ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>FATEHN&#256MAH GUR&#362 KH&#256LS&#256 J&#298 K&#256</TITLE> <style type="text/css"> .BODY { background-color: #EAF1F7; background-image: url('images/gtbh.jpg'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; background-position: center; color: #0066CC;} .C1{text-align: justify;color: #0066CC;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .BIB{text-align: center;color: #000099;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .CONT{text-align: right;color: #FF0000;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} </style><META http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></HEAD> <BODY class="BODY" oncontextmenu="return false" ondragstart="return false" onselectstart="return false"> <FONT ALIGN="JUSTIFY" FACE="Tahoma"> <p class="C1">&#65279<i>FATEHN&#256MAH GUR&#362 <u>KH</u>&#256LS&#256 J&#298 K&#256</i>, by Ganesh D&#257s, an employee of the Sikh Darb&#257r, and published as edited by S&#299t&#257 R&#257m Kohl&#299, contains accounts, in Punjabi verse, of three of the major battles of Sikh times. The first of these was fought at Mult&#257n in 1818 between Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh's forces and the army of the local Af<u>gh</u>&#257n ruler Muzaffar <u>Kh</u>&#257n. The second, the first battle of Pesh&#257war, also known as the battle of Nausher&#257, was fought in 1823 between Sikhs and Muhammad 'Az&#299m <u>Kh</u>&#257n, who after the death of his brother Fateh <u>Kh</u>&#257n, had acquired power in Afghanistan and wished to re-establish Af<u>gh</u>&#257n supremacy over Pesh&#257war. The third, the second battle of Pesh&#257war, was waged at Said&#363, a few kilometers south of Ako&#7771&#257, in 1826 between the Sikhs and Sayyid Ahmad's host. The Sayyid who hailed from R&#257e Barel&#299, in present-day Uttar Pradesh, had declared <i>Jih&#257d</i> against the Sikhs. Ganesh D&#257s's description of these engagements is embellished with conventional poetic devices, yet its historical core remains unimpaired. In fact, the details of the battles he has given correspond with those recorded in contemporary chronicles such as <i>Tw&#257r&#299<u>kh</u>-i-Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh, Umd&#257t-ut-Tw&#257r&#299<u>kh</u>, Zafarn&#257m&#257-i-Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh</i> and <i>Ja&#7749g-i-Mult&#257n</i>. Ganesh D&#257s has great admiration for Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh as well as for the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257. His appraisal of the role of the Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 in the Sikh body politic is highly perceptive. For him Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh was the leader of the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 commonwealth rather than a Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 or sovereign, and he addresses him as Si&#7749gh S&#257hib (exalted member of the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257). Ganesh D&#257s attributes victories won in these battles to the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 as a whole and not to Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh. Hence the title of his work: <i>Fatehn&#257mah Gur&#363 <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 J&#299 K&#257</i>, i.e. account of the victories of the Gur&#363 <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257.</p> </ol><p class="CONT">Gur Rattan P&#257l Si&#7749gh<br></p><BR> </font> <img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""> </HTML></BODY>