British Bir: Cambridge Scholar Backs Vedanti

Dec 14
INDIAN EXPRESS
Jatinder Kaur

Amritsar, India -- The bir lying at the British Library though old is not one which was written by Bhai Gurdas during the time of fifth Guru Arjan Dev. The original holy scripture is lying at Kartarpur Sahib with the successors of Baba Dhir Mal, who was the grandson of the sixth Guru Hargobind Singh.

Dr. Jeevan Singh Deol, while speaking to The Indian Express here, disclosed
this while supporting Jathedar Vedanti's assertion that the bir of Guru
Granth Sahib lying at the British Library was not the original handwritten
manuscript of Guru Arjan Dev, written by Bhai Gurdas. Dr Deol is a research
fellow at Cambridge University and has been entrusted with a prestigious
project for preparing a catalogue of the Punjabi manuscripts outside India
and Pakistan.

It is to be mentioned that Akal Takht Jathedar, who had recently visited the
library in United Kingdom had refuted the authenticity of the bir. "Money
was being collected from Sikhs in UK in the name of preservation of the
original manuscript and crores of rupees are being collected for research
and preservation. The old bir is now also being preserved in glass
structures where damage to pages is prevented," said Vedanti, adding that
such propaganda was being carried out by anti-Panthic elements for
distorting the history and creating controversies in Panthic circles in the
name of research.

Dr. Deol while speaking about the aforementioned manuscript said that a part
of the bir was about 300 years old. He said that the contents were not the
same as in the original one which was established at Golden Temple in
Bhadron of 1661 Vikrami Samvat. "Bani of the accepted form of Guru Granth
Sahib is eternal and cannot be changed. The bir in question is just another
old copy and despite being an antique, it cannot elicit historical curiosity
as it is not the original manuscript written by Bhai Gurdas under teh
supervision of Fifth Guru at Ramsar Sahib in Amritsar," said Dr Deol, adding
that this bir would not affect Sikh faith.

The bir, which is being projected as the original one, would have kicked off
controversies in Panthic circles due to some variations. "It was a more than
300 years old copy with many additions and deletions. The cover was
relatively new," said Vendanti, accusing a Christian priest to be the
brainchild behind the propaganda.

note: Article courtesy Jeevan Deol. The original article link could not be found, it is reprinted here with due credit to the author and publication.

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