Sikh Historiography

[amardeep]

Continuing a theme we've touched upon in several topics, see below:

 

Just as tradition of Guru Nanak can be studied in the Janamsakhis, the tradition of Guru Hargobind, the sixth Guru and Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Guru can be searched in the Gurbilas Padshahi Chhevi and Gurbilas Padshahi Das by Sukha Singh and Bir Singh. Baba Sarup Das Bhalla was the direct descendant of Guru Amar Das, the third Sikh Guru and he has compiled Mehma Parkash in 1776 A.D. basing his account on traditions of the Gurus prevalent in his family. Baba Sunder Singh of Patna, author of Gur Parkash also belonged to this family. Bhai Santokh Singh’s celebrated work Gurpartap Suraj Granth is mostly based on the traditions and anecdotes relating to the Sikh Gurus. It can be proved beyond doubt that Bhai Santokh Singh painstakingly collected the traditions of the Gurus. To cite only one example, that his account of the travels of Guru Tegh Bahadur is identical with that of Sakhi Pothi subsequently discovered by Attar Singh Bhadour and published by Khalsa Samachar, Amritsar. The historicity of traditions cannot be lost in ornate poetry, verbosity of expression and superb imagination of similes and metaphors employed.

One of the important works relating to the eighteenth century history of the Sikhs is Panth Parkash by Rattan Singh Bhangu. According to Karam Singh all the dates mentioned there are correct. I have verified some of its accounts with the Persian sources and found them to be similar, for instance, the account of Sikh-Maratha invasion of Sirhind in 1758 in Panth Parkash is identical with that of Tazakara-i-Imadul Malik a Persian contemporary account.6 The entire Panth Parkash of Rattan Singh is based on the traditions of the Sikhs. He himself writes at the outset:
    
“Now I write the account of the Sikhs in the way my ancestors had spoken and also I have heard from the elderly Sikhs of great qualities.”7

About the account of martyrdom of Bhai Mani Singh, he writes:
       “Rattan Singh has written the account after hearing from his father who had seen it.”8

Similarly, some Persian writers of Sikh history have based their accounts on tradition. Dewan Amar Nath in Zafar Namah Ranjit Singh writes, “The events narrated by the writer were investigated from the elderly contemporary persons.”9

During recent years, Giani Gian Singh (1822-1921 A.D.) devoted his long life in search of Sikh traditions and preserving them. Before him there was no book dealing with the complete account of the Sikhs. First he wrote Panth Parkash in 1880 A.D. Subsequently he visited all the places connected with the Sikh Gurus and collected anecdotes and traditions and compiled Twarikh-i-Guru Khalsa dealing with the lives of the Sikh Gurus. Later on, he wrote Shamshir Khalsa dealing with Sikh struggle during the 18th century. It was followed by Raj Khalsa - giving account of Sikh states in Cis-Sutlej territory, Ranjit Singh and post Ranjit Singh period uptil annexation of Punjab by the British in 1849.

The most important source of information on which Giani Gian Singh relied was the tradition of the Sikhs.

He collected his material by undertaking long travels and recording the statements of elderly persons. Perhaps he had no time to verify, check or analyse the traditions. That work was started by his contemporary Karam Singh who can be called a pioneer in the field of Sikh history research. His approach to tradition can be studied from his research monograph Katak ke Vaisakh.

 

http://sikhinstitute.org/apr_2015/9-kirpal.html