Authenticity of Kartarpuri Bir - Global Sikh Studies

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original is without any factual or rational basis. The careful
examination of the Banno Bir by Mahan Singh, by the team
sent by the Amritsar University and by Prof. Pritam Singh and
their reports, establish beyond doubt the year of writing of
the Banno Bir to be 1699, 38 years after the writing of the Bir
of the 5th Guru. Evidently, tangible material evidence cannot
be brushed aside on the basis of repeated but absurdly selfcontradictory
hearsay. Further, the very attempt to alter the
year 1699 to 1659 and to antedate the Granth so as to
synchronize it with the Banno story, shows that the entire
narration about the copying done during a visit to Lahore for
having the original Granth bound there, is, as concluded by
Sahib Singh, a myth, without any factual basis. In fact, in the
face of the unambiguous internal evidence that (a) the Granth
was completed in Samat 1699, (b) the Tatkara refers only to
the Nishan of the 6th Guru and not to that of the 5th Guru,
(c) the Nishan of the 6th Guru is pasted on the relevant folios
supposed to be No. 34 with folios 31, 32, 35 and 36 to be
missing, and (d) the presence of considerable extra material
and compositions like the Ratan Mala, the very repulsive Sakhi
of Raja Shivnabh Ki, Bani of Miran Bai, Bhagat Surdas, etc.,
it is impossible to assert that the Banno Bir was completed before
1642 A.D. or that it was copied from the Granth of the 5th
Guru in 1604 A.D. or even near about that year. In fact, the
presence of the extraneous material like Salok : Jit Dar Lakh
Mohamda, Ratan mala 68 , etc. shows that it is a Granth that
militates against the very objective of the fifth Guru namely
to prepare an authentic copy or the Bani of the Guru. Hence
from the very start it is a Granth considered to be a bitter Bir,
spurious, and unacceptable. On the other hand, the Banno
people have always been floating self-contradictory myths to
give respectability to the Banno Bir.