Authenticity of Kartarpuri Bir - Global Sikh Studies
Authenticity of Kartarpuri Bir - Global Sikh Studies
Authenticity of Kartarpuri Bir - Global Sikh Studies
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35<br />
Salok is not in the Mohan Pothies, it is on the face <strong>of</strong> it absurd<br />
to accuse the fifth Guru <strong>of</strong> fear, especially when there is nothing<br />
to suggest that the Salok was ever placed before Guru Arjun<br />
for inclusion in the Adi-Granfh and that he refused to do so.” 37<br />
In one chapter <strong>of</strong> his book, Jodh Singh describes the<br />
‘farbrications’ indulged in by the author, G.B. Singh, regarding<br />
the Adi-Granth, and, in the second, he describes the ‘untruthful<br />
statements’ made by the author regarding the Adi-Granth. 38<br />
Citing a number <strong>of</strong> wrong statements by the author, Jodh Singh<br />
writes: “Had G.B. Singh seen the <strong>Kartarpuri</strong> <strong>Bir</strong>, he would out<br />
<strong>of</strong> sheer shame have never made such baseless statements.” 39<br />
G.B. Singh’s Sense <strong>of</strong> interpreting things is equally ridiculous.<br />
The words “Pothi Likh Pauhnche”, indicating that the Granth<br />
was completed on that date’, he says, mean that Bhai Banno<br />
had reached Lahore on that date after copying the Adi-Granth<br />
on the way. 40 On the one hand G.B. Singh writes that the<br />
<strong>Kartarpuri</strong> <strong>Bir</strong> could not have been copied before Samat 1733,<br />
and, on the other hand, he states it was copied in Samat 1697. 41<br />
Many statements <strong>of</strong> G.B. Singh are so self-contradictory that<br />
Jodh Singh describes them to be “ridiculously absurd”. Further,<br />
G.B. Singh asserts that in the <strong>Kartarpuri</strong> <strong>Bir</strong> all dates <strong>of</strong> demise<br />
are in the same hand and that those were written in Samat<br />
1717-18 by the 8th Guru. Hence the Granth was written not<br />
earlier than 1718, he concludes. We have already seen that<br />
this is a wrong statement and could be made only by a person<br />
like G,B. Singh who had never seen the <strong>Kartarpuri</strong> <strong>Bir</strong>. Yet, at<br />
many places in his book he never shirked from making<br />
numerous wrong assertions about its contents. It is in this<br />
context Dr. Jodh Singh cites the Persian proverb: “The liar has<br />
no memory” and the Punjabi proverb: “The Lies have no legs<br />
to stand firm.” 42 In the <strong>Kartarpuri</strong> <strong>Bir</strong> the word Pothi is used to<br />
describe the Adi-Granth and not Guru Baba, but G.B. Singh