Patwant Singh (1925–2009)

Sikh history has been the victim of the greatest injustice wrought by academia and the multiple foes which the Sikhs have confronted and still confront today on account of their ideology. While the Sikh Empire was far from perfect politically (as is the norm with any governing nexus be it imperialistic or democratic), it represented an enlightened monarchial autocracy cum minor religious theocracy which ameliorated Punjab's horrendous centuries-long record of bloodshed and continued foreign invasions.

The Empire was and still is synonymous with Maharajah Ranjit Singh, an illiterate scion of a prominent Sikh warrior confederacy (Misl) who annihilated the vestiges of an atrophying embryonic Republic to establish a monarchial reign.

Patwant Singh and Rai chart the meteoric rise of the Sikh faith and Empire in this swift-flowing book. The only downsides are that Khusrau is mentioned as being Jahangir's brother rather than son in the context of the fifth Sikh Guru's martyrdom; and attention is barely paid to enigmatic Sikh historic figures such as generalissimo Baba Banda Singh and the Washingtonian Nawab Kapur Singh who paved the way for the rise and consolidation of Sikh sovereignty.

This is a meticulous once in a generation study of a historic figure who precipitated the greatest crisis of confidence to confront the British in the east but has today slowly been effaced from history.… (meer)

His own political loyalties aside, Patwant Singh is a meticulous analyst of history and not far from being a proficient historian himself. The Sikhs was written by him in the aftermath of the Hindu ethnonationalist state's genocidal attack on the Sikh nation in 1984. Singh, though, charts a whole chronology of oppression which the Sikh weathered pre-84 in post-independence India with the occasional refutation of academic attacks (attributing false manuscripts to the Sikh Gurus to argue they were votaries of mythological and obsolete deities); and the political allegations made against the Sikhs by the likes of Mahatma Gandhi and Nehru that they were a violent faith of secessionists and troublesome.

Singh's prose is fluid and quiet concrete in its grasp of concepts-something essentially rare in Indian academia given its kowtowing to poststructuralism-but ultimately what stands out is the fact that he succinctly presses a case for Sikhs to reclaim their heritage and expand their faith. This is a priceless and valuable rendition of Sikh history. The Sikhs, as a people, have done a grave injustice to Patwant Singh by not recognizing the true epochal merit of his work.… (meer)

Patwant Singh and Jyoti M. Rai’s “Empire of the Sikhs” tells the story of one of the most remarkable individuals in the history of the Indian subcontinent, Maharaja Ranjit Singh, founder of the Sikh Empire.

Blinded in one eye from smallpox, Ranjit Singh first fought in a battle with his father when he was 10-years-old. In 1797, at the age of 17, Singh defeated the Afghan ruler Shah Zaman’s attempt to annex the Punjab. Singh again defeated a second Afghan attempt to annex the Punjab in 1798. By 1799, Singh had declared himself the Maharaja of the Sikh Empire.

Under the Maharaja the Sikh Empire successfully held in check British attempts to annex the whole of the Indian subcontinent. Far more remarkable than his numerous military victories, however, was the kind of state the Maharaja established. Under the Maharaja’s rule the Sikh state was a secular empire. The Maharaja built and restored numerous Sikh and Hindu temples and mosques, including platting the Hindu temple Kashi Vishwanath in one tonne of gold, and naming a mosque after his beloved Muslim wife, Moran Sarkar. The composition of the Maharaja’s government reflected his secularism: his Prime Minister was a Dogra, his Foreign Minister was a Muslim, his Finance Minister was a Brahmin Hindu, and his military included Sikh, Hindu, Muslim, and Christians, including a number of Polish, Russian, Spanish, British, and French officers, some of whom fought in the Napoleonic Wars. As the authors write in this book, “Ranjit Singh’s monarchical practice was more in keeping with democratic principles than democratic functioning in India today.”

In contrast to other rulers in the Indian subcontinent, the Maharaja also prohibited his army from looting conquered territories and massacring or otherwise harming the populace. “When a victorious Ranjit Singh rode into Peshawar after wresting it from the Afghans,” the authors write, the Maharaja “provided a striking contrast to Mohammed Ghori, Timur, Nadir Shah, Ahmed Shah Abdali [Durrani] and all the other blood-shedding armies down the centuries. He made it an ironclad rule that his armies would not indulge in carnage, nor burn holy books, nor destroy mosques. The civilian population could, with confidence, continue its daily activities as usual, and no women would be molested, nor men flayed alive.”

The book concludes with the death of the Maharaja, and British attempts to annex the Sikh Empire, culminating in the Anglo-Sikh Wars and British imperialism’s plundering of the Punjab’s wealth.

An excellent book about a remarkable man!… (meer)

Chalk another one for a superb read. A very beautifully crafted literary masterpiece. The writer has very eloquently described the birth of this great religion by Guru Nank to the present times.

The need to militarize after the brutal assasination of a two of there revered Gurus. Their astounding successes in the battlefield inspite of being outnumbered 10 to 1 in some cases. Their specatular victories against the Mughals and the British despite being heavily outnumbered and their disproportianate representation in the Armed Forces make them India's first freedom fighters and true patriots.

The glorious reign of Ranjit Singh who also laid the seeds of the eventual decline of the Sikh Empire. Their fearless nationalism and unalloyed participation in the Freedom Struggle. Especially interesting is his oeuvre about Brahmins and the Brahminical culture and underpinnings of the the Indian Republic.

A very highly recommended read.… (meer)