼ਕ ਅੰਬਰ Musk amber (ambergris) — small amount
ਕਚੂਰ ਊਦ Kachur (zedoary) with oud — small amount
ਦਾਲਚੀਨੀ Cinnamon — small amount

Reading the original list: everything from ਜਾਵਿਤ੍ਰੀ to ਵੱਡੀ ਅਲੈਚੀ is marked ਸਭ ੧-੧ ਤੋਲਾ (one tola each); the group from ਖੋਪਾ to ਨਾਗਰ ਮੋਥਾ is ੨-੨ ਤੋਲੇ (two tolas each); the final group carries no measure and is added in small quantities for fragrance.

* A note on kasturi, ambergris and pearl: true deer musk comes from the endangered musk deer — trade is banned under CITES and India’s Wildlife Protection Act — and natural ambergris is likewise restricted in many countries. These appear because the recipe is old; today sevadars use ethical substitutes (kasturi bhindi / muskroot seeds, plant-based musk accords) without any loss of maryada. The seva lives in the sucham and the bhavna, not in a rare ingredient. Don’t let a missing item stop you — a dhoop of sandalwood, loban, khas and ghee made with sucham is complete seva.

Making dhoop batti — step by step

This is how traditional dhoop is still made by hand; the samagri above slots straight into it. A first batch at home works fine with whatever subset of the list you can gather.

  1. Sucham first. Ishnaan, clean clothes, covered head, clean workspace. Puratan sevadars keep paath going — Mool Mantar or Japji Sahib — while the hands work. Dhoop for the Guru’s darbar is made in the Guru’s remembrance.
  2. Dry everything fully. Sun-dry the woods, roots, seeds, flowers and barks until they snap rather than bend. Any residual moisture will mould the batti later.
  3. Grind and sieve. Powder all the dry samagri — traditionally in an iron (sarbloh) mortar or hand-mill — and sieve to a fine, even powder. Hard woods like chandan and agar go in as fine dust; resins (loban) can stay slightly coarse since they melt in the heat.
  4. Add the sweet base. Powder the desi khand into the mix, and grate the khopa, chhuhare and badam in finely. Sugar and dried fruit are what make the smoke rich and slow; the ghee carries the fragrance.
  5. Bind with warmed ghee. Gently warm the ghee (never hot) and work it into the powder a little at a time, kneading until the mass holds together like a stiff dough. If it stays crumbly, add a few drops of rose water rather than more ghee — too much ghee makes the batti sputter.
  6. Finish with fragrance. Only once the dough is bound, work in the attar, kesar and the other finishing items — heat and long kneading would waste them.
  7. Shape. Roll finger-thick sticks (batti), small cones, or leave part of the batch as loose dhoop powder for burning on coals. Loose dhoop is the most puratan form — it is what the dhoop-dani and coals are for.
  8. Dry in shade. Lay the battis on a clean cloth in an airy, shaded place for two to four days. Direct sun bleeds out the volatile fragrances you just paid for in kesar and attar.
  9. Store airtight, away from moisture. Well-dried dhoop keeps for months and the fragrance deepens as it matures.

To burn: for loose dhoop, place a spoonful on live coals in a ਧੂਪਦਾਨੀ (dhoop-dani or loban burner) and carry it gently through the darbar so the fragrance reaches every corner. For a batti, light the tip and put the flame out with a wave of the hand — never with the breath. The same etiquette as with the jot: breath does not touch what is offered in the Guru’s hazoori.

The Jot

The ਜੋਤ — a ghee lamp — burns beside the dhoop in every puratan darbar. Preparing one is simple, and the care is the point:

  1. The vessel: a clean deeva or vati, sarbloh (iron) in Nihang maryada, otherwise brass or any clean metal, kept for this purpose only.
  2. The wick: a small piece of clean cotton (ਰੂੰ), hand-twisted into a batti — a flat coin of cotton with a raised point, or a simple twisted taper.
  3. The ghee: pure desi ghee, traditionally cow’s ghee. Fill the vati enough to keep the jot steady for its intended duration.
  4. Lighting: with clean hands and covered head, in the Guru’s hazoori, with simran or ardas on the lips. The jot sits on a small thali or stand near the dhoop, never directly on the floor.
  5. Tending: the jot is never blown out with the mouth. Let it complete itself, or extinguish it with a wave of the hand or a flower petal. A jot that must burn long — overnight, or through a paath — is topped up with ghee and its wick trimmed; the flame should burn clean, without soot.

During Akhand Paath the puratan maryada keeps a ghee jot burning continuously beside Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji for the full paath — alongside dhoop, and in puratan and Nihang tradition also a ਕੁੰਭ (water vessel) and coconut placed in the darbar. The jot burning unbroken while the bani flows unbroken is the whole image: ਜੋਤ and ਸ਼ਬਦ together.

The everyday darbar at home

This is the heart of the matter. The Takhts do this daily — and a household can keep the same rhythm, scaled to its means. If you have the blessing of Maharaj’s saroop at home (which asks for a dedicated, clean room and the commitment of daily seva), the full cycle looks like this; if not, the same satkar applies to your gutka sahibs, your nitnem and your shastars.

Amrit vela — Parkash:

  1. Ishnaan; clean clothes, covered head.
  2. Prepare the darbar: clean the room, lay fresh rumalas on the manji sahib beneath the chandoa.
  3. Light the jot and set dhoop smouldering in the dhoop-dani — the darbar is perfumed before Patshah is brought in, as for any sovereign.
  4. Parkash of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji with ardas, and take the day’s hukamnama.
  5. Shastar prakash alongside: shastars are given their place in the darbar — on a clean rumala on a small table or thara beside or below Maharaj’s palki, never on the floor. At Hazur Sahib the shastars sit in the hazoori of Maharaj daily; a home darbar mirrors that with even a single kirpan, khanda or chakar.
  6. Nitnem in the Guru’s hazoori, with the jot burning.

Through the day: the room is kept clean and quiet; nothing is stored casually in the darbar; dhoop can be renewed when sangat sits for paath.

Evening — Rehras and Sukhasan:

  1. Rehras Sahib in the darbar; in puratan maryada, Aarta/Aarti follows — the very shabads above, sung with dhoop and jot before Maharaj.
  2. Sukhasan with ardas; Maharaj rests in the sukhasan asthan.
  3. Shastars are wiped and returned to their place with satkar. Kirtan Sohila closes the day.

Weekly or on sangrand/pooranmashi, give the shastars fuller seva: ishnaan (wipe with clean water or milk-water, dry thoroughly), a light coat of oil against rust, chandan tilak, fresh rumala, dhoop — and read before them the bani that gives steel its meaning: Shastar Naam Mala, Chandi di Vaar, Jaap Sahib.

None of this requires wealth. A steel bowl for a dhoop-dani, a brass deeva, home-made dhoop, one kirpan on a clean rumala — kept daily — is more puratan than an elaborate darbar visited once a year.

Shastar pooja — what is actually revered

Shastar hold a station in Khalsa maryada that outsiders often misread as idol worship. The Khalsa’s own texts are explicit about what is revered. Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji opens Shastar Naam Mala by naming weapons as his Pir — because they are forms of Akal Purakh’s own power (ਭਗੌਤੀ):

ਅਸ ਕ੍ਰਿਪਾਨ ਖੰਡੋ ਖੜਗ ਤੁਪਕ ਤਬਰ ਅਰੁ ਤੀਰ ॥ ਸੈਫ ਸਰੋਹੀ ਸੈਹਥੀ ਯਹੈ ਹਮਾਰੈ ਪੀਰ ॥

The sword, khanda, kharag, gun, axe and arrow; the saif, sarohi and lance — these are my Pir.

The same theology opens Chandi di Vaar (ਪ੍ਰਿਥਮ ਭਗੌਤੀ ਸਿਮਰਿ ਕੈ) and Bachittar Natak (ਨਮਸਕਾਰ ਸ੍ਰੀ ਖੜਗ ਕੋ). The shastar is saluted as the visible form of the Divine’s protective power — the reverence passes through the steel to Akal Purakh, exactly as satkar of the saroop passes through paper and ink to the Shabad.

Dussehra and the Dasehra Mahatam paath

Warriors across the subcontinent historically honoured their weapons at Dussehra. Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji reclaimed and transformed this: instead of nine nights of Ramlila theatre, the Khalsa keeps nine nights of bir-ras bani — the Dasehra Mahatam paath. Over the Navratre nights, in akhand form with ardas and degh at the start, middle and completion, the recitations include:

  • Jaap Sahib
  • selections of Akal Ustat and Bachittar Natak
  • both Chandi Charitars and Chandi di Vaar
  • selections of Gian Prabodh and Chaubis Avtar (notably Ram Avtar)
  • Shastar Naam Mala and Khalsa Mahima

On the tenth day at amrit vela the paath completes with Jaap Sahib, the full Ram Avtar and Chaupai Sahib — and shastar pooja is performed: the shastars are given ishnaan, dressed with chandan tilak, dhoop and jot lit before them, and displayed for sangat’s darshan. Chronicles from Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s era describe Dussehra shastar darshan with mounted gatka displays and charity afterwards. The maryada continues unbroken at Takht Sachkhand Sri Hazur Sahib and in the Budha Dal and puratan sampradas, who first compiled the Dasehra Mahatam banis into a single volume.

And through the rest of the year

Dussehra is the peak, not the whole — the daily home cycle above is the foundation, and the panth’s calendar keeps returning to the shastars:

  • Daily at Hazur Sahib and Patna Sahib: shastar darshan with dhoop and aarta every evening, not once a year.
  • Hola Mahalla (Anandpur Sahib, spring): the Khalsa’s own festival of shastar vidya — mock battles, gatka, processions led by the Panj Pyare with shastars at the front.
  • Vaisakhi and every Amrit Sanchar: the khanda stirs the amrit while bani is recited — the pahul itself is prepared by shastar; the Panj Pyare stand with shastars in full satkar.
  • Gurpurabs and nagar kirtans: shastars travel at the front of the procession, ahead of the palki sahib, with dhoop — the Guru’s court on the move.

The maryada’s centre of gravity is always the bani — shastar without shaastar (scripture) is just metal, which is precisely why Guru Sahib bound the nine nights to paath rather than to pageantry, and why the home cycle wraps every shastar seva in nitnem.

Sources & further reading

ਭੁੱਲ ਚੁੱਕ ਮਾਫ਼ — corrections from sangat are welcome.