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114
ABSTRACTS OF SIKH STUDIES : APRIL-JUNE 2005 / 537 NS
to her notoriety. Her behaviour was typical of misl leader mentality,
in order to compete for regional hegemony or to exact vengeance from
a confederate.
Author makes an erroneous claim that, “At the time of accession
to the throne of his father, Ranjit Singh, was only 10 years old”. No
kingdom had yet been established. At the time (1790) Lahore was
under Bhangian misl rule. Sohan Singh Seetal, in his study of the misl
period, writes, “Maharaja Ranjit Singh confiscated the entire territory
of the (Naqaian) misl, in 1810, and bestowed these territories upon
Prince Kharak Singh as a jagir”.
The author makes a persuasive case about the fate of the Princes
of the realm. He makes a good case for the murder of Prince Nau
Nihal Singh; and punctures the myth of it being an accident. He
provides a fairly compelling evidence suggesting that the young Prince
Duleep Singh was brainwashed to embrace the Christian faith by his
tutor Bhajun Lal, a Brahmin who had converted to Christianity, and
his guardian, Dr John Spencer Login, a man imbued with missionary
zeal.
The author includes a homage paid by Qazi Nur Muhammad in
his Jangnamah (1765), that draws a quintessential portrait of the Sikh
soldier as a noble warrior contrary to the scornfully inimical images
(‘dogs’) promoted during Durrani’s jihad against the Sikhs.
His narrative of the 1857 mutiny is enthralling. He discounts
the notion of Sikh betrayal that resulted in its failure. Instead, he
blames Sikh Rajahs and Poorbias, the duplicitous traitors who sided
with the British.
The book is the product of painstaking research. The author has
sifted through a wide range of historical documents to build a case
intended to modify our current thinking on some key turning points in
Sikh history. His book will be a valuable addition in one’s collection.
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