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About Compilation of Sri Guru Granth Sahib |
Variations between original copy of Guru Granth Sahib and Bhai Banoe’s recension
We have already proved in Chapter 8 that the Copy of Original Holy Book was not taken by Bhai Banno to his native village Mangat. He made no copy from the Original Holy Book at any time. The other copy of the Holy Book, which had been made partly from the Original Holy Book and partly from other manuscripts from which the Original Copy had been made, was made under the supervision of Sri Guru Arjan Dev Ji and Bhai Gurdas, at Ramsar in Amritsar itself. 12 scribes were engaged by the Guru to make this Copy. It was this Copy in which spurious compositions were added by the end of seventeenth century, and became known as Banno’s recension. The stories in the three history books written after 1 - 3 centuries after Compilation of the Holy Book, and after insertion of the spurious material in the hand written Copies of the Holy Book, are not true. The accounts given by these historians were only their own speculations to account for inclusion of the spurious matter.
The author of Gur-bilas (written in 1718 A.D) gave the names of the additions made by Banno. He has also stated that the following changes were made by Banno in the Compositions of Bhagats -
We shall first deal with the spurious additions made at the end of the hand written Holy Books. We first quote GB Singh’s findings on Bannoe’s Copy of the Holy Book. This is the same Holy Book, which was made under the supervision of Sri Guru Arjan Dev Ji, Bhai Gurdas and Bhai Bannoe at Ramsar in Amritsar, along with the Original Copy of the Holy Book. The date of its completion is given on it as Asuj vidi 1, 1661, Bikrami, corresponding to August 30, 1604. The Original Holy Book was completed on Bhadon vidi 1, 1661 Bikrami (August 2, 1604) and installed in Sri Harimandir Sahib Ji on August 16, 1604. Who can change the dates on these two volumes? Is there any sense in calling the Book dated August 30, 1604, as the first Original One and the Book dated August 2, 1604 as the copy made from the former. By calling Day Light as Darkness of Night, it will not turn into Dark Night. We have proved that the history written after 1 - 3 centuries of the event, was written by most immature and irresponsible historians, in sympathy with the intruders.
“The Holy Book of Mangat was written by 12 scribes, and at the end there are few pages written by some other persons (interpolations)”.On page 127 of his Book, he gave the details of the additional compositions included therein, as under -
“I can make neither Banno nor the 12 scribes responsible for making such additions. In this recension of the Holy Book, many additions and alterations were made at later dates. It is clear from the writings of Gur-bilas that by that time (during 1775 Bikrami - or 1718 A.D.) these additions and alterations had been made. However, we cannot conclude that these changes were made at the time this Copy was at the time this copy was being made.After giving the reference to the information sent to him by Bishan Singh Bannoania (a descendant of Banno), G B Singh gave his own opinion as follows -
............ But at the end of Granth Sahib more additional compositions were included. as per details given in Gur-bilas of Sixth Guru.In the Holy Book at Mangat, after the Compositions of 9th Guru, information on the dates of demise of the Gurus is given. It contains the dates of demise of first Nine Gurus. It is quite evident that all these pages were inserted during the time of Guru Gobind Singh or even some time later than that.”
At the end of Granth Sahib the details of following extra compositions are given -From Rag Mala to the end of the above mentioned compositions, and including Rag Mala, have been written in one hand-writing.”
- Slok ‘jit dar lakh muhammada’
- Slok - ‘baey aatish aab’
- Rattan Mala
- hakikat rah mukam rajai shivnabh ki
- Rag Mala
“If this is correct, then we will have to say that all these pages have not been written by any of the scribes of Bhai Bannoe, but after a very long time, some one else has included these pages in the Book. Few of last pages of the Real Book might have been either damaged or torn away.”
“Old Hand-written Holy Book at BOHAT (Tehsil Falia)
A copy was made from the Holy Book of Bannoe within the very first year of its inception. That copy of the Holy Book is available with the public gurdwara of village BOHAT, situated at a distance of 5 miles from village Mangat.. Leaving aside the last 26 pages, which were inserted in it after 100 years of its existence, the whole of this Book, from leaf 1 to leaf 568, has been written in the hand of one scribe only. It is a very clear and neatly written Book including the Table of Contents. After the Table of Contents, space equal to the width of three fingers has been kept vacant, after which the same scribe has put the date of its completion. It also appears from the Table of Contents that there was page No 569, on which the scribe had written Rag Mala and the dates of demise of the Gurus. The leaf 569, was removed, and then 26 leaves of Banat Paper, containing extraneous compositions of varied types were added.After the above description, G B Singh wrote a Note, giving his own views.
On the new leaves that were inserted, the following, in the order given, were written -
- From page 569 to 578, the Compositions of Nineth Guru, both Shabads and Sloks.
- Swaiyyas of Bhatts -
About Mehla 1 (Guru Nanak Dev), Mehla 2 (Guru Angad Dev), Mehla 3 (Guru Amar Das), Mehla 4 (Guru Ram Das, and Mehla 5 (Guru Arjan Dev).
- Mundhavani
- Slok Mehla 1 - “jit dar muhammada”
- Slok Mehla 1 - “bai aatish aab”
- Rag Ramkali Rattan Mala
- Hakikat Rah Mukam Rajai Shiv Nabh Ki
- Rag Mala
- Siahi Ki Bidhi (choti) and
- Dates of Demise of first Nine Gurus.”
“It is apparent that these 26 pages were inserted into the Book after the Martyrdom of Guru Tegh Bahadur and during the time of Guru Gobind Singh. Also, Guru Hargobind’s date of demise “1701 Bikrami, chait sudi 5” and Guru Tegh Bahadur’s demise “Maghar sudi 5, 1732 Bikrami” have correctly been given.”Since the matter is greatly complicated, and to make the matter clear, we still need to give more quotes about the description of old hand-written copies of the Holy Book from Sardar G B Singh’s book. On pages from 108 to 122 of his book “Pracheen Birhan - the Old Hand-written Holy Books”, G B Singh gave the description of the Holy Book of village Boorhai Sandhu, and considers it to have been written in 1662 Bikrami (1605 A.D). G B Singh examined this Book in a private house, which is located in Mohalla Saidpuri Darwaja of Rawalpindi City. At page 109, he wrote about this Holy Book as follows -
“This whole of it has been written by one person only. Table of Contents have been given in first 26 leaves of the Book. At the end of the Holy Book, on a leaf, on one side has been written “Basant Ki Var”, and on the other side the dates of demise of the Gurus, which is leaf 563. The total number of leaves is 589, which were serialized from number 1 onward, without any omission. After lapse of long time, some one removed two leaves from the last bundle of papers forming the Book, on which numbers 587 and 588 were given. These leaves were removed and in their place he made the bundle constituting 4 leaves of paper, on which he wrote many extraneous things and increased the number of leaves.......... The paper used for these four leaves is different from other leaves, the ink is different, the pen is different, and the scribe was different from the first scribe. Because of the additional material which has been added, among them the composition “hakikat rah mukam rajai shivnab ki” was also there, and this was written during the time of Emperor Aurangzeb, near about 1673 A.D., the second scribe should be taken as living during the time of Guru Gobind Singh. The second scribe wrote the dates of demise of the Gurus, and on the other side of the leaf he kept the original date of completion of this Book unchanged and copied the same date on leaf number 589.
The four pages inserted at the end of the Holy Book of Boorhai Sandhu village and a blank leaf already in existence, were given serial numbers 587 to 591. On these sheets of paper, the following compositions were written in the order given below -
- Slok Mehla 1 -
“jit dar lakh muhamada...(1)
eis kalio panj bhitio... (2)
nanak chinj paiei darvajai... (3)”- Slok Mehla 1 -
“baey aatish aab khak...
aapio hoai ta jhur maran sach sada bakhsund.”- Rag Ramkali Rattan Mala -
“aasan sadh niralam rehai...
nanak kehai sohi bairagi (25)”- Hakikat Rah Mukam Rajai Shivbabh ki
- Rag Mala
- Siahi ki Bidhi (Choti char satra Vali)
- Chalitar Joti Jot Samavan Kai Char Guruan Dai. - Dates of Demise of First Four Gurus.”
Sardar G B Singh mentioned about other Old Hand-written Holy Books also, which were written after 1732 Bikrami, (1675 A.D) such as -
We have observed that in regard to the Holy Books written before 1732 Bikrami or 1675 A.D. those who did this nefarious work, were clever enough, to remove bundles of written papers and in their place put the new papers to make the interpolations and also write anew the adjoining scripts before and after, so that their corruption might not be detected. The readers and the observers should believe that the new pages had to be inserted due to the possible damage that might have been caused to the original ones. Even the research scholar like G B Singh was also duped when he examined Bhai Banno’s Holy Book. He could not detect the cleverness of the mischief mongers, who placed new leaves of paper to cover the changes and the additions made in portions from Rag Kanra onward till end of the Book. It was therefore, that he wrote “it was likely that the last few sheets of the Real Holy Book might have been damaged or torn away to warrant addition of new pages.”
“This Holy Book, which is in possession of ‘Dehra Baba Ram Rai, Dehra Dun’, is of great importance. I consider this Holy Book like those of Boorhai Sandhu and Mangat. We get inference from these volumes, what was the Original Holy Book and what was Not. This Holy Book was made under the supervision of Guru Hari Rai, who gave it to his older son, Baba Ram Rai, when he dispatched him to Delhi to meet with Emperor Aurangzeb. Although this Book was copied from some other Holy Book, yet it was considered as the copy of Original Holy Book of Guru Arjan Dev. The reason for this is contained in this volume. Some amendments had to be carried out to bring into line with the Original text. Thereafter, no other additions were made. The Compositions of Nineth Guru were not even included.
At the end of Rag Maru, there was a little space available. The scribe therein inserted in small letters the Shabad of Mira Bai. This was taken from other Holy Book, or some one inserted it from his memory. There is the textual difference. At the end it is written in bold letters - “Mira Bai’s Shabad is not contained in Fifth Guru’s Granth.”
There is one more Shabad given in the margin, and marked with a sign that before Mira Bai’s Shabad, this Shabad of Ravidas was required to be written. The Shabad reads - “Maru Ravidas Ji. sukh sagar surtar chintaman...” Below this Shabad, again it is written - “This Shabad was taken from the Granth of Fifth Guru.”
The Table of Contents contain 29 sheets of paper. .... After the Table of Contents, on two pages are given some written signs of Guru Hari Rai and Baba Ram Rai. The Granth is written from sheet number 33 to number 651. The whole of the Holy Book was written by one person. The writing is clear and clean ...... No extraneous matter has been included in this Volume.”The above account clearly proves what the original Holy Book was. G B Singh has mentioned one or two more copies of the Holy Book in which no extraneous matter has been inserted: The Holy Book of village SARANKE, which was written in 1728 Bikrami (1671 A.D), and also of KANGAR, (Patiala State), which was written in 1718 Bikrami (1661 A. D).
In Chapter 7, it has been proved beyond any doubt that the Compositions of Bhagats, who lived before the birth of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji, were collected by the Guru. These Compositions were passed to Sri Guru Angad Dev Ji by Guru Nanak Dev, along with his own Compositions. In this way Compositions of the First Four Gurus and the Compositions of the Bhagats reached Sri Guru Arjan Dev Ji. It may here be clarified that Bhagat Soor Das and Mira Bai did not exist, when Guru Nanak Dev made his Missionary Tours and collected the Compositions of the Bhagats. The Compositions of Bhagat Soor Das and Mira Bai came under consideration of Guru Arjan Dev, when he engaged himself in the compilation of Sri Guru Granth Sahib. Guru Arjan Dev totally rejected the Shabad of Mira Bai, apparently not in accordance with the Sikh ideology of worship of One Formless God, and took one verse of six words only of the Shabad of Bhagat Soor Das; the remaining explanatory Shabad in Rag Sarang, was of Guru Arjan Dev himself.
The readers will also note that neither Sardar G B Singh nor Sardar Bishan Singh, a descendant of Bhai Banno and custodian of the Holy Book, called Banno’s recension, is clear about Bhagat Soor Das’ composition. They consider that Bhagat Soor Das composed two Shabads; one beginning with the verse included in Guru Granth Sahib “chad mun har baimukhan ko sung”, but the remaining Shabad not included in the Holy Book. Sri Guru Arjan gave his own Shabad below the verse of Bhagat Soor Das. They consider that this Shabad is also of Bhagat Soor Das. Such a mis-understanding exists in Sikh scholars also - Dr. Surrindar Singh Kohli, who ventured to write a book, titled “Sikhism and Guru Granth Sahib“ is a classical example. On page 119 of the book, Kohli states that Bhagat Soor Das composed 2 hymns, included in Guru Granth Sahib. In this way he also authenticates Banno’s recension as the original one. This has been noted with great concern. He advocates the authenticity of Bala’s Janamsakhi of Guru Nanak Dev and has nothing against intrusion of spurious matter at the end of the Holy Books made by mischief mongers. As regards compilation of Sri Guru Granth Sahib by Sri Guru Arjan Dev Ji, Kohli repeats the same baseless and horrifying tales of the 3 historians. It is such people who have led us to this shameful situation. Koli’s book was published during 1990. The Bibliography given in his book does not refer to Professor Sahib Singh. Sri Guru Granth Darpan (Anthology - in 10 volumes) and book on “Adi Birh Bare - Compilation of Sri Guru Granth Sahib”, written by Professor Sahib Singh Ji and published during 1962-64 and 1970 respectively, had no meaning for him to refer to.
In this part of discussion Professor Sahib Singh Ji deals with intrusion of one Shabad each of Bhagat Soor Das and Mira Bai in the hand-written copies of the Holy Book. He clears the confusion that exists in his wondrous arguments and lays bare the facts as clear as day light. LIKE THE THUNDER BOLT HE KILLS FALSEHOOD.
Let us first of all make it clear, in what form Sri Guru Arjan Dev Ji included the first verse of Soor Das’ Shabad in Sri Guru Granth Sahib in Sarang Rag, page 1253. The following entry exists below the Shabad of Sri Permanand Ji -
“Chad mun har baikukhan ko sung Sarang Mehla 5 Soor DasTranslation -
eik Onkar satgur parsad. har kai sung basai har lok. tun mun arp sarbas sab arpio anand sehajdhun jhok. (1) Rahao. darsan paikh bheiy nirabkhei paai hai saglai thok. aan bast sio na kaj kachooai sundar bachan alok. (1) syam sundar taj aan jo chahat kusti tan jok. soordas mun prabh hath leeno deeno eih parlok. 2.1.”
“Bhagat Soor Das portion O my mind, turn your back, who forsake the Lord.” (top 6 words verse)Guru Arjan Dev portion -
“By the Grace of the Eternal Enlightener. The devotees of the Lord abide with Him. They dedicate their mind, body and everything else to Him and remain joyously intoxicated by the Divine music of the Word. (1) Pause. They are relieved of all evil when they see the Lord. They receive all from Him, what they need. They have nothing to do with anything else except the sight of His Beautiful Form. (1) Those, who discard the Lord, seek anything else, are like leeches sucking leper’s blood. O Soordas, the Lord has grasped my mind in His Hand, and has granted me the Everlasting Joy of the Spiritual World.”Bhagat Soor Das’ whole of Shabad reads as under -
“Chad mun har baimukhan ko sung. kaha bhio pai pan piaiye, bikh nehi tajat bhoang. Rahao. kaga ka kapoor chughaey, soan naey gung. khar ko kaha agar ko laipan, markat bhookhan aung. (1) phan patat ban baidhari, bitai hoai lehkhung. soor das ki kali kamri, charat na dooja rung. (2)”Translation -
“Turn your back on those who forsake the Lord. Tell me, what good is there in feeding cobras with milk? Serpents can never surrender their venom. Why waste camphor by feeding it to crows or squander the water of Ganga on dogs? Why array an ass in an aromatic scent? Why deck a monkey with jewels or dress it in rich clothes? Do you really think that an arrow can pierce through a fallen stone, even if you empty your quiver of them all? Once you dye a blanket in dark color, Soor Das says, there is no point hoping for a different hue.”What the mischief mongers did was, that with the first verse of Bhagat Soor Das, they added the remaining part of his complete Shabad, into the hand-written copies of the Holy Book. The Guru described the virtues of living with the Lord, as stated above, while Bhagat Soor Das had given the negative effect of forsaking the Lord, also idolizing the water of river Ganga, which was not accepted by the Guru.
With a view to finding out how the above mentioned changes were introduced into the hand-written copies of the Holy Book, we may take the help of G B Singh’s writings from his book “Pracheen Birhan”.
“It is a well known fact and the Sikhs also agree that the additional Shabads of Soor Das and Mira Bai were added later, and were not in the Original Copy of the Holy Book. The question, whether these were added with the agreement of Bhai Banno or the scribes did it on their own, cannot be decided. After all, there was nothing against the fundamentals of Sikhism, which might have been violated. Both the Shabads are in accordance with the Sikh Teachings...” (We have given above, the portion of Bhagat Soor Das’ Shabad included in the Holy Book by Sri Guru Arjan Dev Ji and Bhagat Ji’s whole of Shabad and their translation).G B Singh’s comments continue -
“The Shabad of Soor Das that exists in all Holy Books rather can be objected to for the following verse - “syam sundar tajh aan jo chahat, jio kusti tan jok.” Because in this verse, worship of Sri Krishna has been mentioned and worship of any one else has been condemned.. The other Shabad of Soor Das must be in the Original Holy Book.”NOTE: G B Singh did not know that the Original Copy of the Holy Book contained only one verse of Bhagat Soor Das - “Chad mun har har baimukhan ko sung.” - All the remaining verses are from Sri Guru Arjan Dev Ji. The words “syam sundar” ( Most Handsome) refer to the Infinite Creator, not Sri Krishna.”
G B Singh continues -
“Mira Bai like Soor Das and other Bhagats, was the worshipper of Sri Krishna. Her Shabad also refers to worship of Krishna and is full of erotic love. In my opinion that Shabad too like Soor Das’ Shabad is flawless. It reads -“mun hamaro badhio maei, kavalnain aapanai gunn. Rahao tikhan teer baidheh sarir, door gehiomaei. laheio tab janio nahi ab na sehio jaei maei. hai kou opkar karai, kathan dard maei ri. (2) nikat hou tum door nahin, sung milo aaei. mira girdhar soami dayala tan ki tapat bojhaei ri maei. 3.1.15.”
Translation -“The Lotus-eyed Lord has entwined my mind, O mother (1) Pause. The sharp arrows of his love have pierced my body through, O mother. When it struck me I did not know, but now it cannot be endured, O mother (1) Though I use charms, incantations and medicines, yet the pain does not depart. Is there any one, who will trust me? Intense is my agony, O mother. (2) You are near to me and are not distant. Come quickly to meet me. Mira’s Lord, the Mountain Lifter, is the one, she holds most dear.”The Shabads of Soor Das and Mira were recorded and are separated from each other by 150 pages in-between them. Therefore, it appears that two scribes were responsible for making additions of these Shabads. It is also possible that the sole scribe might have made these additions. I could not get a chance to investigate either of this possibility.”
On his return from Mangat, G B Singh thought over many aspects of
the case, which he should have solved there. But he did not get any chance
to visit that place for the second time. For this reason, he wrote a letter
to Sardar Bishan Singh Bannoania (a descendant of Bhai Banno) asking for
answers to those questions. Bishan Singh again examined the Holy Book (Banno’s
recension), went to Lahore to apprise G B Singh of his findings. About
these two additional Shabads of Soor Das and Mira Bai, the explanation
given by Bishan Singh was recorded at page 137 of G B Singh’s book, which
is given below -
“Mira Bai’s Shabad appears at the end of Rag Maru, and there is nothing thereafter. This has been written by the same person, who wrote the preceding Shabads of Jaidev and Ravi Das. This Shabad has not been written by any person afterward, it is part of the original writings.”On the basis of the information furnished by Bishan Singh, G B Singh gave his opinion as under -
“We thus conclude, that at the time when the Holy Book in possession of Banno, was brought before Guru Arjan Dev, these Shabads had been recorded in the Holy Book.”About Soor Das’ Shabad, Bishan Singh stated -
“In Sarang Rag, the position of Soor Das’ Shabad is as under -
Permanand’s Shabad:Below this appears Shabad of Kabir Ji - “har bin kaon sahaei mun ka.”
- “Chad mun har baimukhan ko sung.” (Complete Shabad of Soordas)
- “har kai sung basai har lok” (This is Guru Arjan Dev’s portion - translator)
The entire Shabad of “chad mun har baimukhan ko sung” , although has been given, yet the first verse only resembles its preceding verse (Bhagat Permanand’s Shabad). Thereafter the whole Shabad has been written by another person . After that the second Shabad of Soor Das has been given. (This is of Guru Arjan Dev Ji - italics ours). After this Shabad, Kabir Ji’s Shabad is seen written in the hand of the first scribe. This Shabad could not have been enlarged afterward.”By giving reference to Bishan Singh’s writing, G B Singh states -
“We arrive at this conclusion. At the time, when the scribe was doing the copying work, while on the return journey from Mangat to Lahore, then he recollected this Shabad. But he did not remember all the verses or he had doubts about some words. Therefore, he wrote the first verse from his memory. It was written with the preceding Shabad of Permanand, without giving new heading of “Soor Das” For the remaining 6 verses he left the space, Soor Das’ second Shabad (this is Guru Arjan Dev’s - italics ours) was copied from the book placed in front of him. When the Book was presented to the Fifth Guru, about 6 verses had not been copied. Afterwards, search was made or some other scribe, who had correctly remembered them, wrote them.”
“The cause of inclusion of Shabads of Soor Das and Mira Bai’s mentioned above, and at extraneous sloks at the end of the Holy Book, was apparently, that all these compositions were included in the books of Baba Mohan.”Bishan Singh, however, gives the following opinion regarding inclusion of all the extraneous compositions in Banno’s recension of the Holy Book (page 139 G B Singh’s book, Pracheen Birhan) -
“It is an admitted fact that all additional compositions, had been included in the Holy Book by Bhai Sahib (Banno), when he got another copy made, before he took it to the Fifth Guru and handed over to him. Bhai Banno did not write any other composition afterward.”About the above assertion of Bishan Singh, G B Singh says -
“This we can accept where the empty spaces were filled in the Holy Book, but those compositions which were added at the end of the Book , this position does not hold good.”
There is no doubt that according to his written statement, G B Singh did go to Mangat and see Bhai Banno’s recension of the Holy Book. And there is not the slightest doubt that he saw the Book cursorily only. At that time he had lost the vision of a researcher and the critical examiner, and for this purpose he wanted to go there at another time, but could not go. He tries to cover up this deficiency with the help of others’ witnesses; and with whose help? WITH THE HELP OF THOSE, WHO ARE THE OWNERS OF THE VERY BOOK IN DISPUTE!! We do not consider it to be a correct approach to blame any one or doubt his integrity and sincerity. But what kind of reseacher is he, who is deciding the issues on the basis of others’ opinions? Sardar Bishan Singh, who was totally ignorant of the history and even the issues involved, blindly justified the originality of the Corrupted Holy Book to save his Dynastic Property. He appears to have befriended this researcher, and wanted that he should oblige him on the basis of his explanations. Sardar G B Singh, relying totally on Bishan Singh’s report, could oblige him half way only. He had clearly stated that the additions made at the end of the Holy Book were made much later and were interpolations. But in respect of Shabads of Mira Bai and Soor Das, he supported his friend out of the way.
Readers are requested to give deeper thought to the idea, which we are now to give. G B Singh had opened the Holy Book of Bannoe and was examining it. He saw at the end of Rag Maru, a Shabad of Mira Bai, and at the end of Rag Sarang Soor Das’ Composition. But strange it is, he could not get a chance to examine this simple fact, whether these two Compositions were written by one person or two persons. Why? Why did he not get the chance? How many minutes it would have taken to put together the leaves from Rag Maru to Sarang? Kindly note the words used by G B Singh. The pages involved according to the portable volume of the Holy Book he was carrying, were 150 pages (75 sheets). He had gone to examine Bhai Bannoe’s recension of the Holy Book. Why he could not count the sheets or pages of Holy Book there? The truth is, by comparing the writings of these two Shabads, he forgot about counting of the pages involved in between these two Shabads. In order to complete the writing in his book, he, while sitting home, counted the pages from the volume of the Holy Book available with him.
Not only this; he only went to Mangat, but did not see the Holy Book there at all. Leaving aside the research work, the maximum that he did was, as it appears, he got both the Shabads written from a priest there. He did not see the actual Shabads written in the Holy Book. On page 125, he wrote the prevalent notions of Sikhs and thereafter wrote both the Shabads. He did not unequivocally say that he himself had seen these Shabads from the Holy Book. If he had seen them, then why should he have asked Sardar Bishan Singh to state in which hand the Shabad of Mira Bai had been written. By taking the support of his witness, he at once came to the conclusion that before presentation of this Holy Book to Guru Arjan Dev, this Shabad had been included in the Book.
The same technique has been adopted with regard to the Shabad of Bhagat Soor Das. If G B Singh had seen for himself the verse written in the Holy Book there “chad mun har baimukhan ko sung”, he would have surely seen the additional verses written there also, then how could he not have seen whether or not those were written in one hand or in two? If he was so short sighted, or the power of observation had weakened so much that he was not able to decide this simple issue, then at that very time he could have contacted Sardar Bishan Singh or any other person to clarify the facts. Why should he have asked Sardar Bishan Singh to enlighten him on those things by writing a letter to him? The matter is quite straight forward. In the first instance, G B Singh never saw the Holy Book, and if he had seen it, he must have seen it closed and wrapped in clothes. So, what to say of finding of time for the comparison of the writings of Mira Bai’s Shabad and that of Bhagat Soor Das, whether written in one hand or different hands, he did not care to see even Soor Das’ Shabad, whether all the six verses were written in one hand or first one in one hand and the remaining 5 verses in different hand. Why should he have observed all these things? WE ARE A SACRIFICE TO SUCH A RESEARCH , MARVELOUS! MARVELOUS!! Let us now examine those answers which Sardar Bishan Singh sent. With regard to the Shabad of Mira Bai, he wrote that it was in the same hand writing in which the preceding Shabads of Jaidev and Ravidas had been written. It is a part of the original text, and that none wrote it afterwards. Sardar Ji! Mira Bai’s Shabad is a part of the real whole text, in the sense, in which you call the additional insertions in the end of the Holy Book are treated as part of the original text. In your view, after the Holy Book was shown to Guru Arjan Dev, nothing was added to it!!!
What is the Reality? Sardar Bishan Singh has rightly stated that Mira Bai’s Shabad was written by the same person, who wrote the Shabads of Bhagats Jaidev and Ravi Das. But one thing he has missed. The question is: the one who wrote the Shabads of Mira Bai, Jaidev and Ravidas, how much did he previously write in the Holy Book in question? Now see! What is the answer to this? This is the key point. Sardar Bishan Singh avoids to answer this question. With regard to these two Shabads, the same tactic has been used, which we see at the end of the Holy Book, where spurious compositions were added. Twelve scribes copied the Holy Compositions to make this Copy of the Holy Book. If any one says that the Shabads of Mira Bai and Soor Das and also the additional compositions at the end of the Book, were written by the same persons who wrote adjacent preceding and succeeding compositions of the text, they must also prove to the world that those persons were among the 12 of the original scribes and their suspected writings match with their earlier writings, if any. We shall fully expose these persons, when we describe the copy of the Holy Book at village Bohat. Suffice it is to say for the present, that with a view to incorporating the Shabad of Mira Bai, and to show that it was already in existence in the Book, they took out bunch of leaves of the Book containing compositions in Maru Rag and the next Rag, replaced them with the new bunch of leaves, compositions re-written and changes made wherever wanted. The changes were made in such a manner that it would appear nothing has been done. So, Sardar Bishan Singh rightly said that all was found written with the same hand.
Let us now examine the one verse of Bhagat Soor Das. Here those who changed the text, did not feel the necessity of removing the bunch of leaves and replacing with new bunch of leaves with changes made thereon.
Let us see the conclusions drawn by G B Singh. He wrote that on return journey from Mangat, the scribes then remembered of this Shabad. They, from their memory wrote the first verse only. This man, who claimed himself to be the research scholar, has made his researches a source of laughing stock. Were the scribes recollecting their memories or engaged on copying work? Was this a specimen of honesty on the part of the scribe, who wrote the first verse of Bhagat Soor Das from his memory. Did the scribe forget the contents of the Shabad and also the name of the Bhagat? Why did the scribe not write “Sarang Soor Das”? G B Singh stated that the second Shabad was copied by the scribe from the Book available with him. G B Singh was totally confused in dealing with Bhagat Soor Das’ composition.
Readers are requested to kindly refer to the textual position with regard to one verse of Bhagat Soor Das as given in Sri Guru Granth Sahib, stated in the beginning of this section. What has been done by the mischief mongers is, that with the verse of Bhagat Soor Das, they have added the remaining part of Soor Das’ complete Shabad into the hand-written copies of the Holy Book. Guru Arjan Dev took one verse of Bhagat Soor Das only, and elaborated it with his own Composition given above. In the beginning of this section, we have given Bhagat Soor Das’ whole of Shabad. Here the question is of interpolation of the remaining portion of Bhagat Soor Das’ Shabad in the Holy Book. Only the first verse of Soor Das’ Shabad was included in the Original Copy of the Holy Book. The addition of remaining 10 verses of the Shabad in the Holy Book is a serious charge of corruption.
The Copy of the Holy book at village Bohat, was made from the copy of the Holy Book of Banno. The Copy of the Book at Bohat was made during the life time of Guru Arjan Dev Ji. G B Singh did not get chance to see this Holy Book. He said that he was in hurry, and thus could not pay attention toward it. However, in place of G B Singh, Sardar Bishan Singh Bannoania went to village Bohat and examined the Copy of the Holy Book there. Bishan Singh informed G B Singh to the following effect (page 143 ‘Pracheen Birhan’) -
“Under Rag Maru, below the Shabad of Jaidev ‘chund sut bhediya’, at the end of the Shabad there was some blank space. There some one else has written two Shabads -Kindly give a thought to the fact we are to mention now. If Bhai Banno’s Copy of the Holy Book contained Mira Bai’s Shabad from its very inception, then why the scribe of the Holy Book at Village Bohat, who made this volume from the Banno’s copy, copied every thing except Mira Bai’s Shabad? It is an unchallengeable fact that when the Holy Book of Bohat was made, then Banno’s Copy of Holy Book did not contain Mira Bai’s Shabad.There is still some blank space available. (page 348)”
- Shabad of Ravi Das - “sukh sagar surtar chintaman...”
- Mira Bai’s Shabad - “mun hamaro baidhio”
The readers will also recollect that with regard to Bannoe’s Copy of the Holy Book, Bishan Singh had written to G B Singh that in Maru Rag, the Shabads of Jaidev, Ravi Das and Mira Bai appeared to have been written in the same hand. How is it that the scribe of Holy Book at Bohat could omit to copy the Shabad of Mira Bai only? The scribe would have copied everything contained in Bannoe’s Copy, when the copy was being made from it. BUT HOW COULD HE COPY IT, WHEN THE SHABAD WAS NOT THERE THEN? THEN HOW AND WHEN THE THREE SHABADS WERE FORMED INSTEAD OF TWO, WHICH BISHAN SINGH MENTIONED? WHEN THEY WERE MADE THREE SHABADS AND HOW THEY WERE MADE SO, WE NOW REVEAL THIS MYSTERY. THERE WAS AN OCCASION WHEN BUNCH OF WRITTEN SHEETS WERE REMOVED FROM THE HOLY BOOK AND NEW WRITTEN SHEETS OF PAPER WERE INSERTED MAKING CHANGES IN THE TEXT. THEY WERE CLEVER ENOUGH TO RE-WRITE THE TEXTS OF ADJOINING PORTIONS TO THE CHANGED PORTION IN THE PRECEDING AS WELL AS THE SUCCEEDING PAGES, SO THAT THE CHANGES MADE COULD NOT BE DETECTED. BANNO’S COPY OF THE HOLY BOOK WAS CHANGED LATER IN THIS MANNER.
The changes in the Copy of the Holy Book at Village Bohat were also brought about in the above mentioned manner also. Otherwise, how could the scribe of Copy of the Holy Book at BOHAT, have omitted writing of Sri Ravi Das Ji’s Shabad as well. The scribe did not make this omission, he should not be blamed for this. When they started making changes in the Copy of the Book at BOHAT, they like wise removed the bunch of sheets of paper from the Book. It so happened that on a page was the lonely Shabad of Bhagat Ravidas written, which was removed. In the new page that they inserted they had to write both Ravi Das’ Shabad and Mira Bai’s Shabad. Hence the statement of Bishan Singh that he noted the Shabads of Ravi Das and Mira Bai written in new hand. Now both the Shabads of Ravi Das and Mira Bai were made to appear written by the same person, so that no body should doubt about inclusion of Mira Bai’s Shabad as an intrusion. If Sardar G B Singh had not examined the old Holy Books in a hurry at each place, thus playing with the Question of Life and Death of SIKHISM, then the Holy Book at Village Bohat, (the page relating to Mira Bai Shabad) would have created new light in him. We have at last found out, beyond any doubt, that Mira Bai’s Shabad in the first instance was neither in Banno’s Holy Book nor in the Copy of the Holy Book at Village BOHAT.
About Soor Das’s Shabad G B Singh on page 144 of his book “Pracheen Birhan”, writes as under -
“Under Sarang Rag, Soor Das’ Shabad “chad mun har baimukhan ko sung” and Kabir’s Shabad “har bin kaoan sahahi mun ka”, have been written in different hand writing.”The interpolators of fake compositions in Guru Granth Sahib, adopted the same technique, which they adopted in Banno’s Copy of the Holy Book, where they incorporated Mira Bai’s Shabad. Kabir’s Shabad “har bin kavan sahahi mun ka” was already there in Banno’s Copy of the Holy Book, and had been written by the scribe who first made the Book. The scribe of Copy of the Holy Book at village Bohat while making the Book could not have left it un-copied. When the scribe copied the whole of the Book correctly, why he should have committed mistakes in copying that portion, authenticity of which is in dispute. The scribe is completely innocent and is not to be blamed for any lapse. Here too, a bunch of leaves of the Holy Book were taken out and new ones with alterations were inserted in their place. They left Kabir’s Shabad untouched intentionally, so that Soor Das’ Shabad might appear as the original one. G B Singh here too was in hurry and could not make any research work.
Bhai Bannoe’s Copy of the Holy Book and the Copy of the Holy Book at village Bohat, were the first copies that were made. Any other copies that were made afterward, were largely from these two copies. We may add -
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