Akhand Paatth is non-stop recitation of Guru Granth Sahib. It is completed in approximately 48 hours. Several readers perform this recitation in a relay system. The reading goes, in a relay manner, continuously, day and night. At given time (usually two hours per turn) the next reciter picks the line of hymn from the lips of the retiring reciter. There is no fixed number of reciters. Akhand Patth is believed to have its origin in the middle of the eighteenth century. During the days of persecution, the Sikhs had to remain prepared to move from one place to another, at a very short notice; hence, they had to complete the reading of Guru Granth Sahib in a short time. In the second half of the twentieth century, it became a fashion to perform this ceremony. Ideologically speaking, Akhand Paatth is not in consonance with the Sikh philosophy, as a Sikh must not read the Guru Granth Sahib simply as a ritual. A Sikh must read, understand, and try to live his life according to the teachings of Guru Granth Sahib.
(Dr Harjinder Singh Dilgeer)