Authenticity of Kartarpuri Bir - Global Sikh Studies

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the Kartarpuri Bir must have been prepared some time after
Samat 1732, the year of the martyrdom of the 9th Guru. Here
too both the statements and the conclusion of G.B. Singh are
baseless, since we know that the Bani of the 9th Guru was
never copied in the Kartarpuri Bir. 36
Few would say that Jodh Singh, an erudite scholar,
known for his cool and level-headedness, was given to
exaggeration. And yet in his book at dozens of places he calls
the facts and statements of G.B. Singh to be untruthful, baseless
and senseless. One has only to go through his book to realise
how correct and appropriate is Jodh Singh’s criticism of
G.B.Singh. One wonders whether an honest scholar could make
such deliberate misstatements. And, what is even more
disgusting is that he would say one thing at one time and
contradict himself at another place, because a contrary
argument would suit his purpose better.
As a sample we shall state a few of the assertions and
statements made by G.B. Singh and the observations of Jodh
Singh regarding them. It is “a strange case that the author of
the Book (Pracheen Biran), which is full of wrong statements
and mistakes, should claim to have regard for truth and reason
and consider himself to be too perfect to commit any mistake.
Even though G. B. Singh had never seen the Mohan Pothies, he
asserts that Saloks: Jit dar Lakh Mohamda and Bai Atash Aab
Ratan Mala, were copied in the Adi-Granth from Mohan Pothies,
being the Bani of Guru Nanak. He adds that the first Salok of
Guru Nanak was not included in the Adi-Granth by Guru Arjun
because of his fear of offending Muslims. The fact is that these
Saloks are neither in Mohan Pothies nor in the Kartarpuri Bir
prepared by the fifth Guru. On the one hand, G.B. Singh accuses
the fifth Guru of excluding the Salok : Jit Dar Lakh Mohamda
out of fear of offending Muslims and, on the other hand, he
says that this extra Bani was included in some copies of the
Adi-Granth after Samat 1732. Since this