ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>TW&#256R&#298KH GUR&#362 KH&#256LS&#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>TW&#256R&#298<u>KH</u> GUR&#362 <u>KH</u>&#256LS&#256</i>, a voluminous prose narrative delineating the history of the Sikhs from their origin to the time when they lost the Punjab to the British. The author, Gi&#257n&#299 Gi&#257n Si&#7749gh (1822-1921), claimed descent from the brother of Bh&#257&#299 Man&#299 Si&#7749gh, the martyr, who was a contemporary of Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh. The work is divided into five parts : Janam S&#257kh&#299 Das&#257&#7749 Gur&#363&#257&#7749, Sh&#257msher <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257, R&#257j <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257, Sard&#257r <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257, and Panth <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257. In the first part the author presents biographies of the Ten Gur&#363s and sketches the evolution of the community culminating in the emergence of the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257. The second part deals with the career of Band&#257 Si&#7749gh Bah&#257dur, the sustained struggle Sikhs waged against the Mu<u>gh</u>als in face of fierce persecution, their reorganization in the form of the Dal <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 and the running battle between Ahmad Sh&#257h Durr&#257n&#299 and the Sikhs. The third part describes the rise of the twelve <i>misls</i> or independencies and of the sovereign kingdom of Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh and ends with the annexation of the Punjab by the British. The fourth part contained accounts of Sikh principalities which did not form part of Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh's kingdom. The fifth part treats of Sikh sects, <i>gurdw&#257r&#257s</i> and preaching centres.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;As Gi&#257n&#299 Gi&#257n Si&#7749gh himself relates in the book, he spent more than fifteen years collecting information, mainly verbal. His sources were his own elders, Nag&#257h&#299&#257 Si&#7749gh, R&#257gh&#363 Si&#7749gh and Ba<u>kh</u>t&#257 Si&#7749gh who had served Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh, Band&#257 Si&#7749gh Bah&#257dur and the eighteenth-century <i>sard&#257rs</i> such as Naw&#257b Kap&#363r Si&#7749gh and B&#257b&#257 &#256l&#257 Si&#7749gh. Besides, he travelled extensively in quest of materials. Two of the older works he admits to having made use of were those by Ratan Si&#7749gh Bha&#7749g&#363 and B&#363&#7789e Sh&#257h. He received encouragement from his mentor, T&#257r&#257 Si&#7749gh Narotam, a Nirmal&#257 scholar, and completed in 1867 his first work, the famed <i>Panth Prak&#257sh</i> which was a connected history of the Sikhs in Punjabi verse. The <i>Tw&#257r&#299<u>kh</u> Gur&#363 <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257</i> was its expansion in prose.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The first edition of the <i>Tw&#257r&#299kh</i> comprising the first three parts was printed in 1891 at Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh Press, Si&#257lko&#7789, with the help of Mahant Prem Si&#7749gh, Bh&#257&#299 Har&#299 Si&#7749gh of Si&#257lko&#7789 and B&#363&#7789&#257 Si&#7749gh of R&#257walpi&#7751&#7693&#299. Gi&#257n Si&#7749gh made over the rights of publication of his <i>Tw&#257r&#299kh</i> to the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 Tract Society, Amritsar. Besides all the copies of the published first three parts of the <i>Tw&#257r&#299kh</i>, the manuscripts of the remaining two unpublished parts were also handed over to the Society. The <i>Panth <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257</i> (the fifth part) was published in Urdu as late as 1919 and the <i>Sard&#257r <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257</i> (the fourth part) was never published.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The first three parts severally and collectively of this monumental work ran into several editions in Urdu as well as in Punjabi. They were last published in two volumes in Punjabi by the Languages Department, Punjab, Pa&#7789i&#257l&#257, in 1970.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Bhagat Si&#7749gh, <i>Gi&#257n&#299 Gi&#257n Si&#7749gh</i>. Patiala, 1978<BR> <li class="C1"><i>Si&#7749gh Sabh&#257 Patr&#299k&#257 (Sr&#299 Gur&#363 Panth Prak&#257sh A&#7749k</i>). Amritsar, 1979<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Bhagat Si&#7749gh<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>