ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>TAHM&#256SN&#256MAH</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>TAHM&#256SN&#256MAH</i>, variously known as <i>Tahm&#257spn&#257mah, Tazkirah-i-Tahm&#257sp, Hik&#257yat</i> or <i>Qiss&#257-Tahm&#257s Misk&#299n</i>, is a Persian manuscript preserved in British Library, London (Or.1918). In India, Photostat copies are available in the Oriental Public (<u>Kh</u>ud&#257 Ba<u>kh</u>sh) Library, Pa&#7789n&#257, and in the Sikh History Research Department at <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 College, Amritsar (No. 1283). The manuscript consisting of 354 pages of 16 lines each is by Tahm&#257s <u>Kh</u>&#257n, originally named Zah&#299r and then Taim&#363r, who adopted Misk&#299n (lit. humble) as a pseudonym. Written in autobiographical discursive style, the memoir is without any dates and is divided haphazardly into 108 sections designated as <i>hik&#257yats</i> or <i>d&#257st&#257ns</i> (lit. stories) of unequal length. The author, however, provides valuable and often original information gathered at first hand about events that took place in the Punjab during over three decades ending with 1782.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Tahm&#257s <u>Kh</u>&#257n Misk&#299n was of Armenian or Kurdish extraction. Born in a village in Asia Minor, he was captured in infancy by N&#257dir Sh&#257h's Uzbeks. He was brought to India at the age of seven and was offered as a present to Mu'in ul-M&#363lk, commonly known as M&#299r Mann&#363, the governor of Punjab, (1748-53), who trained him for military service. On the death of his master, he continued to serve his widow, Mu<u>gh</u>l&#257n&#299 Begam, whose close confidant he became and whom he accompanied during her flight from Lahore to Sirhind and thence to Delhi. He later fell out with the Begam and served successively under Z&#257bit&#257 <u>Kh</u>&#257n Ruh&#299l&#257 (d.1785) and Mirz&#257 Najaf <u>Kh</u>&#257n (d.1782).</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Misk&#299n saw much active service and took part in several operations against the Sikhs. He writes with personal knowledge about events such as D&#299w&#257n Kau&#7771&#257 Mall's death in battle against Ahmad Sh&#257h Durr&#257n&#299 in 1752 and the occupation of Lahore by the Sikhs jointly with the Mar&#257&#7789h&#257s in April 1758. In fact, one of the most striking features of <i>Tahm&#257sn&#257mah</i> is the information it provides about the sustained rebellion of the Sikhs, their guerilla tactics, the persecution they suffered. M&#299r Mann&#363 set up special mobile columns armed with <i>jaza'ils</i>, long-firing swivel guns, to be used against them. Misk&#299n writes : "Mu'&#299n appointed most of them (<i>jaz&#257'ilch&#299s</i>) to the task of chastising the Sikhs. They ran after these wretches up to 28 <i>kos</i> in a day and slew them wherever they stood up to oppose them. Anyone who brought Sikhs' heads to Mu'&#299n received a reward of Rs.10 per head. Anyone who brought a horse belonging to a Sikh could keep it as his own. Whosoever lost his own horse fighting with the Sikhs got another in its place from the state stables." At another place he records, "The Sikhs who were captured alive were sent to hell by being beaten with wooden mallets. At times &#256d&#299n&#257 Beg <u>Kh</u>&#257n sent 40-50 Sikh captives from the Do&#257b; they were as a rule killed with the strokes of wooden hammers." He also gives accounts of the Va&#7693&#7693&#257 Ghall&#363gh&#257r&#257 of 5 February 1762 in which, according to him, 25,000 Sikhs were killed; the sack of Sirhind by the Sikhs two years later; and the Sikhs' plundering raids into the Ga&#7749g&#257 Yamun&#257 Do&#257b. Once, says Misk&#299n, he along with Rustam <u>Kh</u>&#257n, the <i>faujd&#257r</i> of Si&#257lko&#7789, was made captive by Sutlej Sikhs, and though a <i>zam&#299nd&#257r</i> came miraculously to his rescue, both had to pay ransoms for their release.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1">Kirpal Singh, <i>A Catalogue of Persian and Sanskrit Manuscripts</i>. Amritsar, 1962<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Syad Hasan Askar&#299<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>