History of historical work “SIKH HISTORY in 10 VOLUMES”
The publication of Dr Harjinder Singh Dilgeer’s monumental work “Sikh HISTORY in 10 volumes” is a landmark in the history of the Sikhs and is likely to be a boon for the researchers and the students of history. It is remarkable that it has been accomplished by a single person; it is projects which some university should have taken up. To quote The Indian Express (issue dated 2.9.2010): ‘It took Sikh historian Dr Harjinder Singh Dilgeer 12 years, including umpteen visits to the National Archives of India in New Delhi and the India Office Records housed in the British Library, London to put together his biggest project ever. Dilgeer, who is often regarded as an institution in Sikh history and credited with over 50 titles in Sikh studies, is the former Director of Sikh History Research Board with Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) and is currently working on a ten-volume book project on Sikh history’; “it was quite a task researching not just existing work by historians but as many as 10 billion files housed in The British Library’s Commonwealth Records section,” says the writer who researched around 2,000 books”; he explains.
The first volume (Ancient Punjab and the Guru Period), 424 pages with 21 maps, 16 coloured photographs and 6 photos of 17th and 18th century documents, covers the history of the Ancient Punjab and the Sikh Gurus (1469 to 1708); the first part presents a political, religious and geographical survey of the Punjab as well as the rest of the land of south Asia from the Indus Valley Civilization to the fifteenth century (and even after). This part has further been divided into political, geographical and religious history of the sub continent. In the second part, the author has very well documented the history of the Guru period; especially his depiction of the events of the last five Gurus is commendable; such chronological account of the Gurus’ lives and role played by them is really a fine work of historiography. Narrating the life of Guru Nanak he has vividly presented the basic tenets of Sikh philosophy; the author has given intensive quotations from the Sikh scriptures. Another remarkable feature of this volume is that he has also given political and geographical detail of the towns visited by Guru Nanak. Dr Dilgeer has rejected the stories of ‘magic’ and miracles attributed to Guru Nanak and other Gurus; he rejects the story of grazing of crop of a neighbour farmer by Guru Nanak’s buffaloes, a snake spreading his hood to give shade on Guru’s face, transforming Bhai Mardana into a lamb, plucking sweets from trees, turning soap nuts into sweet nuts, the impression of hand of Guru Nanak on a rock at Hassan Abdal etc; he rejects the story of making Chhajju Jhivar, a dumb man of Panjokhra village, explain the book Geeta just by the touch of a stick of the Guru. The author gives some new details as well: he mentions Bibi Rup Kaur as Guru Har Rai’s daughter as well as the marriage of Ajit Singh, the eldest son of Guru Gobind Singh, with Tara Kaur of Burhanpur who gave birth to a son Hathi Singh at mathra, in December 1705, who, later, died issue-less in 1750s.
There are several books, written by scholars of repute, which cover the life stories of the rest nine Gurus too; some of those run into hundreds of pages but this author has covered all this material in three hundred pages and it is remarkable that he has not ignored any important even which had affected the history of that period. Again, the author is one of the few historians who have actually gone through the contemporary documents i.e. the Bhatt Vahis written by the court poets of the Gurus as well as precious Panda Vahis of Hardwar; this has added to authenticity and the value of the work. In this volume the author has rejected the assumption that Nawab Sher Mohammad Khan of Malerkotla had protested against the execution/murder of the younger sons of Guru Gobind Singh; the author says that when Wazir Khan, the Governor of Sarhind, asked the Khan to execute the children to avnge the killing of his brother, he (Khan) had not not raised his voice for sympathy with the children or the Sikhs and had just refused to kill them simply because their father had killed
his (Khan’s) brother at Chamkaur; as per Dilgeer the Khan had just asserted that, as per the Pathan tradition, he would take revenge from their father and not from innocent children; the author says that had the Khan been sympathetic to the Sikhs he would not have joined the Sarhind Governor’s battle against the Sikhs at Chappar Chiri on the 12th of May 1710 (in which the Khan was killed). This volume also has a comprehensive bibliography of Sikhism. When I had been working on the Ph.D. thesis on the subject the battles of the Sikh Gurus, the Punjabi version of this work proved a boon for me. The 2nd volume (Banda Singh Bahadur), 200 pages with 15 coloured photographs and maps of Banda Singh’s victories and expanse of his kingdom, covers the period from 1708 to 1716. It highlights the contribution of Baba Banda Singh Bahadur who freed the present Punjab, Haryana and Himanchal from the foreign yoke after a slavery of seven hundred years. In this book, the author rejects the story of the ‘Tat Khalsa-Bandai Khalsa dispute’ and says that this story was concocted by Sarup Das Bhalla in his work ‘Mehma Parkash’ (and adopted by Ratan Singh Bhangu in Prachin Panth Parkash and other writers) much after his death; this proves that the books written by M.S. Chandla and other narrators of the so-called Tat Khalsa Bandi Khalsa dispute have no relevance because they had based their thesis on a wrong premise which never existed. Dilgeer has extensively used ‘Akhbarat-e-darbar-i-mualla’, Ibratnama (both), Muntakhabul Lubab, Fatuahtnama Samaddi, Farukhsiyarnama and several contemporary Muslim sources, and, to my surprise, the author has made some revelations which had never been presented by any other earlier historian writing about Banda Singh Bahadur; e.g. he is the first to mention that (1) the Rajput kings had killed even the ambassadors who had brought a letter from Banda Singh Bahadur, (2) Fateh Singh (the Governor of Samana) was killed in a battle in Jammu zone and was not executed along with Banda Singh, (3) it was Baj Singh who had, once, separated from Banda Singh and it was with the purpose of diverting movement of the royal forces into two directions, (4) the Mughal emperor Farukhsiyar had presented a siropao (robe of honour) to Ajit Singh Palit, a couple of months after the execution of Banda Singh, (5) the author has also cleared the doubt about the date of the battle of Chappar Chiri created by Sukhdial Singh who had based his date on Irvine’s ‘Later Mughals’. The author has proved that the battle was fought on the 12th of May and not the 22nd of May because as per an entry of the Akhbarat-e-darbar-i-mualla Bahadur Shah received the report of fall of Sarhind on the 17th of May; he could not have received information 5 days before the battle. The author has also explained the geographical situation of Lohgarh/Mukhlisgarh fort; he mentions that some writers have tried to confuse it with Mukhlispur which is on the other side of Yamuna river, (6) Dilgeer has given the names of about two hundred Mughal Generals as well as more than a dozen Hindu rulers and generals who had fought against Banda Singh. To my mind Dilgeer’s work on Banda Singh is the best of all so far.
The 3rd volume (War and Peace), in 336 pages and 42 coloured photographs, covers the period from 1716 to 1860 and is a comprehensive account of how the Sikhs struggled for freedom from 1716 to 1765 and how did they suffer two major and several minor genocides; the writer has given vivid detail of the events of this period; it also gives an account of the history of the Misls (under the command of Nawab Kapur Singh, Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, Jassa Singh Ramgarhia, Hari Singh Bhangi, Tara Singh Ghaiba, Baghel Singh, Sada Kaur and other Misl leaders) and their rule and role. In this volume the author has not given any new material in addition to the already available details but his chronological account of the events is fully systematised and is much better than most of his predecessors. But, the assessment of the rule of Maharaja Ranjit Singh by this author is much different from others; the author believes that Ranjit Singh was not a good Sikh and rather he harmed the Sikh nation by entrusting all his power to the Misr-Brahmins from Hindustan (Khushal Chand/Singh Deodibardar, Lal Chand/Singh Prime Minister and Tej Ram/Singh Commander-
in-chief) and the Dogras of Jammu (Dhian Chand/Singh Prime Minister, Gulab Chand/Singh Raja of Jammu, Suchet Singh, Kishora Singh and Hira Singh Paime Minister) who had got initiation as Sikhs and had kept unshorn hair just to gain Ranjit Singh’s confidence but had never accepted or practiced the Sikh faith; the author professes that it was Ranjit Singh’s love for flattery, his cupid/sensuous life and habit of consuming strong alcohol which was responsible for causing the firm grip of the Brahmins and Dogras in his court. The author also asserts that Ranjit Singh was, in his heart of hearts, afraid of the English; and the Sikh army was much powerful than the English army, and it was proved in the battles of Pherushahar, Sabhraon and Chelianwala where the leaderless Sikh soldiers proved their superiority over the English, and, had the Brahmins and Dogras not played treason the Sikhs would have pushed the English much away from Ganges river and might have expelled probably even from the whole of the sub continent; the events of the battles of 1845 and 1848 prove that had Ranjit Singh fought a battle against the English, and the Sikh soldiers under the command of Hari Singh Nalwa, Akali Phula Singh, Nidhan Singh Panjhattha, Sham Singh Attariwala and others would have given a crushing defeat to the English; the author believes that Ranjit Singh had been frightened by his Brahmin courtiers about the prowess of the English and these courtiers were in league with the English. Dr Dilgeer has made comprehensive narration of the events that led to the fall of the empire of Ranjit Singh. He has boldly professed that Maharaja Daleep Singh was not interested in struggle for regaining his empire and his sole wish was an enhanced ‘privy purse’; the author has also presented a pathetic picture of Rani Jinda but has given glorious tribute to her determination.
The 4th volume (Rising out of Ashes), in 416 pages of text and more than 125 photos and a dozen photos of priceless letters, covers the British period i.e. the period from 1860 to 1926. It gives a detailed account of Singh Sabha movement, Ghadr Party, S.G.P.C., Shiromani Akali Dal and Babar Akali movement; it goes to Dilgeer’s credit that a lot of material about the Akali Movement (1920-26) presented by him in this volume had never been produced in any book of history so far. This is the only book in which we find the names of the members of the first SGPC (1920) and the second SGPC (1923), the names of almost all the Sikhs killed during Jaito agitation and a large number of names of those killed in Nanakana Sahib (on 20th of January 1921); a look at foot notes of this volume reveals that no other author has so extensively used the newspapers of this period especially of the period between 1920 and 1926. The author has also quoted a lot from some secret files of the British government (available in the Commonwealth Records section of the British Library, London), especially one entry has attracted my attention and that is about the role of Maharaja Bhupindera Singh of Patiala’s role during the Keys’ Agitation; this fact had either been ignored by the earlier researchers or they had not bothered to labour due to their own reasons. Though some scholars had done research about the Sikh League (founded 1919) but none had given so vivid details of the first two sessions of the Sikh League; his details about the the birth of the SGPC too are unique. We have Partap Singh’s Akali Lehar and Sohan Singh Josh’s Akali Morchian Da Itihas and both of them were associated with the Akali Movement but a lot of the material presented by Dilgeer is missing in both the above mentioned precious works on this period. An additional feature of this volume is that the author has given the whole Gurdwara Act 1925 as ‘appendix’ to this book.
The 5th volume (Betrayal of the Sikhs): 216 pages of text covers the period from 1926 to 47; in this volume the author has given some hitherto unknown material collected by him from the British Archives as well as contemporary newspapers; the author has well analysed the reasons for the Sikhs plight in 1947; he has also given a special note of the role of Master Tara Singh (an issue debated much by several authors); the author has rejected Sirdar Kapur Singh’s commentary on Master Tara Singh and Baldev Singh as baseless; on the contrary he asserts that Master Tara Singh tried hard to press the case for an independant
Sikh country whereas Kairon, Nagoke, Pheruman, Jhabals, Kaveeshar etc opposed this demand. Dilgeer goes to the extent of calling Sirdar Kapur Singh ‘ungrateful’; he asserts that Master Tara Singh is one of the most misunderstood leaders of the Sikhs. Commenting on massacre of the Punjabis and Bengalis in 1947, he says: “Gandhi and his cronies had destroyed two brave nations, the Sikhs and the Bengalis, just to capture power a few months in advance; had the migration process been monitored properly it would have been accomplished within a few months and it would have passed almost smoothly; but, Gandhi and Nehru and their associates were so anxious to become rulers that they got advanced the transfer of power from June 1948 to August 1947. The British were either not so far-sighted that they could foresee the colossal destruction or they were indifferent to a great human disaster. It is remarkable to note that Jinnah had suggested migration right in September 1946 when he gave a wise advice to the Hindu leaders to chalk out a programme for transfer of population and properties (The Tribune, dated 12.9.1946.), but, nobody bothered for this advise as no Hindu leaders had any sympathy for the Punjabis or the Bengalis; the Hindu/Congress leadership belonged mostly to the U.P., Gujarat and the South; hence they were not affected by the violence, riots and killings.”
The 6th volume (Struggle for Survival), 339 pages, covers the period 1947-78 when the Sikhs had to struggle for formation of Punjabi Suba, a Punjabi speaking state; the author gives a detailed narration of 1955 and 1960 Punjabi Suba agitations; this is perhaps the most comprehensive account of the Punjabi Suba Agitation. The author has given precious details of day-to-day events of the Punjabi Suba Zindabad Agitation (1955) and Punjabi Suba Agitation (1960-61); he has well analysed the selfishness of the Akali leaders, who went to every extent of treason with their nation just for power and money; and, on the other hand he has paid tremendous tribute to the common activists who did not bother for their life, career, family, future and remained ever ready to make sacrifices. Dilgeer has exposed the Akali leadership’s opportunistic attitude that, after having captured power in the Punjab, began ignoring the interests of the Punjab and the Sikhs just to please fanatic Hindu party Jan Sangh (now B.J.P.) which was one of their partners in the coalition government. The author commend the role of Lachhman Singh Gill as chief minister who in just 8 months of his reign made remarkable contribution to the Punjab; on the other hand the author has condemned Kairon who bartered the interests of the Punjab just to remain in power; it was he who diverted half of the water of the Punjab to Rajasthan and that even without any cost.
The 7th volume (Genocide of the Sikhs), 480 pages, covers the period from 1978 to 1984; it is most tumultuous period of the history of the Sikhs, the Punjab and India; it was during this period that the Indian Army attacked the Sikhs’ holy shrine at Amritsar on 4 the June 1984 (Operation Blue Star); it was followed by Operation Woodrose (June 84 to August 1985); and then most ghastly (in the words of L.K. Advani in his book My Country My Life) pogrom of the Sikhs, a shameful chapter in the history of India; the author rightly calls it ‘shame of a nation’. I have gone through some books of the history of this period but none of them is as comprehensive and complete as it is. In this volume Dilgeer has given vivid details of the attack on Darbar Sahib by the Indian Army; whereas the other accounts of Darbar Sahib are either official propaganda or are vague and incomplete, he has given all useful information about the details of the attack, the role of the Army, the militants and the reactions of the Sikhs in India and abroad as well as the international community. Some of the details of the savage mentality exhibited by the Indian Army, given by the author are heart rendering; and, he has corroborated the details with references especially from the works/statements/reports and papers of some Hindu writers. In this volume he has give two complete books i.e. ‘Oppression in Punjab’ and ‘Who Are Guilty’; besides he has given some details of more than 2500 Sikhs killed during the Black November 1984.
The 8th volume of this ‘SIKH HISTORY in 10 volumes’, 580 pages, covers the period from 1985 to 1995; the author has named it ‘Massacre of Sikh Youth’; it is a period during which thousands of Sikhs had been killed mostly in faked encounters; it was a period of height of militancy and also fall of the Khalistan Movement. The 9th volume (296 pages), which covers the period 1996 to 2011, has been named as ‘Hijacking of Sikh Panth’ which deals with dangers to Sikh Panth from within and outside; in this volume the author reveals that Parkahs Singh Badal had become a formal member of the RSS in 1996 (this 9th volume covers the period up to December 2011; hence it covers the lastest events); and, the 10th volume ‘Sikh History in Pictures’ is an archive of more than 4000 photographs (about 110 coloured pages).
There are several remarkable points about this work:
- This set of 10 books, in about 3800 pages, in fact, consists of more than 14 books; in the 4th volume complete Gurdwara Act 1925 has been added as an Appendix; in the 6th volume the Punjab Reorganisation Act 1966 has been given as an Appendix and in the 7th volume two books, ‘Oppression in Punjab’ and ‘Who Are Guilty’ have been added in the Appendix section; in addition several ‘Reports’, papers and articles too have been given in Appendix sections of the other volumes. Hence this work has become an ‘Encyclopaedia of the Sikh history.’
- The 10 volumes have more than 4000 (including about 1000 coloured) photographs, of which more than 100 are rare; the author claims that these were earlier unknown even to most of the historians.
- The author has given a comprehensive bibliography in each of the ten volumes. A researcher or a reader of Sikh history need not consult any other book on bibliography of the Sikhs. 4. All the volumes have comprehensive indexes and these cover more than 150 page, which proves the usefulness of this work for the researchers.
- The writer is an NRI. He came to Punjab to write and publish this history (and after publishing his work, he is gone back). No University of the Punjab, the SGPC, Delhi SGPC or any other institution could get this colossal job accomplished. It goes to the credit of Dr Dilgeer who achieved it single-handedly. Dr Darshan Singh rightly comments: “It had been said about the Sikhs that they make history but don’t write it. Dr Dilgeer has proved them wrong”; Dilgeer has proved that he is an institution in himself and he rightly is the National Professor of Sikh History.
- The 10 volumes run into more than 3800 pages, of course it costs a lot (cost in parenthesis): vol 1 (400), vol 2 (200), vol 3 (300), vol 4 (300), vol 5 (200), vol 6 (250), vol 7 (400), vol 8 (500), vol 9 (250), vol 10 (500); total ten volumes cost 3300 rupees. All the volumes can be bought separately and one may not buy the whole set at one time.
*Dr Alka Misra, Bareilly