ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>TW&#256R&#298KH-I-HIND</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>-I-HIND</i>, sub-titled <i>Bay&#257n i-Ahw&#257l i-Mulk-i-Hind wa Mal&#363k-i-&#256&#7749 az Zam&#257n-i-Q&#257dim t&#257 1233 A.H.</i>, by Ahmad Sh&#257h of Ba&#7789&#257l&#257, a manuscript preserved in Dy&#257l Si&#7749gh Trust Library, Lahore, is a history of India from earliest times to AD 1818 according to the sub-title, although it also records the birth of Prince Nau Nih&#257l Si&#7749gh in 1820 and some other events in the Punjab even up to 1824. The manuscript comprising 468 folios, each with 17 lines, was prepared in 1866 by Rajab 'Al&#299, a native of Ba&#7789&#257l&#257. The section dealing with the history of the Sikhs was published under the title <i>Zikr-i-Gur&#363&#257&#7749 wa Ibtid&#257-i-Si&#7749gh&#257&#7749 wa Mazhab-i-Esh&#257&#7749</i> in 1885, as an appendix to volume I of Sohan L&#257l S&#363r&#299's <i>'Umd&#257t ut-Tw&#257r&#299<u>kh</u></i>. Sayyid Ahmad Sh&#257h, the author, came of a well-known religious family of Ba&#7789&#257l&#257, in Gurd&#257spur district of the Punjab. He was known to Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh, who gave audience to him at Ba&#7789&#257l&#257 in 1814 and, after some time, again at Lahore. He had cordial relations with Captain (later Lieut-Col Sir) Claude Martin Wade (1794-1861) and Lieut Murray of the British Agency at Ludhi&#257&#7751&#257, and kept up regular correspondence with them providing them useful information about the court of Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh. <i>Tw&#257r&#299<u>kh</u>&#8211i-Hind</i> was compiled by him at the request of Lieut Murray. He died around 1835; the exact year of his death is not mentioned in his family records.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The <i>Tw&#257r&#299<u>kh</u></i> begins with a geographical description of India. Among the provinces listed, Lahore takes precedence in the amount of detail provided. 144 folios are devoted to the author's home town Ba&#7789&#257l&#257 and the history of the family. Especially valuable for the historian are the accounts of the invasions of N&#257dir Sh&#257h and Ahmad Sh&#257h Abd&#257l&#299 (Durr&#257n&#299) and of the tussle for supremacy between the Sikhs and the Af<u>gh</u>&#257ns in northern India. Ahmad Sh&#257h's chapter on the "Sikh Gur&#363s and the emergence of the Sikhs and their faith," however, has some glaring inaccuracies. He describes Sikhism as a sect of the Hindus. He regards only Gur&#363 N&#257nak as the real Gur&#363 and calls the remaining Gur&#363s as his <i><u>Kh</u>al&#299fahs</i> or deputies. His account of Band&#257 Si&#7749gh Bah&#257dur also suffers from the bias common to Muslim historiographers. Although a contemporary of Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh, his account of his rule is brief and sketchy.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1">Kirpal Singh, ed., <i>A Catalogue of Persian and Sanskrit Manuscripts</i>. Amritsar, 1962<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Mohammad Aslam<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>