Banno, Bhāī

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Banno, Bhāī (16th–17th cents. CE). Disciple of Sikh Gurū Arjan Dev; early version of Adi Granth. According to tradition, Arjan Dev either entrusted his compilation to Banno for binding in Lahore or reluctantly lent it on condition he did not keep it for more than one night in his village, Māṅgaṭ. By travelling extremely slowly Banno contrived to copy the entire Ādi Granth before returning it. Unlike the Kartārpur version, the Banno version, also known as the Māṅgaṭ version or bitter version (khārī bīṛ), contains a hymn by Mīrābāī, a hymn of Sūr Dās of which only the first line appears in the Kartārpur version and a hymn by Arjan Dev in Rāmakalī Rāg of which the Kartārpur version has only a couplet. The reasons for these discrepancies are uncertain.