Authenticity of Kartarpuri Bir - Global Sikh Studies

33
pretension on the part of any one like G B Singh today to
claim that rthe task of identifying and collectinfg the Bani of
the earlier Gurus done by the fifth Guru was not well done
and the same could cbe performed far better by G B Singh of
any other modern scholar without any particular spiritual
training or status. Therefore Jodh Singh writes that one could
well imagine how destructive and poisonous was the atempt
of G B Singh to cold the authenticity of the Bir and thereby to
undo the work of the collection of the bani done by the firth
and the tenth Gurus. G B Sngh he felt, was thereby trying to
strike at the very roots of the Sikh faith in which the Guru
Granth Sahib occupies a preeminently spiritual status both as
a repository of the Shabad and as a guide of Guru. 35
G B Singh’s criticism of the authenticity of the
Kartarpuri Bir is based on two sets of arguments. First, that
the Kartarpuri Bir had certain features which would show that
it is a copy and not the original Granth, and, secondly, thatit
takes certain feaures which the original Granth is bound to
possess. Since G B Singh’s assertions and arguments were
based on mere heresay and not on any examination of the
Kartarpuri Biri, both his assertions were found to be incorrect
and baseless. We have seen already that whereas the Kartarpuri
Bir meets all the three tests that were indicated by G B Singh
to proved the authenticity and originality of a Bir, no other Bir
does not that.
As to the additional material, G B Singh alleges that
the Kartarpuri Bir has the extra-bani of (i) Slok : Ji Dar Lakh
Mohamda (2) Ratan Mala (3) Sakhi Raje Shiv-Nabh Ki, etc.,
since it is a copy of the Banno Bir. As this statement about
the extra Bani in the Kartarpuri Biri, as we know, is incorrect,
the conclusion of G B Singh is thus equally falacious. Further,
he states that the bani of the 9th Guru had been recorded in
the Kararpuri Bir appropriately under different Rags. Therefore,
he concludes that