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Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary [email protected] KHALSA TERCENf'ENARY CELEBRATION Sikh History from Persian Sources Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary [email protected] KHALSA TERCENTENARY CELEBRATION Sikh History from Persian Sources Translations of Major Texts Edited by J.S. GREWAL and IRFANHABIB • ]Tulika Indian History Congress 2001 Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary [email protected] Published by Thlika 35A/I (third floor), Shahpur Jat, New Delhi 110 049, India © Introduction: J.S. Grewal ©Translations: Aligarh Historians Society Published in India 200 I ISBN: 81-85229-17-1 Typeset by Aligarh Historians Society, Aligarh, and printed at Chaman Enterprises, 1603 Pataudi House, Daryaganj. Delhi 110 006 Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary [email protected] The costs of publication of this volume have been met by generous grants from ANANDPUR SAHIB FOUNDATION and DEPARTMENT OF CULTURE. GOVERNMENT OF INDIA to whom grateful thanks are due .,..· Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary [email protected] Contents Preface xi Introduction by J.S.Grewal 1 Translators' Note 48 Maps 51 TRANSLATIONS Text 1. Akbar Meets Guru Arjan- From Abu'l F~l, Akbarnama translated by SHIREEN MOOSVI · 55 Text 2. Guru Arjan's Martyrdom, 1606 -From Jahangir, Tuzuk-i Jahang"ir"i translated by SHIREEN MOOSVI 56 Text 3. Sikhism and the Sikhs, 1645-46 ......-From 'Mobad', Dabistan-i Mag_ahib translated by IRFAN HABIB 59 Text 4. A Visit to the Tomb of Gurii Njinak, before 1647-From $iirat Singh, Tag_kira P"ir lfassii Tell translated by S. ALI NADEEM REZAVI 85 Text 5. The Sikhs and Their History, 1696 -From Sujan Rai Bhandari, Kl!ula~atu 't Tawiir"ikh. translated by IQBAL HUSAIN 90 Text 6. Documents on the Sikhs and Guru Gobind Singh - From A}Jkam-i 'Aiamg"ir"i, 1703-07 translated by IRFAN HABIB 96 • vii Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary [email protected] CONTENTS Text 7. The Martial Exploit and Tragic End of a "Son" of Gurii Gobind Singh, 1708 - From 'Abdu'r Rasiil, Nairang-i Zamana translated by IRFAN HABIB 100 Text 8. GurU Gobind Singh - Notice by Bhimsen, I 708 translated by IRFAN HABIB 104 Text 9. GurU Gobind Singh and the Sikhs of the Khal~a - Reports from Bahadur Shah's Court, 1707-12 translated by IRFAN HABIB I 06 Text I 0. Guru Nanak, Guru Go bind Singh, and the Revolt Under Banda Bahadur, 1709-10 & 1713-16- From Mu)Jammad Qasim '"Ib rat", 'lbratnama translated by IRFAN HABIB II 0 Text 11. Banda Bahadur's Rebellion, 1710-16 - From Mirza Mu)Jammad, '/bratn ama translated by IQBAL HUSAIN 131 Text 12. Banda Bahadur's Rebellion, 1710-16 -From Mu)Jammad Hadi Kamwar Khan, Tag_kiratu 's Salii(in Chaghata translated by S. NADEEM A. REZAVI 142 Text 13. Banda Bahadur and his Followers - From Kh.afi Khan, Muntakhabu 'I Lubab translated by MAJIDA BANO 155 Text 14. Banda Bahadur and his Followers - From Mul.tammad Shafi' "Warid", Mir •a t-i Waridat translated by IRFAN HABIB 160 Text 15. Gurii Go bind Singh and his Family, after his Death to 1759-60-From Chaturman, Chahar Gulshan translated by IRFAN HABIB 163 Text 16. Re-emergence of Sikh Power in the Punjab, 1748-64 - From T.ahmis Khan, viii Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary [email protected] Contents Qi~~a-i T.ahmas-i MiskTn or T.ahmas Nama translated by IRFAN HABIB 169 Text 17. Re-emergence of Sikh Power in the Punjab - News Reports from Delhi, 1759-65 translated by IRFAN HABIB 187 Text 18. Sikh Resistance to Al,lmad Shah Abdali's Invasion of the Punjab 1764-65 translated by IQTIDAR ALAM KHAN 204 Text 19. An Account of the Sikhs, 1808 - From Ghulam 'Ali Khan, 'lmadu 's Sa 'adat translated by IRFAN HABIB 212 Text 20. The Sikh Community, 1825 - From James Skinner, TashrT/Ju 'I Aqwam translated by SHIREEN MOOSVI 217 Index 220 ix Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary [email protected] Preface The Indian History Congress at its fifty-ninth session at the Punjabi University, Patiala, in December 1998, decided to observe the tercentenary of the Khalsa Panth by a special programme of research and publications. A Panel on Sikh History was organized at the sixtieth session of the Congress at Calicut University on 29 December 1999, for which a number of research papers were especially prepared. The panel itself was not an isolated event, but in line with the effort that has been consistently made at the Indian History Congress to develop all fields of Indian history. Thus we were able to issue in 1999, as part of our programme, a volume of important papers on Sikh history selected from the previous Proceedings of the annual sessions of the Indian History Congress. It came in the form of a paperback entitled History and Ideology: The Khalsa over 300 Years, edited by Professors J.S. Grewal and Indu Banga. While the papers presented at the panel at our sixtieth session are now being published as a separate volume, the Indian History Congress decided that a fruitful contribution could be made by filling a serious void: the absence of a collection of accurate translations of major Persian sources of Sikh history, down to 1765, when Sikh dominance over the Punjab came to be firmly established. Professor J.S. Grewal very kindly agreed to guide the project, and scholars associated with the Aligarh Historians Society divided up the work of translating the different texts among themselves. Professor Irfan Habib not only translated a number of the texts, himself, but co-ordinated the work of the translators and, with their agreement, went over all the translations to ensure uniformity and consistency. Finally, the translations were submitted xi Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary [email protected] PREFACE to Professor Grewal, who supplied a number of explanations that appear in the footnotes, suggested some new textual readings, and proposed corrections in the translations at some places. Professor Grewal then wrote the Introduction which gives an assessment of the historical value of the information yielded by the texts translated here. He has done so by tallying it with the evidence of the Sikh sources, mainly preserved in Gurmukhi, and so marking out areas where, often enough, later Sikh sources are corroborated by earlier Persian sources and vice versa, and other spheres where the Persian texts, especially in relation to details of political and military history, remain our main source. It is hoped that all students of history will find in this volume a taste of the way history is recorded: behind the biases of narrators one can still discern the truth; and not all the narrators who appear in this volume are slaves to blind prejudice. For bringing this volume to fruition, many thanks are due to both the editors and the contributors. Tulika continue to be our co-publishers, and I am most grateful to Ms Indu Chandrasekhar and Mr Rajendra Prasad for their kind cooperation. The work of both word-processing and preparing the camera-ready copy was carried out most conscientiously by Mr Muneeruddin Khan. Mr Faiz Habib, with the collaboration of Mr Zahoor Ali Khan, has drawn the three maps which appear on pages 52-54. The publication of this voiume would not have been possible but for the generous grants received from the Anandpur Sahib Foundation, Chandigarh, and the Department of Culture, Government of India, New Delhi. The Aligarh Historians Society provided the required computer and photocopying facilities, enabling us to deliver the camera-ready copy on schedule to publishers. SHIREENMOOSVI Secretary Indian History Congress xii Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary [email protected]