1 14 A Short History of the Sikhs.
2 of the Punjab there are both Hindus and Sikhs ; but
3 the majority profess the faith of Islam, and belong
4 to the class which we now call Punjabi Muham-
5 madans. Of the countless smaller races, those most
6 closely connected with Sikh history are the Khatris,
7 or traders, and the Dogras, a mixed race of Rajput
8 descent occupying the hill country about Jammu.
9 Other tribes l whom from time to time we shall
10 have occasion to mention, may all be classed under
11 one or other of the three principal divisions.
12 It is by no means easy for us to picture to our-
13 selves the state of India at the close of the fifteenth
14 century. To-day, the word " India " signifies a single
15 country controlled by a single government ; a country
16 inhabited by many races, differing from one an-
17 other in religion, language, and manner of life ; yet
18 all of them owning allegiance to one great Chief.
19 We think of them as a whole, and we call them
20 " the people of India." But when Baba Nanak first
21 saw the light a very different state of things pre-
22 vailed. Used in reference to his day, the word
23 "India" signifies nothing more than a geographical
24 area; it is the name, not of a country, but of a
25 collection of countries, each as distinct from, and as
26 independent of, the others as are the countries of
27 Europe or Asia to-day.
28 A glance at the accompanying map will afford
29 some idea of the position and relative importance
30 of the principal kingdoms which, at the time of the
31 birth of Nanak, made up the continent of India.
32 The Afghan empire, which in the days of the first
33 1 For an account of these tribes, see Appendix C.