Early European Accounts of The Sikhs Edited and Annotated by Ganda Singh

This Book deals with the works of Major James Browne, Father Jerome Xavier, John Surman, Edward Stephenson, Col. A.L.H. Polier, Charles Wilkin, George Forster, John Griffiths, William Francklin. Dr. Ganda Singh has also written a long introduction to this book in which he has mentioned about some major accounts of the Europeans on the Sikhs and has also critically analysed those accounts. He has also added footnotes in which the corrections of the mistakes made by the Europeans in their accounts and the clarification of the doubtful points has been made.

It first attracted my notice in March 1928 through an article entitled Sikh Itihas by Sardar Karam Singh, published in the Phagan-Chetra 1984-85 (Bk.) issue of the Phulwari. Therein on page 425, col. 2, the learned historian mentioned it under No. 3 of his bibliographical study of the Sikhs and said: "This is the earliest book which contains a regular account of the Sikhs. I have done my best but I have not been able to get at this book so far. It should be available in the library of the Sikhs". Luckily, I was able to secure a copy of it from a bookseller in London in February 1932. Ever since then I have been thinking of publishing an annotated edition of it, correcting the various factual mistakes and wrongful statements that had crept into it through the original Persian manuscript. The historical knowledge of the authors of the Risälä-i-Nanak Shah was very poor indeed, and Major Browne had evidently not the leisure and facilities to check it up with more reliable authorities. There are no serious mistakes in Browne's postscript and Introduction, which are mostly based on his own first-hand knowledge and personal observations. Here and there, of course, one comes across reflections of his own prejudices. But they are natural to the circumstances in which he lived, and are negligible.

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