About Compilation of Sri Guru Granth Sahib (Adi Birh Bare) - Who were responsible for making intrusion of extraneous matter in Sri Guru Granth

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Who were responsible for making intrusion of extraneous matter in Sri Guru Granth

Who were responsible for making intrusion of extraneous matter in Sri Guru Granth

Research made in old ‘Janamsakhis’ of Guru Nanak Dev

Naturally, the readers must be thinking, who were those who made such a plan to cause confusion and total disruption among the Sikhs. The spurious compositions added at the end of hand-written copies of the Holy Book, are all stated to be in the name of Guru Nanak Dev. So, in order to find out where these spurious compositions in the name of Guru Nanak Dev existed, and when they were incorporated in the hand-written copies of the Holy Book, we have to make a critical research of the ‘Janamsakhis’ (old records of life history of Guru Nanak Dev). The oldest book from which we find the life events of Guru Nanak Dev, is called “Puratan Janamsakhi”. This book was written in 1692 Bikrami (1635 A.D) during the times of Sri Guru Hargobind, the Sixth Guru. In the Third edition of this Book, at pages 134 - 35, at the end of Story number 29, the conclusion is given. The heading of Story number 29 is “Bisiar Des, Jhandha Badhi”. At the end it is written - “Then Baba was pleased. Then Jhandha Badhi was dispatched toward Bisiar. Jhanda Badhi’s Pontif-ship is in Bisiar country. The Kal Yog (Iron Age) has completed four thousand, seven hundred and thirty five years - 4,735 years.”

The publisher of this ‘Janamsakhi’ has given the following Note -

“From this version, the idea behind writing of this Janamsaki can be known. The way to find the secret of this Janamsakhi stated by Sardar Karam Singh Historian, is this. At that time Kal Yug had completed 4,735 years. Now in 1983 Bikrami (1926 A. D), Kal Yug has completed 5,026 years. At the Guru’s time Kal Yug had completed 4,735 years. The difference between the two is 291 years. This means 291 years have elapsed, since this Janamsakhi was first written.

It was, therefore, in 1692 Bikrami (1635 A.D) that this Janamsakhi was written. Guru Hargobind remained Guru from 1606 - 1644 A.D.”

Even if this Janamsakhi had not indicated the date when it was written, it could have been estimated. It could not be before the time of Guru Arjan Dev, because the author misquoted Guru Arjan Dev’s writings as that of Guru Nanak Dev’s. At the same time, this could not have been much later from the time of Guru Arjan Dev, as the language used is very old.

In this Janamsakhi, many Shabads and Sloks are such, that we do not find them in Sri Guru Granth Sahib. The Sloks and Shabads quoted are fake. We have since established the fact that each of the Gurus wrote his own Compositions and handed over the whole stock of Compositions to the Successor Guru. What is the relation between the fake compositions later smuggled into the copies of the Holy Book and those compositions appearing in Janamsakhis in the name of the Guru. We shall deal with this aspect later in its details. For the present we are examining the other Janamsakhis. When we carefully read the spurious Sloks and Shabads given in ‘Puratan Janamsakhi’, we observe that in those compositions there is not a single instance, where any of these fake compositions was incorporated in the old hand-written copies of the Holy Book. Here, we have come to the firm conclusion that the author of ‘Puratan Janamsakhi” was not involved in tampering with the contents of old hand-written copies of Guru Granth Sahib. This author lived during the period earlier than that of Guru Tegh Bahadur. We have to search other sources of these fake compositions and the mischief mongers.

The JANAMSAKHI OF BHAI BALA

The life history of Guru Nanak has also been written by Bhai Mani Singh, and by Baba Saroop Das of Vairowal, district Amritsar. There are no fake Sloks or Shabads in these history books. The name of Bhai Bala is so popular, that it is doubtful if any other Sikh is popular to that extent. Both learned and lay men believe that Bhai Bala was a Sikh of Guru Nanak Dev; he was also a resident of Talwandi, during the Gurus long tours, he was ever with the Guru. After the Guru Nanak’s demise, Guru Angad called him from Talwandi. He lived with the Guru and helped in writing of the life history of Guru Nanak Dev, which book is called “Janamsakhi of Bhai Bala.”. Everywhere in Punjab, in all gurdwaras, people daily hear the discourse from this Janamsakhi.

But it is most surprising that such a renowned Sikh of Guru Nanak, called Bhai Bala, was totally ignored, by the accepted top-most scholar poet of Sikhism, named Bhai Gurdas Bhalla, who in his 11th Var, while giving the list of the devotees of Guru Nanak, omitted the name of Bhai Bala! Bhai Gurdas even included the name of Nawab Daulat Khan Lodi, as the devotee of Guru Nanak Dev, but not of Bhai Bala. In the first Var, Bhai Gurdas very briefly gave an account of Guru Nanak Dev’s life. While describing the Third Missionary Tour of Guru Nanak for visiting Mecca, Madina, Baghdad and other places, Bhai Gurdas stated -

“Baba went to Baghdad and stayed there at the outskirts of the City. There was one God-Man, the Baba, and the second one was Minstrel Mardana.”

How strange it is! Every Sikh considers Bala as the great devotee of Guru Nanak and the life history of the Guru as told by him was most authentic and that this record was the oldest one. On the other hand the great Sikh historian, Karam Singh, in his book “Katik or Baisakh”, has stated the reality of Bala’s Janamsakhi. By writing this book, Karam Singh has rendered singular service to the cause of Sikhism. Every literate Sikh should read this book and appreciate the real service render by him. By giving a number of references from the book of Bhai Bala’s Janamsakhi, at the end he wrote -

“With this history, one can say without fear that this Janamsakhi was made at the end of Guru Gobind Singh’s time. It could not have been written earlier than Guru Gobind Singh’s time.”

We give below some of the factors that led Sardar Karam Singh to draw the above conclusion. We will give references from the book “Kartik or Baisakh”, which was published in 1932 and contains 270 pages -

Page 197. “Names of certain selected cities and villages are changed from time to time.”Eminabad” is a new name of the city, which was previously known as Saidpur. Although the new name of this city had been decided, but was officially declared much later. The new name of the city was registered in official records during the time of Emperor Akbar and from then onward it was that the new name began to be used. During the time of Emperor Akbar, even, Mohamad Kasim Farista used the name Saidpur. The Puratan Janam Sakhi written in 1691 Bikrami (1634 A.D) made mention of Saidpur. But the Janamsakhi of Bhai Bala, stated to be the oldest, makes a mention of “Eminabad”
Page 198. In Puratan Janamsakhi, there was mention of names of Bhai Jhanda and Bhai Lalo. While mentioning their names, word “badhi” was also used. The word “badhi” is a Punjabi word. The word “tarkhan” was derived from the Balochi word “darkhan”. When the Baoch people came to Punjab, being Muslims, they had a voice in the administration. As a result of their use of word “darkhan” for a carpenter, the Punjabis also began to use word “tarkhan” for carpenter, instead of “badhi”. This was much later development. In Bhai Bala’s Janamsakhi word used is “tarkhan” - this Janamsakhi apparently was not written during Guru’s Angad’s time.
Page 199 . The following Slok appear in Bala’s Janamsakhi uttered by Guru Nanak in conection with the discussion with Pandit Braham Das (Kashmiri) -

gur mileiye mun rehasiye, jion vothai dharan sigar...

Page 201 - When Guru Nanak went to Medina, there he had discussion with the Kazis. The Guru was stated to have uttered the following Shabad -

alo agam khudaei bandai...

Page 210. When Guru Nanak Dev in his First Tour, visited the country of devas, there Raja Devdoot became the Sikh of the Guru. During the discussion that followed between them, it has been stated : “Guru Nanak said, O Bhai Devloot, I appoint you a Masand of this place.”. But the Masand System came into existence from the time of Guru Arjan Dev. Before that time, this word had never been used by Sikhs.
Page 210. According to Bhai Bala, Mardana got the Rabab from Farinda, and asked the Guru about Gurmukhi instruments. The Guru replied: “O Mardana, Rabab and Dhadd are the Sikh instruments of music.” But “Dhadd” was introduced by Guru Hargobind for singing Vars and other marshal tunes. During the earlier times it was unknown.

The Real Author of Bhai Bala’s Janamsakhi

Possibility of Confusion

Guru Nanak’s demise took place in 1539 A.D. The author of Bhai Bala’s Janamsakhi showed to the people, that Guru Angad immediately on becoming the Guru called for Bhai Bala, who started dictating this Janamsakhi. Sarar Karam Singh historian’s has proved that this book was written after 1750 Bikrami (1693 A.D). The auhor of this Janamsakhi had in his mind some ulterior motives. The author wanted to create confusion in Sikhs.

Guru Nanak’s Date of Birth

Sardar Karam Singh’s book “Kartik or Baisakh” has clarified the confusion created by this Janamsakhi. He wrote that all the old Janamsakhis had mentioned the date of Guru Nanak’s Birth on Baisakh Sudi 3 (April 15), but Bhai Bala’s Janamsakhi without any reason stated that the Guru was born on the Full Moon Day of the month of Kartik. It created confusion in Sikhs, which still continues.. The old Janamsakhis mention the date of birth as Baisakh Sudi 3 (April 15),. while we continue to celebrate the day on the Full Moon Day in Kartik.

Regarding Baba Handal

Karam Singh refers to the stories as given in Bala’s Janamsakhi, relating to the departure for Abode of God, story of discussion with Bhagat Dharoo , and the story of visit to Kandhar - in all these stories Guru Nanak Dev was down-graded and Baba Handal was greatly exalted. They have lifted Baba Handal to such an extent that he had reached the Court of God. Karam Singh wrote on page 238, of his book, as under -

“The contents of Bhai Bala’s Janamsakhi are clear. It is all in praise of Baba Handal and condemnation of Guru Nanak Dev. It is for this reason, the author of Bhai Bala’s Janamsakhi, can be none else, but a Niranjania. But there are two things to bear in mind, firstly, to consider Sri Kabir higher than Guru Nanak Dev, secondly, Handal claiming to be the Sikh Brother of the Guru in Treta Yuga. Many people think that the Janamsakhi of Bhai Bala, which contain much praise of Sri Kabir, is a trick of the Kabir Panthis. But this not true. In the Janamsakhi of Niranjanias, it has been clearly admitted, that Kabir was the greatest of all the Bhagats, except for Baba Handal. It is, therefore to suspect, that the Kabir Pathis had their hand in it, is a baseless argument. The second point is all the more surprising. In this Janamsakhi, it is written that in Treta Yuga, the Guru was a servant of Raja Janak, used to worship images and tell lies. But in this account it has been stated that in Treta Yuga, the Guru and Handal were Sikh Brothers and both were the Masands of Raja Janak. From this it is clear that those who had written this Janamsakhi, never realized their mistake. The author of the Janamsakhi tied up both the ends - one (Hindal) was raised sky high and the other (Guru Nanak Dev - according to their mean thoughts), lowered to greatest depth of the under-world.”

Why we turned to this side?

We were in search of the source which caused inclusion of spurious compositions into the copies of hand-written Holy Books. Who did this mischief and how did it happen? In this search, we came across Bhai Bala’s Jabamsakhi, which was written 20 - 25 years after the Martyrdom of Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur in 1675 A.D. In this Janamsakhi, the date of birth of Guru Nanak has been given differently from the previous ones and it is in this book that the Guru has been ridiculed and insulted to the extreme. The chief of the Niranjania sect, Baba Hindal has been greatly praised and has been shown of much higher status than Guru Nanak Dev. Sardar Karam Singh reached the conclusion that the Bala’s Janamsakhi was written at the initiative of the Niranjania sect. But to keep the Sikhs in confusion, they were informed that this was written in the presence of Sri Guru Angad Dev Ji at the dictation of Bhai Bala.

The Mystery Revealed

The readers will be surprised to know that those who tampered with the hand-written copies of the Holy Book and inserted fake compositions into them, were no others, than the Niranjanias, who were responsible for writing of the mischievous Bhai Bala’s Janamsakhi!! The readers will recollect that the fake compositions were inserted in the hand-written copies of the Holy Book, after “Mundhawani”. The first of such composition was “Slok Mehla 1, jit dar lakh mohammda”. In the copy of the Holy Book of Pindi Lala (district Gujarat), it has been written “Slok tatha gosht Malar nal hoei.”

The next fake composition included in the copies of the Holy book was -

“vir slamalaikh braey khudai sach chou, dageh kitnai saikh. jaia bijai lunai so, hukmi milai so khai. nanak sachai nam bin , badha dukh saheh. (2)”

Let us now study Story number 125 of Bhai Bala’s Janamsakhi -

“eik onkar satgur parsad

Fourth Missionary Tour. Story about Vira Nau Malar

On the day the Guru passed through Dhanasari country and continued to go to another country. Guru Nanak prepared a cot, and thereon sat, the Guru, Mardana Rababi, Siho and Gheo. While all the four were sitting, Guru Nanak went into ecstasy. When the Guru woke up, the Sikhs asked him on whom he had meditated. Then Guru Nanak replied, O Mardana, my mind is alert now. Then Mardana inquired, which side he would like to go. The Guru then replied that there was a man named Vira Malar, he lived in the next village. He would meet with him and play with him. Then both the Guru and Mardana started walking and reached that place, where Vira used to live. Then Mardana inquired of the people, where Vira was living. Then the people replied, pointing to a place, that belonged to Vira Malar. Then Guru Nanak went to that place, where Vira was sitting. Then Guru Nanak went to him and said, “O Vira, Alekh ko salam - my obeisance to the Infinite.” Then Vira Malar touched the Guru’s feet with his forehead. Then Vira asked: “Who are you and from where have you come and what business have you with us?” Then the Guru told him that they both were asking for the whereabouts of True Court. Then Vira replied that he did not know anything about the True Court. The Guru then said, that he knew every thing. Then Mardana intervened and informed Vira that the person talking to him was Nanak Nirankari. Malar was told to utter Nanak Nirankari. Malar then inquired how was True God like and where He lived; whether He was a Muslim, as they had heard that Muhammad was near to God. Hindus say that Brahma, Bishan and Mehesh were God like. Malar therefore inquired whether those prophets were God or some one else. Then Guru Nanak replied -
“Slok Mehla 1

jit dar lakh mohamda, lakh brahmai bishan mehesh lakh lakh ram vadirieh lakh rahi lakh vais. lakh lakh oathai jati hai, satio tai sanias. lakh lakh oathai gorkha lakh lakh natha nath.”
Translation -
“At God’s door there are a hundred thousand Muhammads and a hundred thousand Brahmas, Vishnus and Shivas. There are hundreds of thousand of Ramas, who claim to be greatest of all, and there are hundreds of thousand of “ways” (religions) and hundreds and thousand of sectarian garbs. There are hundreds of thousand of celibates, philanthropists and ascetics. There are hundreds of thousand of Gorakhs and hundreds of thousand of Masters of the Jogis.”
Guru Nanak told Malar that the Creator is Formless and is Infinite, no one can know His vast expanse.”

It will be observed that when Guru Nanak met with Vira Malar, he greeted him as - ‘hai Vera, alaikh ko slam hai.’ From the extraneous compositions (second lot) inserted in the copies of the Holy Books, note the first verse of the second Slok - ‘Vir Slamalaikh.’ These are very words used in the story.

Let us now examine the second lot of extraneous compositions inserted in the Holy Book - its first slok was -

“bai aatish aab khak, eina jati bujhsi. umat paidai panj tale, hadrath pak khudai...”
(The air, the fire, the water and the soil are the four elements, which are used in the making of the human body. The fifth element is added by the spirit of Pure God to create the people).

When we read from Bhai Bala’s Janamsakhi, Story number 36, about visit to Mecca, we find words ‘bai aatish, aab khak’ repeatedly occur, just as -

“suno marfat pir ji, milat mezeb chad. sowdho jusa aapna, kia rab bnaey saj. kayam charon rooh hai, charai jusai sath. panjvi kudrat rab di, mil hoai panj tan pak. aval badi rooh hai, nam farista jan. dooju aatish rooh hai, jin kahai nam. aabi teeja rooh hai, mano soorat daio. khaki choutha rooh hai, bheh khavis abhaio. panjvan rooh khudai hai, mil choun rungai hoeh. kul barkati rab di, charon kaiam hoeh...(72)

aakhai nanak sab sach, subho bahavad pir. aval khud khudaeh si, phir dooji kar tadbir. kar tadbiran muneh vic, char malai keen. badi aabi aatsi, chouthi milli zamin. char khasiat char baid, charai nal eimam. punjam bhehya paikambro, aadam hazrat jan. bad malaeik, khak but, aakhi jinda pir.tai. aatish noor khudai tai, jano kar tadbir. punjam aap khudai hai, andar bahar soeh. eh hakikat pir ji, virla janai koeh. aabi khakki badi nar, charai rukan pachan. char eimam char muzeba, char kataiba jan...” (76)

Those readers, who have read this Chapter with rapt attention, will be fully convinced of the conclusion drawn up by us. It is apparent that in the old hand written copies of the Holy Book, extraneous fake compositions in the name of Guru Nanak, were included at the end of each copy. The entire responsibility for this mischief lies on the shoulders of those, who wrote Bhai Bala’s Janamsakhi, which was in fact written after 1750 Bikrami (1693 A.D), but made much noise of, having been written in 1596 Bikrami (1539 A.D) - the year of Guru Nanak Dev’s demise. In this Janamsakhi, they insulted Guru Nanak to the greatest possible extent they could, and greatly exalted Baba Hindal.

Did these mischievous persons do similar mischief in any other book also? To consider this question, we shall examine the “Puratan Janamsakhi” in Chapter 13, in its depth. We shall come to know more about the persons, who incorporated spurious compositions in the name of Guru Nanak Dev in the copies of the Holy Book. However, in the first instance, in chapter 12 we shall remove the existing misconception about the Ode of Satta and Balwund.

Previous Chapter - Variations between original copy of Guru Granth Sahib and Bhai Banoe’s recension
Next Chapter - Guru Granth Sahib and Compositions of Satta and Balwund

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