
BIR, a term used for a recension or copy of the Guru Granth Sahib, is derived from Skt. verb vid meaning "to make strong or firm, strengthen, fasten, or to be strong, firm or hard." The Punjabi verb birana which means "to fix, bind or fasten (something) firmly, or to lay (a gun)" is from the same root. Guru Arjan having compiled the Holy Book deputed one of his leading disciples, Bhai Banno, to go and get the volume bound in Lahore, perhaps because facilities for proper binding did not then exist at Amritsar.
Dard, Hira Singh, an eminent story writer, wrote with a reformatory attitude. He indirectly preached certain reforms keeping in view the realistic side of life. His story \'Rakhri\'1 is of this nature. The character, of the quarrelsome, rude and unlettered Rukmani—the heroine—making her home a hell and over hen-pecked nature of Daroga Prem Nath—the hero—are god realistic i portrayals but at the same time there is a implied suggestion of needed reform in both of them. His famous story \'Pir Gahlur Shah\' is a fine satire on the religious but blind faith of those people who, being uneducated, repose full faith in the hypocritical preachers.