Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • The Story of Writing The Banno Bir

    Uploaded by

    Zirrus Glass
    6 views3 pages
    bhai banno bir

    Original Title

    The Story of Writing the Banno Bir

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    PDF or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    Report this Document
    bhai banno bir

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    6 views3 pages

    The Story of Writing The Banno Bir

    Uploaded by

    Zirrus Glass
    bhai banno bir

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    of 3
    sono Instiute of Sikh States, CharcSgerh Home News & Journal ‘Seminars Publications Isc Research Projects ‘About Us Contacts BACK TO CONTENTS PAGE 2. The story of writing the Banno Bir ‘The traditional story of copying out the Banno Bir ftom the Granth of the Sth Gum is that the Gum entrusted to Bhai Banno che job of getting the Granth bound at Lahore, but, Bhai Banno ‘on his way from Amritsar to Lahore, employed many eopyists and eopied the Granth into what snow constitutes the Banno Bir. This is the version given by Giani Gian Singh.S1 The story given by S.D. Bhalla in Mehma Parkash (1801 A.D.) is that Bhai Banno got permission to take it to his village Mangat, that he employed many persons to copy it; and halted at every hal Kos. That while copying some words were wrongly written, and the Guru signed the Banno Granth on is retum.52 Here it is necessary to point out that whereas Lahore is only 20 Kos fiom Annitsr, village Mangat (Distt. Gujrat, Pakistan) is still 100 Kos further ahead. Mangat being about 120 Kos from Amritsar, the joumtey would have taken about 8 months one way alone Gurbilas Chevin Patshahi (1718 AD) records. that the Gum asked Banno to have the Bir ound at Lahore, that Bhai Banno got permission to take the Granth to his village for one night, that on way from Amritsar to Mangat, and Mangat to Lahore he employed many copyists to copy the Granth by the distribution of clusters of leaves among the scribes, and halted at a distance of one Kos every day. It is added that an extra material, as described earlier, was introduced in the Bann Bir S3 The Guru put bis Nishan om it, This way the journey to Mangat and Lahore would have taken about 7 to 8 months, The fourth version given by Bhai Santokh Singh is thatthe completed Granth was taken fo Mangat by Bhai Banno aller taking permission for copying it and taking it to his village for one night, and that he halted at every 5 Kos on his joumey. This way it should have taken Bhai Banno about $0 days to complete the journey.54 Dr. Sahib Singh who has considered in great detail the subject of the Banno story in his book, "Adi-Bir-Bare” has on very cogent grounds rejected all these stories to be unreliable and solfcontradictory.55 The frst version in not tenable for a number of reasons. Sahib Singh believes that itis impossible to imagine that the developed town of Amritsar, which had been there for some decades, had, at that time, no facility for the simple work of binding a book. Secondly, the story is contradicted by the factual position of the Banna Bir. Apert ffom the impossibility of copying out a voluminous Granth in just 4S days, we find that the Banna Bir hhas been waitlen generally by one hand or at the most by a few hands not exceeding two or three. Second, the copyist has done the job very well Besides, the weting is such as to show that the copyist never wrote it in haste or under pressure of time.56 Thitd, for evideat reasons the work of copying could have been done conveniently only during she outward jouney ‘when the Bir was unbound and in bunches which could be distributed among different scribes. AAs it happened in the Kartarpuri Bir, such a process would obviously leave gaps or blank spaces between different sections, Rags, etc. But this is not the position in the Banna Bir. Fourth, itis difficule to imagine that Bhai Gurdas who did the entire writing of the Granth ‘would not be entrusted with the task of binding the Bir or would not even be associated with it ‘The other stories of Bhai Banno, having taken the Bir to his village and having spent on way '50 days to seven months to copy it out are even less plausible than the first one. Normally, Bhai Banno would not take the Birto hs village without first having got it bound; and having

    You might also like