A granthi is responsible for the reading, care and ceremonial installation of the Guru Granth Sahib, treated within Sikhism as the living embodiment of Guruship since the tenth Guru, Gobind Singh, ended the line of personal human Gurus in 1708, a role requiring accurate command of the Gurmukhi script and the scripture's own specific liturgical melodies and reading conventions, together with detailed knowledge of the correct daily and ceremonial procedures for installing, covering, and closing the scripture at the appointed times each day. Because Sikhism deliberately rejects a formally ordained priestly class, a granthi is a respected functionary appointed by a gurdwara's managing committee for demonstrated skill and dedication rather than an ordained clergy member holding sacramental authority distinct from any other baptized Sikh.
A granthi's duties extend beyond the daily reading schedule to officiating at Sikh life-cycle ceremonies, including naming ceremonies, weddings, Anand Karaj, and funeral rites, all conducted in the Guru Granth Sahib's presence, and to leading akhand path, the continuous, unbroken forty-eight-hour recitation of the entire scripture that marks significant occasions in Sikh communal and family life, a demanding undertaking usually shared in relay among several qualified readers rather than performed by one granthi alone.