1 a PREFACE,
2 Osborne, all treat of the Sikh period. The learn&t works known as
3 the Panjdb RG@jds and Panjab Chiefs, by Sir Ley] Griffin, have
4 been devoted to special subjects. None of these worry tells us any-
5 thing of the pre-Sikh period, much less of the Hitdu and pre-
6 Hindu periods. The wars with the British are not full} described,
7 aud the account of the second Sikh war and of the annexaton of the
8 country by the British is entirely omitted, Nothing is sai of the
9 subsequent eventful British period, the obvious reason beity that
10 many of the works now extant were compiled about the ting of
11 the annexation of the country. Moreover, a perusal of these works
12 discloses a want of uniformity in the accounts they severally give
13 of the Sikh period, especially where the authors, having no accosh,
14 to official records, depended on native sources of information. The
15 Urdu history of the Panjab ascribed to Rai Kanhia Lal contains
16 little that is original. The diary of Maharéjfé Ranjit Singh, written
17 in Persian by Sohan Lal Stiri, would be a useful work of reference,
18 were it not couched in a hyperbolic style and loaded with fiction.
19 Tt is to supply a manifest want, then, that the present work has
20 been undertaken. The difficulties with which I have had to con-
21 tend in prosecuting my task have been great. It has proved not
22 only a work of vast magnitude, but one of great delicacy and res-
23 ponsibility. Fully conscious of my own shortcomings, I was
24 nevertheless deeply impressed with the need for such a work in the
25 interests of my countrymen. There was not a passage of history
26 before the advent of the British which did not strike me with emo-
27 tion, or which did not, as we come down from that period of insecu-
28 rity and spoliation to the period of profound and unbroken peace
29 enjoyed during the British period, disclose the truth that India, un-
30 der the benign rule of England, has changed from a waste land,
31 full of thorns and brambles, to a verdant garden, resplendent with
32 bright and fragrant flowers. I felt impelled to narrate to my country-
33 men the story of the land of their birth, from the remotest antiquity
34 to recent times, based on historical truth, and free from party spirit
35 or sectarian prejudice. Colonel Gurwood, in his celebrated work,
36 Lhe Despatches of the Duke of Wellington, has said: “The great
37 end of history is the exact illustration of events as they occurred,
38 and there should neither be exaggeration nor concealment, to suit
39 angry feelings or personal disappointment. History should contain
40 the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but truth.’ I bave endea-
41 voured to act on this motto, and to narrate the facts in their true
42 colours, no matter to what particular nation or creed they related.
43 os age twofold. This being a provincial history,
44 oa tneoay catileg a a the first instance, to be collated from
45 eh ae s ae la, which could not be done withont
46 authorities. 1 hades and,, oe in order to test the truth of my
47 fasten tate compare the various accounts given. The result
48 y such accounts have, to the best of my belief, been
49 Sri Satguru J agjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@ gmail.com