Authenticity of Kartarpuri Bir - Global Sikh Studies

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42 2. The story of writing the Banno Bir The traditional story of copying out the Banno Bir from the Granth of the 5th Guru is that the Guru entrusted to Bhai Banno the job of getting the Granth bound at Lahore, but, Bhai Banno on his way from Amritsar to Lahore, employed many copyists and copied the Granth into what now constitutes the Banno Bir. This is the version given by Giani Gian Singh. 51 The story given by S.D. Bhalla in Mehma Parkash (1801 A.D.) is that Bhai Banno got permission to take it to his village Mangat, that he employed many persons to copy it; and halted at every half Kos. That while copying some words were wrongly written, and the Guru signed the Banno Granth on its return. 52 Here it is necessary to point out that whereas Lahore is only 20 Kos from Amritsar, village Mangat (Distt. Gujrat, Pakistan) is still 100 Kos further ahead. Mangat being about 120 Kos from Amritsar, the journey would have taken about 8 months one way alone. Gurbilas Chevin Patshahi (1718 A.D.) records. that the Guru asked Banno to have the Bir bound at Lahore, that Bhai Banno got permission to take the Granth to his village for one night, that on way from Amritsar to Mangat, and Mangat to Lahore he employed many copyists to copy the Granth by the distribution of clusters of leaves among the scribes, and halted at a distance of one Kos every day. It is added that an extra material, as described earlier, was introduced in the Banno Bir. 53 The Guru put his Nishan on it. This way the journey to Mangat and Lahore would have taken about 7 to 8 months. The fourth version given by Bhai Santokh Singh is that the completed Granth was taken to Mangat by Bhai Banno after taking permission for copying it and taking it to his village for one night, and that he halted at every 5 Kos on his journey. This way it should have taken Bhai Banno about 50 days to complete the journey. 54 Dr. Sahib Singh who has considered in great detail the subject of the Banno story in his book, “Adi-Bir-Bare” has
43 on very cogent grounds rejected all these stories to be unreliable and self-contradictory. 55 The first version in not tenable for a number of reasons. Sahib Singh believes that it is impossible to imagine that the developed town of Amritsar, which had been there for some decades, had, at that time, no facility for the simple work of binding a book. Secondly, the story is contradicted by the factual position of the Banna Bir. Apart from the impossibility of copying out a voluminous Granth in just 4-5 days, we find that the Banna Bir has been written generally by one hand or at the most by a few hands not exceeding two or three. Second, the copyist has done the job very well Besides, the writing is such as to show that the copyist never wrote it in haste or under pressure of time. 56 Third, for evident reasons the work of copying could have been done conveniently only during the outward journey when the Bir was unbound and in bunches which could be distributed among different scribes. As it happened in the Kartarpuri Bir, such a process would obviously leave gaps or blank spaces between different sections, Rags, etc. But this is not the position in the Banna Bir. Fourth, it is difficult to imagine that Bhai Gurdas who did the entire writing of the Granth would not be entrusted with the task of binding the Bir or would not even be associated with it. The other stories of Bhai Banno, having taken the Bir to his village and having spent on way 50 days to seven months to copy it out are even less plausible than the first one. Normally, Bhai Banno would not take the Bir to his village without first having got it bound; and having done that his taking the Bir to his village and keeping it away from the Amritsar for one month to seven months, is not a mere circumvention, but a clear flouting of the orders of the Guru to keep it for only one night at village Mangat. Such defiance on the part of a devoted Sikh of the expressed wishes and directions of the fifth Guru is really unthinkable. And, evidently in the case of a bound Bir the work of
Page 1 and 2: CHAPTER 1 Introductory Sikhism is a
Page 3 and 4: and analyse all the available mater
Page 5 and 6: Parkash (1801 A.D.) the reply of Bh
Page 7 and 8: authentic scripture of the Sikhs co
Page 9 and 10: and kept it with him as a national
Page 11 and 12: 11 with the quotation of the first
Page 13 and 14: 13 Kartarpuri Bir, though he had no
Page 15 and 16: 15 There is no handwritten Bir the
Page 17 and 18: 17 5. There is another set of corre
Page 19 and 20: 19 mistakes which in their characte
Page 21 and 22: 21 been scored out or cancelled by
Page 23 and 24: 23 that the last words end where ve
Page 25 and 26: 25 been wrongly numbered as 333, 34
Page 27 and 28: 27 in the copy all the 1 to 60 Saba
Page 29 and 30: 29 It is important to understand th
Page 31 and 32: 31 contention was that the Kartarpu
Page 33 and 34: 33 pretension on the part of any on
Page 35 and 36: 35 Salok is not in the Mohan Pothie
Page 37 and 38: 37 Singh writes that the Kartarpuri
Page 39 and 40: 39 ever have been contemplated, tha
Page 41: 41 including these two verses was n
Page 45 and 46: 45 scriptural or doctrinal deviatio
Page 47 and 48: 47 Banno Granth had been tempered w
Page 49 and 50: 49 original is without any factual
Page 51 and 52: 51 was shaved. This feature is in o
Page 53 and 54: 53 can be accomodated on about 465
Page 55 and 56: 55 5. This Bir was written in Sarna
Page 57 and 58: 57 Granth having been copied on way
Page 59 and 60: 59 by the fifth Guru, and it is a C
Page 61 and 62: 61 changing it to 1659. Apart from
Page 63 and 64: 63 In his paper he records that in
Page 65 and 66: 65 suggestion, for the first time r
Page 67 and 68: 67 Pritam Singh when faced with the
Page 69 and 70: 69 need to be allowed and “the al
Page 71 and 72: 71 On the main issue we have come t
Page 73 and 74: 73 the Kartarpuri and the Banno Bir
Page 75 and 76: 75 available since 1981. If it had
Page 77 and 78: 77 of the three authors or critics
Page 79 and 80: 58 ibid, pp. 119-121, 135 59 ibid,
Page 81 and 82: 81 APPENDIX A Dr. W. H. Mcleod has
Page 83 and 84: 83 Mira Bai’s hymn, as already st
Page 85 and 86: 85 done only for the utilization of
Page 87 and 88: 87 The work was in the tradition of
Page 89 and 90: 89 about the nature of the mystic e
Page 91 and 92: 91 Sikhism every other religious pr
Page 93 and 94:
love. Because in the religious envi
Page 95 and 96:
95 life there is aggression or inju
Page 97 and 98:
97 causes, but also prescribed that
Page 99 and 100:
99 ALDOUS (with emphasis) : Exactly
Page 101 and 102:
101 Centuries earlier a Muslim sain
Page 103 and 104:
103 Sikh Gurus God was Love. For th
Page 105 and 106:
105 for all living, but in the purp
Page 107 and 108:
107 rationality has been called a c
Page 109 and 110:
109 constituted the unstable spirit
Page 111 and 112:
111 The situation is similar in Afr
Page 113 and 114:
113 17 ibid, pp. 26, 1091-92 18 ibi
Page 115 and 116:
Essays on Authenticity of Kartarpur
Page 117:
ESSAYS ON THE AUTHENTICITY OF KARTA
Page 121 and 122:
PREFACE I am extremely grateful to
Page 123:
its essentials. In laying down thei
Page 126:
covered the scriptural and doctrina
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Authenticity of Kartarpuri Bir - Global Sikh Studies

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