Nitnem by Dr. Kulwant Singh, with Punjabi ... - Gurbanifiles.org

15
STANDARD
My colleagues and I have adopted the works by S.G.P.C. (Shromni Gurdwara Parbandhak
Committee, Amritsar) as the set standard for the verification and correction of the errors in the
Banis (Scriptures). The pages and lines, of Guru Granth Sahib, wherever given, are according
to the publication of this institution. These publications are -
Guru Granth Sahib (The Sikh Holy-Book), or its Sainchees (Parts) published by S.G.P.C.,
Amritsar.
Banis of Guru Gobind Singh – As yet, Dassam-Granth has not been standardized. The
following books were used to check the Bani of Guru Gobind Singh -
Dassam Granth And its Shabdarath, as mentioned above.
Nit-Nem Te Hor Bania - a Gutka (Booklet), and “Nit-Nem
Steek,” both published by S.G.P.C.
LIMITATIONS
In verifying Gurbani in its Gurmukhi script, and marking its corrections, one cannot use one’s
own free will, and has to depend on the standard reference-works. The problem is that almost
all the reference works have their own variations of the spellings and as well of the meanings.
It becomes difficult to decide as to which version is correct - right. This is more so with the
Banis of Guru Gobind Singh. Unless the Scriptures, and other works particularly of Bhai
Gurdas, Bhai Nand Lal etc., are corrected and their Padd-Chhed (spacing i.e. separating the
words), Shabd-Jor (spellings), and their meanings are standardized, as well as their pages and
lines per page are fixed by the Panth (The High Sikh Institution), it shall remain a difficult
problem.
Guru Granth Sahib (The Holy Book) and most of our old time manuscripts were
Dandee-Likhat, (Mala-Likhat) i.e. writing of the script ran as a continuous single line without
spaces between the individual words. For separating the sentences, a “Do-Dandee” (A vertical
double-line equal to the height of letters) was used as a period. “Ik-Dandee” (Single vertical
line) meant a comma, was not used in Guru Granth Sahib. There were no other punctuation
marks. Differences in Padd-Chhed (spacing of the words) lead to variations in the spellings,
resulting in differences in the meanings of individual words.
It is not desirable to use the English punctuation marks within the body of the Holy
Scriptures. The coming generations will presume that this is the right way of scribing Gurbani.
The comma is mercilessly abused as a punctuation mark when giving quotations from Gurbani,
or when preparing its translations, or even in the Gurbani script. A comma can be avoided
within script of the Scripture by creating some space in its place, or by breaking the line where
the scholars want to put a comma. Besides comma, the writers do not hesitate to use question
mark, and exclamation sign in the Gurbani. To put the Gurbani or the words from it into our
writings, the inverted commas and parentheses are useful to mark such things out.
To a great extent, Padd-Chhed: separating the individual words of Guru Granth Sahib
and other books, came as a boon and made its reading easy. Padd-Chhed depended on the
wisdom, knowledge, and choice of the individual scholars. A careful and comparative study of
the scriptures in different works brings out the examples. All this had been instrumental in
creating differences in the Shabad-Jor (Spellings), and to a great extent this ended in the loss of
uniformity in the meanings. We hardly see teachers or institutions that maintain uniformity.