Authenticity claims of some Puratan Saroops raise question

Amritsar Sahib – Recently a gold covered Saroop that has been claimed by the SGPC to have been written by Shaheed Baba Deep Singh Ji has been digitalized and uploaded on the Internet (www.gurmatveechar.com). In the past no one has publicly challenged the claim of the SGPC, however, after the Saroop has been made accessible to the public,  various questions have arisen that put the SGPC’s claim to doubt. Our investigation into the questions raised about the claim, unraveled serious findings.

The Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) was established in 1920 a Sikh organization to manage all the Sikh shrines and Gurdwaras in Punjab, including Sri Harmandir Sahib, Amritsar. The SGPC is also is responsible for guarding and preserving historical weapons, garments, scriptures, literature, writings, and memorials, and preaching the Sikh faith.

We interviewed one SGPC employed Granthi who asked SinghStation to maintain his anonymity in fear of reprisal from the SGPC.

He told us, “This Saroop is not written by Baba Deep Singh Ji, however this is what the SGPC is telling the public in order to make money.” With a heavy heart he said, “This Saroop has so many mistakes and inconsistencies. It does not even match the other Saroops or writings that are claimed to be written by Baba Deep Singh Ji. To claim that this Saroop is written by Baba Deep Singh Ji is a grave insult to Baba Ji. The Saroop is not even authored by one single writer. This is evident from the different handwriting styles throughout the Saroop.”

All the Sikh Gurus and all Sikhs that followed, up until the mid 20^th century, wrote Gurbani in ‘Larivaar’, unbroken continuous writing. Even non-Gurbani texts and literature in Gurmukhi was written in Larivaar format. Therefore, it was shocking to see that the Saroop claiming to be written by Baba Deep Singh Ji has broken up words, known as ‘Pad Chhed’ and furthermore, a hyphen (-) has been used, which is unheard of in historical writing of Gurbani.

Commenting on the fact that the Saroop is now available online for Sikhs worldwide to access, he said, “I am glad and hopeful that at least some Sikhs who are awake will highlight the flaws in the SGPC’s claim when they study this Saroop. This Saroop is just a handwritten copy of the modern SGPC printed Saroop. The SGPC has made no effort to correctly print Saroops and take on board the hard work research of Gurmukhs. Instead, since they have been printing Saroops till today, their Saroops have small discrepancies in between them.”

When we asked who wrote this Saroop, we were told, “I don’t know. But off the record, I can tell you that the SGPC has been infiltrated to the highest level by anti-Sikh agencies. Non-Sikhs have been employed to produce handwritten copies of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji and then make the Saroop look historical and ancient. They cannot change remove or add any Shabads, so they are making discreet changes of removing ‘unkars’ and ‘siharis’ (grammatical symbols), which most people will not pick up. This is so that they can try and confuse Gursikhs who read Gurbani with reference to what they think are historical Saroops in the future.”

When asked if there were any other activities of the SGPC related to false claims of authenticity of historical Saroops or writings, we were told, “Yes. I will share one thing with you. Some years ago, the SGPC toured Punjab with a procession. They publicly displayed Shastars and Pothi Sahibs of Baba Deep Singh Ji. No one ever got to read them, they would just hold it in their hand and show the public and say that this Pothi Sahib or Gutka Sahib is written by Baba Deep Singh Ji.” He added, “As a SGPC Granthi I got the opportunity to access those Pothi Sahibs and Gutka Sahibs. When I read them, I was left shocked that they were not historical but modern handwritten Gutka Sahibs being posed as ancient.” When asked why he thinks the SGPC did this, he replied, “Its obvious to make fool of the Sangat and make money.”

We investigated a Saroop claimed by to be authored by Shaheed Bhai Mani Singh, which is uploaded on the same website as the Saroop claimed to be written by Baba Deep Singh Ji. The Saroop claimed to be written by Bhai Mani Singh Ji is a combined Saroop of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji and Sri Dasam Granth. This is not a usual practice. In the Saroop several mistakes were found at a quick glance, which seriously questions the claims being made.

In the Mool Mantar at the beginning of Siree Raag, ‘Satnam’ had an ‘unkar’ missing at the end, and the author has forgotten to write ‘Gur’ in ‘Gurprasaad.’ Then in Jaap Sahib, the author has separated ‘Ik’ and ‘Ounkar’ with one and half centimetres gap  when in accordance to the Larivar (continuous unbroken writing) tradition of the Gurus, ‘Ik Ounkar’ should be connected. The opening of Jaap Sahib is totally different to any historical Sri Dasam Granth Sahib, Pothi Sahib or the reading of Jaap Sahib that is accepted across the whole Panth.

Serious questions lay facing the SGPC and modern day scholars who have benefited from propagating false claims regarding Saroops being historical or false claims of the authorship. Such actions are harmful in creating confusion and undermining the value of truly authentic Saroops and manuscripts written by the Sikh Gurus and historic Sikh religious personalities that the Panth has preserved.