ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>UMD&#256T UT-TW&#256R&#298KH</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>'UMD&#256T UT-TW&#256R&#298<u>KH</u></i>, lit. the choicest of histories, by Sohan L&#257l S&#363r&#299, is a chronicle, in Persian, primarily of the reigns of Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh and his successors. The original manuscript, in five volumes in <i>shikastah</i> hand, consisted of some 7,000 pages. A lithographed edition of the work was brought out, in 1880, by the author's descendants, under the auspices of the Pañj&#257b University College, Lahore. The Registrar of the College, G.W. Leitner, had in fact taken the manuscript with him to the International Congress of Orientalists (1879) held at Florence where it was put on display : the manuscript was then returned to Harbhagv&#257n D&#257s, the grandson of the author, from whom it had been borrowed. A committee of scholars was thereupon appointed to examine the work on whose recommendation it was taken up for publication. Volumes III and IV are also now available in English translation prepared by a modern scholar, V.S. S&#363r&#299.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;In five volumes, known as <i>daftars</i>, the book covers the period from 1469, the year of Gur&#363 N&#257nak&#8217s birth, to 1849, the year when the British annexed the Punjab. Daftar I (pages 166) brings the story of the evolution of the Sikh faith from the time of the Founder, Gur&#363 N&#257nak, to the onslaughts of Ahmad Sh&#257h Durr&#257n&#299 in the middle of the eighteenth century. A four page supplement attached to the volume gives brief information about some of the prominent Sikh courtiers. Daftar II (pages 408), deals with the lives of Cha&#7771hat Si&#7749gh Mah&#257n Si&#7749gh and Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh. Daftar III (pages 764), subdivided into five parts, is a chronicle of the reign of Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh from 1831 to 1839, ending with his death. It records the day-to-day proceedings of the Sikh court, including briefly the contents of letters received in the court from governors, princes, army generals or reporters from different parts of the Kingdom. The first part covers the year 1831, the second part comes to 1836, the third covers mainly 1836, the fourth 1838 and the fifth part, beginning with the birth of Prince Duleep Si&#7749gh in 1838, describes some important events of the closing years of the Mah&#257r&#257j&#257's life such as his meetings with Lord Auckland at Amritsar, Lahore and F&#299rozpur and the tripartite treaty with Sh&#257h Sh&#363j&#257' and the British government. Daftar IV (pages 218) is subdivided into three parts, with the first part (pages 74) dealing with the reigns of Mah&#257r&#257j&#257s Kha&#7771ak Si&#7749gh, Nau Nih&#257l Si&#7749gh, Sher Si&#7749gh and Duleep Si&#7749gh and the abrogation of Sikh rule ; the second part (pages 56) is an account of the life of Prince Sher Si&#7749gh, and the third part (pages 88) deals with the reign of Sher Si&#7749gh. Daftar V (pages 175), covering the period from January 1845 to March 1849, deals with Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Duleep Si&#7749gh and the Anglo-Sikh wars, ending in the annexation of the Punjab to the British dominions.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Written in a polished literary style, <i>'Umd&#257t ut-Tw&#257r&#299<u>kh</u></i> is a very comprehensive and important document on Sikh times. The manuscript copy, presented in 1831 to Captain Wade, the East India Company's political agent at Ludhi&#257&#7751&#257, is still preserved in the Asiatic Society Library at Calcutta. It was at Captain Wade's request that Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh had deputed the author to go to Ludhi&#257&#7751&#257 to acquaint him with "this blessed account."</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Kirpal Singh, <i>A Catalogue of Persian and Sanskrit Manuscripts</i>. Amritsar, 1962<BR> <li class="C1"> S&#363r&#299, V.S., <i>'Umdat ut-Tw&#257r&#299<u>kh</u></i>. Chandigarh, 1972-74<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Bhagat Si&#7749gh<br></p><BR> </font> <img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""> </HTML></BODY>