Scholars and library

The B40 Janam Sakhi takes its name from its India Office Library catalogue number. Notes in the manuscript say Sangu Mall commissioned it, Daya Ram Abrol wrote it and Alam Chand, a mason, illustrated it. It holds fifty-seven pictures.

How far to trust it. W. H. McLeod, who translated it, values it for the unusual clarity of its origins and for preserving stories found in no other major tradition, apparently from local oral sources. He identifies at least five sources behind it and describes its overall order as rudimentary. The manuscript is said to copy a lost original, and scholars place that original after 1675 because the text mentions nothing later. It is a dated witness to storytelling in the eighteenth century, and it is not evidence for the events it narrates.[EoS]

• B40 Janam Sakhi (1733). Useful for comparing janamsakhi traditions and for early Sikh manuscript painting. The editions of Piar Singh and McLeod are in copyright and no clearly lawful online copy was confirmed.

The Bala tradition claims to be the dictation of Bhai Bala, a companion of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji, taken down by Paira Mokha in 1525 at the command of Sri Guru Angad Dev Ji. It became the best known janamsakhi tradition and remains so in popular use.

How far to trust it. W. H. McLeod, in the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, regards the claim to be an eyewitness record as untenable because of its inconsistencies, and because no other early tradition, Bhai Gurdas included, mentions Bala as a constant companion. Two explanations exist. Bhai Santokh Singh held that a true original was corrupted by the Hindali sect. McLeod prefers to see a composite product of the seventeenth century, whether composed by Hindalis or added to by them. He accepts that a man called Bala may have existed. Language studies cited in the same entry place its language later than the Puratan. The 1658 manuscript is the oldest dated janamsakhi of any tradition.[EoS][EoS]

• Bala Janam Sakhi (manuscript of 1658; many later recensions). Useful for popular devotion and the later growth of the stories. Unreliable for the life of Guru Ji.Internet Archive, manuscript no. 468, Panjab University, scanned, Gurmukhi

Bhai Gurdas was born at Goindwal into a Bhalla Khatri family. He joined the Sikh faith under Sri Guru Ram Das Ji in 1579 and later settled at Amritsar. He wrote out the scripture compiled under Sri Guru Arjun Dev Ji, finished in 1604, and that copy survives at Kartarpur. He taught the young Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji and passed away at Goindwal on 25 August 1636 (1693 Bk).

How far to trust it. He writes as a committed insider, and his aim is teaching. B. J. Hasrat, in the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, values the Varan as verse but notes how little biography they contain. Dharam Singh, in the same work, argues that the Varan as a whole can still support a fairly sound outline of the life of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji and his setting, with the first Var the key text. No date is recorded for any Var. Dharam Singh infers that those naming Sri Guru Hargobind Ji came after 1606. McLeod, writing on the Bala tradition, treats his silence about Bala as significant evidence. For Sikhs the Varan are part of the accepted canon, and the Encyclopaedia reports that Sri Guru Arjun Dev Ji called them the key to the scripture.[EoS][EoS][EoS][EoS]

• Varan Bhai Gurdas (c. 1600-1636). Forty vars in Punjabi. Useful for Sikh teaching in the time of the early Gurus, the names of prominent early Sikhs in Var 11, the Mina dispute in Var 36, and the life of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji in Var 1, stanzas 23-44.Internet Archive, Gurmukhi text, Gurukul Kangri collection
• Kabitt Savaiyye. Shorter poems in Braj, which Sikhs also accept as canon. No readable copy was confirmed.

Bhai Mani Singh grew up alongside Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji, took the vows of the Khalsa in 1699 and was sent to take charge of the Harmandir Sahib at Amritsar. He was martyred at Lahore under the governor Zakariya Khan. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism gives 1737. Its entry on Koer Singh and the Shahid Bilas give 1734, and Rattan Singh Bhangu gives 1738.

How far to trust it. Works credited to him are attributions, and readers should treat them that way. Kesar Singh Chhibber gives him a Kamboj family, while Giani Gian Singh makes him a Dullat Jatt. Kavi Seva Singh's Shahid Bilas gives a different life again, and the Encyclopaedia suggests that it merges him with a Rajput warrior named Mani Ram. W. H. McLeod, in the same work, reports that some modern scholars dispute his authorship of the Gyan Ratnavali or suspect later additions. McLeod sees no clear reason to reject the book's own account of its origin, but he says that account cannot be proved. Every dated copy is from the nineteenth century, apart from one dated 1721 that the Encyclopaedia considers later than it claims. The prologue attacks the Minas, so the work has a sectarian purpose. The compilation of the Dasam Granth is also credited to him, and the Encyclopaedia reports this as his chief literary achievement.[EoS][EoS][EoS][EoS][EoS]

• Gyan Ratnavali (attributed) (18th century, surviving copies later). Janamsakhi of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji built around the first Var of Bhai Gurdas, with 225 anecdotes and discourses. Useful for how the life of Guru Ji was told in later Khalsa circles. No copy with a clear edition or date was confirmed.
• Bhagat Ratnavali, also called Sikhan di Bhagat Mala (attributed). Anecdotal commentary on Var 11 of Bhai Gurdas. Useful for traditions about early Sikhs.Internet Archive, edition by Bhai Vir Singh, later reprint, Gurmukhi

Gian Singh was born at Longowal on 15 April 1822 (5 Vaisakh 1879 Bk) and claimed descent from a brother of Bhai Mani Singh. He studied under Pandit Tara Singh Narotam and travelled widely. He passed away at Nabha on 24 September 1921 (9 Assu 1978 Bk).

How far to trust it. Sant Singh Sekhon, in the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, calls him devout but not a critical historian, and says many facts, dates and sequences in his work fail scrutiny, though it shaped how Sikhs imagine their past. Hasrat places him with the older janamsakhi and gurbilas tradition despite his looking like a popular historian. Bhagat Singh reports that he relied largely on verbal information gathered over more than fifteen years, and acknowledged Bhangu and Bute Shah. He remains a useful record of oral memory and of nineteenth-century Sikh sects.[EoS][EoS][EoS][EoS]

• Sri Guru Panth Prakash (1880). Verse history from Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji to annexation. Useful for tradition and for the sects it describes. One Encyclopaedia entry says it was completed in 1867. Copies found could not be confirmed as this work or were modern editions.
• Twarikh Guru Khalsa (1891-1919). Prose expansion in five parts, of which the fourth was never printed. Useful for oral memory about the misls and for Sikh sects. Parts appeared in Urdu and Punjabi.Internet Archive, Urdu edition, part 1, Wazir Hind Press, Amritsar, 1896 · Internet Archive, Shamsher Khalsa in Urdu, undated, Gurukul Kangri collection

Kesar Singh came from the family of Dargah Mall and Dharam Chand, who served the Gurus as ministers and treasurers. He knew Bhai Mani Singh, lived at Amritsar, attended on Mata Sundari at Delhi and finished his Bansavalinama at Jammu in 1769.

How far to trust it. His family closeness gives him access, and his own commitments colour what he reports. Rattan Singh Jaggi, who edited the text, notes its rich chronology but says the dates have not been shown to be reliable, and that history and myth overlap. Jaggi also says that the book presents the Gurus as incarnations of Vishnu and argues for Brahmin superiority, and he reads this as a result of the author's ancestry and as contrary to Sikh teaching. It also states plainly that Guruship passed to the scripture, Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji.[EoS][EoS]

• Bansavalinama Dasan Patshahian Ka (1769). Useful for family traditions, chronology to be tested, and eighteenth-century Sikh belief, including on the Guruship of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji. First printed by Jaggi in 1972. A 1997 upload was left out because its rights could not be confirmed.

The prose Mahima Prakash Vartak is an unsigned manuscript of 164 anecdotes about the ten Gurus. Tradition credits it to Kirpal Das Bhalla, with a date of 1741.

How far to trust it. Kirpal Singh, in the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, calls it the earliest known work on all ten Gurus and traces its influence in Seva Das and Sarup Das. No manuscript names the author or gives a date, so both rest on belief. Hasrat describes the genre as anecdotal and semi-historical.[EoS][EoS]

• Mahima Prakash Vartak (c. 1741). Useful as an early collected account of the Gurus. It follows the older janamsakhis on Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji. The Encyclopaedia describes it as unpublished, and no readable copy was confirmed.

Koer Singh, spelled Kuir Singh in the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, wrote Gurbilas Patshahi 10, which he finished in 1751 by the account in that work. He joined the Khalsa under the influence of Bhai Mani Singh and may have lived at Lahore.

How far to trust it. Fauja Singh, in the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, credits it as the first work to give details such as the Sis Bhet episode of 1699 and to cover the whole life of Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji. He also lists errors, including 1689 for the Khalsa and 1709 for the passing of Guru Ji, inflated figures and unhistorical journeys. Its picture of Guru Ji as a liberator suits the years of conflict in which it was written. Fauja Singh thinks the author may have been an eyewitness to the martyrdom of Bhai Mani Singh, which he places in 1734.[EoS][EoS]

• Gurbilas Patshahi 10 (1751). Useful for early tradition on the Khalsa and for the mood of the mid-eighteenth century. Check details against Sainapati. The Punjabi University edition of 1968 is in copyright and no clearly lawful copy was confirmed.

Manohar Das, known as Miharban, was the son of Prithi Chand, who opposed the succession of Sri Guru Arjun Dev Ji and set up a rival seat. Miharban took over that seat from his father in 1618 (1619 in another Encyclopaedia entry) and preached in the Kangra hills and Malwa. He passed away at Muhammadipur on 18 January 1640.

How far to trust it. His position is that of a schismatic leader, and later orthodox writers branded the janamsakhi bearing his name as corrupt. It was thought lost until a manuscript turned up at Damdama Sahib in 1940. W. H. McLeod, writing in the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, draws three conclusions. The work can hardly be called heretical. The surviving text is late and heavily added to, since the main manuscript is dated 1828 and Miharban's own contribution cannot be separated out. And it is really exegesis in discourse form, not a life story. Kirpal Singh, in the same work, is more ready to credit Miharban himself, and suggests it may hold the first recorded exposition of the Japu.[EoS][EoS][EoS]

• Miharban Janam Sakhi (Pothi Sachkhand, Pothi Hariji, Pothi Chaturbhuj) (text as extant c. 1828). Useful for early exegesis of the hymns of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji, and as evidence of how a rival line read Guru Ji. Weak as biography. The Khalsa College edition of 1962 and 1969 is in copyright, and no clearly lawful online copy was confirmed.

Puratan is the name given to a family of janamsakhis of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji, with no known author. Ernest Trumpp found the Colebrooke manuscript in London in 1872, and Gurmukh Singh found the Hafizabad manuscript soon after. Bhai Vir Singh's conflated edition of 1926 made the tradition widely known.

How far to trust it. W. H. McLeod, in the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, traces all these manuscripts to a small early cluster of stories that grew separately and later rejoined, so they are not independent witnesses to one another. The Colebrooke manuscript is undated. Various periods have been proposed, and the same entry argues from language that it is older than the Bala text. Macauliffe called the tradition the oldest biography of Guru Ji, and McLeod says educated readers have favoured it over the Bala tradition. Hasrat stresses that janamsakhis rest on oral tradition and do not separate fact from fiction, while still recording what the community believed. McLeod's 1968 study concluded that they yield little reliable detail, a view discussed under W. H. McLeod.[EoS][EoS][EoS][Web]

• Puratan Janam Sakhi (edition of 1926). Useful for the early narrative tradition of the life of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji, including the pattern of four journeys. Read as hagiography.Internet Archive, edition dated 1926, Gurmukhi

Rattan Singh Bhangu wrote the Sri Gur Panth Prakash, known as the Prachin Panth Prakash, completed at Amritsar in 1841. His paternal grandfather was Matab Singh of Mirankot, and his maternal grandfather Sham Singh of the Karorsinghia misl. He says he explained the Sikh past to Captain Murray to counter the bias he expected from a Muslim informant.

How far to trust it. He writes openly as a partisan of the Khalsa and of the Majha Sikhs. Sant Singh Sekhon, in the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, says his family memory makes the sections on Banda Singh Bahadur and after the most important, and that later historians largely followed them. On the earlier Gurus he is thin, and the miraculous dominates on Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji. Hasrat sees a turn to political purpose and to the Khalsa as subject, with more care for fact than for verse. He was writing more than a century after many of those events, so they rest on family memory. He dates the martyrdom of Bhai Mani Singh to 1738, against 1737 in the Encyclopaedia.[EoS][EoS]

• Sri Gur Panth Prakash (Prachin Panth Prakash) (1841). Useful for Khalsa memory of the eighteenth century, and for the Sikh answer to British questions about their right to rule. First printed by Bhai Vir Singh in 1914.

Sainapati, born Chandra Sain, came from Lahore, where his father Bal Chand was a Man Jatt. He joined the poets around Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji at Anandpur and later lived at Wazirabad. His Sri Gur Sobha was unknown to modern scholars until Akali Kaur Singh printed it in 1925.

How far to trust it. He knew Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji, and he is also an admirer writing praise. Major Gurmukh Singh, in the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, calls the book part eulogy and part history, and counts at least six of its twenty cantos as direct praise. The author gives 1701 as his completion date, but the text reaches events of October 1708, so scholars suggest a first draft in 1701 and a final text around 1711. He does not name himself in the book, and the attribution rests on two of his other works. Piara Singh Padam rates its historical value highly. Hasrat treats it as the first work in the gurbilas style.[EoS][EoS][EoS]

• Sri Gur Sobha (1701-c. 1711). Verse account of the battles of Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji, the creation of the Khalsa and the years after Anandpur. Also useful for how the words misl and Khalsa were used at the time.Internet Archive, first edition by Akali Kaur Singh, Amritsar, 1925, Gurmukhi
• Chanakya Niti. Hindi verse rendering of a Sanskrit work on statecraft, made at Anandpur. Useful mainly for his identity. No readable copy was confirmed.
• Sri Sain Sukh. Verse translation of a medical treatise, made at Wazirabad. One Encyclopaedia entry calls it Sukh Sain Granth. No readable copy was confirmed.

Santokh Singh was born on 8 October 1787 near Tarn Taran and studied at Amritsar under Giani Sant Singh. He worked at Buria and from 1825 at the court of Bhai Udai Singh of Kaithal, where he passed away on 19 October 1843. His Sri Gur Pratap Suraj Granth is described in the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism as the largest poetic work in Hindi or Punjabi literature.

How far to trust it. Judgements on him differ sharply. Jai Bhagwan Goel, in the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, calls his epic the most valuable source book for the period of the Gurus, while allowing that scholars trained in modern history point out drawbacks. Hasrat, in the same work, sees it as a return to the older narrative manner after Bhangu, yet enormously influential. McLeod notes how heavily he relied on the Bala tradition. He wrote long after his subjects, so readers can take the poem as a record of what Sikh tradition had become by 1843. It is still expounded in gurdwaras.[EoS][EoS][EoS][EoS]

• Sri Gur Nanak Prakash (1823). Epic on the life of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji, leaning on the Bala tradition. Useful for later devotion. No separate lawful copy was confirmed.
• Sri Gur Pratap Suraj Granth (Suraj Prakash) (1835-1843). Vast Braj epic on the later nine Gurus and Banda Singh Bahadur. Useful for the full tradition as told in gurdwaras. Bhai Vir Singh's annotated edition is the standard text.Internet Archive, annotated edition of Bhai Vir Singh, later reprint, volume 1, Gurmukhi
• Garab Ganjani Tika (1829). Commentary on the Japu in Hindi prose. No readable copy was confirmed.

Sarup Das Bhalla wrote the verse Mahima Prakash, completed in 1776 by its internal evidence. It runs to 237 anecdotes on the ten Gurus and Banda Singh Bahadur.

How far to trust it. M. S. Ahluwalia, in the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, credits it as the first connected work of its kind across all the Gurus but warns that it is not plain history and contains factual errors. By his own account the author used the Puratan Janam Sakhi, the Adi Sakhian and information from descendants of the Gurus. The Encyclopaedia quotes it on Prince Khusrau as a Sikh counterpoint to the memoirs of Jahangir. McLeod used it among his sources on Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji, according to J. S. Grewal.[EoS][EoS][Web]

• Mahima Prakash (1776). Useful for eighteenth-century Sikh memory of all ten Gurus, and for family traditions. The Languages Department edition of 1970 is in copyright and no readable copy was confirmed.

This is a verse biography of Sri Guru Hargobind Ji in language close to Braj. The poet says he versified what his mentor Dharam Singh heard from Bhai Mani Singh.

How far to trust it. Jit Singh Sital, in the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, calls the author anonymous, while Hasrat says it is usually credited to Sohan. The colophon gives 1718, but references to later events make that suspect, and a modern scholar has proposed 1843. Sital records dates in it that are proved wrong, including that of the passing of Guru Ji. Its chain of authority back through Bhai Mani Singh and Bhai Daya Singh is the poet's own claim.[EoS][EoS][EoS]

• Gurbilas Chhevin Patshahi (1718 or later). Useful for tradition on Sri Guru Hargobind Ji and the Akal Takht. Check any date against other sources. Modern editions of 1968 and 1970 are in copyright, and no clearly lawful copy was confirmed.

Sukha Singh was born at Anandpur, preached at Takht Sri Harmandir Sahib at Patna and returned to Anandpur, where he passed away in 1838. He finished his Gurbilas Patshahi Dasvin in 1797.

How far to trust it. K. S. Thapar, in the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, praises its detail and its grasp of the politics of the time, but warns that poetic imagination and piety outweigh factual narration. It came about ninety years after the life it describes, and its author says a dream inspired it. Its sources include the Bachitra Natak, Sainapati, Koer Singh and oral memory, so it is a late witness.[EoS][EoS]

• Gurbilas Patshahi Dasvin (1797). Useful for later tradition on the Khalsa of 1699 and the last days of Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji at Nanded. The oldest printed edition the Encyclopaedia knows is from 1912. Copies found were later reprints whose rights could not be confirmed.

Ahmad Shah came from a religious family of Batala, was received by Maharaja Ranjit Singh and corresponded with Claude Wade and Lieutenant Murray. He compiled the Twarikh-i-Hind at Murray's request.

How far to trust it. Mohammad Aslam, in the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, values its account of the invasions and of Sikh-Afghan rivalry but says the chapter on the Gurus has glaring errors and calls Sikhism a Hindu sect. He also sees in it bias against Banda Singh Bahadur. Its Sikh chapter was printed with the Umdat ut-Twarikh, and J. S. Grewal says M'Gregor drew on it heavily.[EoS][EoS]

• Twarikh-i-Hind (c. 1818-24). Useful for eighteenth-century invasions and as a source behind British writers. In manuscript apart from the Sikh section printed in 1885. No separate online copy was found.

This anonymous Persian work on how the Sikhs began and rose to power dates from about 1783-85 by internal evidence.

How far to trust it. Bhagat Singh, in the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, calls its treatment of the Gurus imperfect and in places wrong, and notes that it describes Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji as a rebel. He finds it closer to other contemporary accounts on the eighteenth century, and useful for Sikh terms and practices.[EoS]

• Haqiqat-i-Bina-o-Uruj-i-Firqa-i-Sikhan (c. 1783-85). Useful for Afghan-Sikh conflict and contemporary Sikh vocabulary. Indubhusan Banerjee's English translation appeared in Indian Historical Quarterly. No online copy was found.

Bakht Mall worked as a clerk for Sikh and British employers and accompanied John Malcolm to Amritsar in 1805. He wrote the Khalsa Namah at Malcolm's instance.

How far to trust it. Bhagat Singh, in the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, says the lives of the Gurus follow traditional lines and that the work is on firmer ground near the author's own time, especially on the cis-Sutlej area. Malcolm relied on it heavily, so its limits pass into Sketch of the Sikhs.[EoS]

• Khalsa Namah (1810-14). Useful for the cis-Sutlej chiefs and as a source behind Malcolm. Unpublished, according to the Encyclopaedia, and no online copy was found.

Budh Singh Arora wrote the Risala-i-Nanak Shah with Ajaib Singh Suri, at the request of the British agent James Browne, who translated it into English.

How far to trust it. Bhagat Singh, in the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, lists serious errors on the Gurus, including the claim that Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji was born only after his father's martyrdom. He finds it fairly reliable as it nears the authors' own time. Browne does not name his informants, and the attribution comes from the manuscript evidence the Encyclopaedia gives.[EoS]

• Risala-i-Nanak Shah (1783). Useful for the eighteenth-century rise of Sikh power as understood in Delhi. The Persian text is in manuscript. Browne's English version is listed under James Browne.

Ghulam Muhayy ud-Din, known as Bute Shah, was a clerk trusted by the British at Ludhiana. He wrote his history of the Punjab in Persian at the instance of George Russell Clerk and finished it in 1848.

How far to trust it. Bhagat Singh, in the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, finds him stronger on the misls and strongest on Maharaja Ranjit Singh, where he had personal knowledge and probably saw agency records. Bhagat Singh says the Ranjit Singh section reads like a shrewd digest of Sohan Lal Suri, sometimes in the same words, while judging him a more critical historian. Mufti Ali ud-Din called his style complex. Rattan Singh Bhangu distrusted him because he was a Muslim writing for the British, by Bhangu's own account. His section on the Gurus relies on traditional Sikh sources.[EoS][EoS][EoS]

• Twarikh-i-Panjab (1848). Useful for the misls and the reign of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Unpublished, according to the Encyclopaedia, with manuscripts in London, Lahore, Patiala and Amritsar. No online copy was found.

The Dabistan-i-Mazahib is a seventeenth-century Persian survey of religions with a section on the followers of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji. The author never names himself. It was long credited to Mohsin Fani, and Sayyid Hasan Askari, in the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, reports that scholars now credit Zulfiqar Ardastani. Library catalogues often still use the older name.

How far to trust it. Askari calls its account of the Sikhs the earliest by a non-Sikh contemporary, sympathetic and fair though not free of factual errors. The author says he met Sri Guru Hargobind Ji and Sri Guru Har Rai Ji at Kiratpur, so he is a direct witness for them. For earlier Gurus he reports what Sikhs told him, including stories he treats as beliefs. McLeod also used it, according to J. S. Grewal.[EoS][Web]

• Dabistan-i-Mazahib (17th century). Useful for how an outsider saw Sikh belief, the masands and the military turn under Sri Guru Hargobind Ji. Translated by David Shea and Anthony Troyer in 1843. Ganda Singh's translation of the Sikh section appeared in Journal of Indian History in 1940.Internet Archive, English translation by Shea and Troyer, 1843, volume 1 · Internet Archive, English translation by Shea and Troyer, 1843, volume 2, which holds the section on the Sikhs · Internet Archive, English translation by Shea and Troyer, 1843, volume 3

Ganesh Das was a qanungo at Gujrat under the Lahore Darbar and served Raja Gulab Singh at Jammu. He wrote the Char Bagh-i-Punjab after annexation at the instance of Richard Temple.

How far to trust it. Sayyid Hasan Askari, in the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, says the section on early Sikhism is sketchy and mistaken in places, for example in claiming Guruship passed to Banda Singh. He finds it more reliable close to the author's own time. He explains the author's occasional abuse of Sikhs as a wish to please his new masters.[EoS]

• Char Bagh-i-Panjab (1855). Useful for geography, revenue divisions, and the misls and Lahore court. Edited by Kirpal Singh, Amritsar, 1965. No clearly lawful online copy was found.

Jahangir himself wrote the memoirs for his first twelve regnal years, and courtiers continued them. They are known as the Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri or Jahangirnama.

How far to trust it. This is the ruler's own record, which the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism dates about twenty days after the event, so it records what he ordered and why he said he ordered it. It is hostile to Sri Guru Arjun Dev Ji and gives his view only. In the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, Sayyid Hasan Askari reads it as showing long-standing intolerance that used the visit of Prince Khusrau as a pretext. Askari sets it beside the Mahima Prakash, which reports only hospitality to the prince. The later parts of the memoirs are not by Jahangir.[EoS][EoS]

• Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri (c. 1605-1627). Useful as a contemporary record from the Mughal state of the martyrdom of Sri Guru Arjun Dev Ji in 1606, and for the court around it. The entry is in the first volume.Project Gutenberg, translation by Rogers, edited by Beveridge, volume 1 · Project Gutenberg, translation by Rogers, edited by Beveridge, volume 2 · Internet Archive, translation by Rogers, edited by Beveridge, Royal Asiatic Society, 1909 · Internet Archive, The Jahangirnama, library loan copy, 1999 translation (in copyright)

Jot Prakash is identified as the anonymous author of the Asrar-i-Samadi, a Persian account of the military campaigns of Nawab Abd us-Samad Khan.

How far to trust it. Gurbax Singh, in the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, calls it remarkably free from personal prejudice, and notes that it claims to be an eyewitness account, praises Sikh courage and says the Nawab broke a promise of safe conduct at Gurdas Nangal. The clerk was reporting on his own patron.[EoS]

• Asrar-i-Samadi (c. 1728). Useful for the siege of Gurdas Nangal seen from the Mughal side. Edited at Lahore, 1965, with a Punjabi translation, Patiala, 1972. No clearly lawful online copy was found.

Kamraj wrote a Persian Ibratnamah of 71 folios covering 1707 to 1719, part of a larger book in honour of Prince Azam.

How far to trust it. Sayyid Hasan Askari, in the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, calls it disjointed and laboured and says its language about Sikhs is highly abusive, though the author probably saw many of the events.[EoS]

• Ibratnamah (c. 1719). Useful for a contemporary Mughal view of Banda Singh Bahadur. In manuscript, and no online copy was found.

Muhammad Hashim, known as Khafi Khan, served under Aurangzeb and his successors and later under Nizam ul-Mulk. His Muntakhab ul-Lubab covers the Mughal period, and he says the last 53 years rest on his own observation or on witnesses.

How far to trust it. Bhagat Singh, in the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, calls it a valuable contemporary source for the time of Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji and Banda Singh Bahadur. He says it uses abusive language about Banda Singh, yet it still records Sikh daring, discipline and a working civil administration. Readers should weigh both the abuse and the praise, since he wrote as a Mughal servant.[EoS]

• Muntakhab ul-Lubab (1722). Useful for Mughal-side evidence on the campaign against Banda Singh Bahadur and on Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji travelling with Bahadur Shah.Internet Archive, Persian text, part 2, Calcutta, 1874 · Internet Archive, English extracts in Elliot and Dowson, The History of India as Told by Its Own Historians, volume 7, 1877

Khushwaqt Rai wrote a Persian history of the Sikhs to 1811 for the British, at the request of David Ochterlony or, on another view, Charles Metcalfe.

How far to trust it. Gurbax Singh, in the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, says it holds useful information but also errors and personal prejudice, and that its account of the Sikh rise to power is straightforward. It matters because Prinsep and Murray drew on it, so a good part of early British writing on the Sikhs depends on this one informant.[EoS][EoS]

• Ahwal-i-Firqah-i-Sikkhan (also Twarikh-i-Sikkhan) (c. 1811). Useful for the misls and early Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Unpublished, according to the Encyclopaedia, and no online copy was found.

Mubarakullah Wazih wrote memoirs of the successors of Aurangzeb from 1707 to 1714, known as the Tarikh-i-Iradat Khani.

How far to trust it. Sayyid Hasan Askari, in the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, values his personal account of the fighting at Lohgarh. He was on the Mughal side. The manuscript gives few dates.[EoS]

• Tarikh-i-Iradat Khani (c. 1714). Useful for Lohgarh and the response at Delhi to Banda Singh Bahadur. An abridged English translation by Jonathan Scott appeared in 1786. No copy was confirmed.

Ali ud-Din served the British at Ludhiana and elsewhere, and settled at Lahore. His Ibratnamah, begun by his father at the request of Claude Wade, was completed on 13 September 1854.

How far to trust it. Gurbax Singh, in the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, notes that he read earlier works closely and attacked them, calling Sohan Lal Suri partisan and Bute Shah complicated. Those verdicts come from a rival writer in British employ. Its survey of customs across communities is unusually detailed.[EoS]

• Ibratnamah (1854). Useful for the social and economic life of the Punjab and the customs of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs. Edited by Muhammad Baqir, Lahore, 1961. No clearly lawful online copy was found.

Muhammad Ali Khan Ansari came from a noble family of Panipat and wrote the Tarikh-i-Muzaffari, a history of the Mughals completed in 1810.

How far to trust it. Sayyid Hasan Askari, in the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, notes that his language about Sikhs is restrained, in contrast to other Muslim chroniclers of the period. He writes about a century after the campaign he describes, and Sikhs appear in only two places.[EoS]

• Tarikh-i-Muzaffari (1810). Useful for the campaign against Banda Singh Bahadur and the misls as allies against Najaf Khan. In manuscript, and no online copy was found.

Harisi kept memoirs in diary form covering 1703 to 1776, in a work also called Ibratnamah.

How far to trust it. Sayyid Hasan Askari, in the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, values his eyewitness account of the procession and martyrdom of Banda Singh Bahadur and his companions at Delhi. His language about Sikhs is abusive, and he also praises their courage. He reports that the number of prisoners was padded with villagers taken on the way.[EoS]

• Ibratnamah (to 1776). Useful for the Delhi executions of 1716. In manuscript, and no online copy was found.

Muhammad Qasim served under the Mughal officers of his day and wrote an Ibratnamah on the Delhi empire from Aurangzeb's death to the fall of the Sayyid brothers.

How far to trust it. Sayyid Hasan Askari, in the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, says it treats Sikhs and their religion with some sympathy but turns abusive about Banda Singh Bahadur. He says Qasim also admits what he saw of Sikh courage. This is a hostile eyewitness writing with some openness.[EoS]

• Ibratnamah (early 18th century). Useful for an eyewitness Mughal view of Banda Singh Bahadur. A rare manuscript, and no online copy was found.

Sohan Lal Suri was the son of Ganpat Rai, a clerk to the Sukerchakia chiefs, and continued his father's notes after about 1811. His Umdat ut-Twarikh runs to five daftars and about 7,000 manuscript pages.

How far to trust it. The later daftars are close to a daily record of the Lahore court, and Hasrat, in the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, treats it as authentic history except for the first part, which he says rests on tradition. He was an employee of the court, and Mufti Ali ud-Din called him partisan and one-sided. He also read from it to the British agent Claude Wade, so it had more than one audience. Bhagat Singh calls it a comprehensive and important document.[EoS][EoS][EoS][EoS]

• Umdat ut-Twarikh (to 1849; lithographed 1880s). The main day-to-day source for the Lahore court of 1831-1849. V. S. Suri's English translation of the later daftars is the usual way in for English readers, and copies found online could not be confirmed as lawful.Internet Archive, Persian lithographed text, volumes 1-4
• Ibrat Namah. Short poem on the killings at the Lahore court in September 1843. No readable copy was confirmed.

Sujan Rai was a professional clerk from Batala. His Khulasat ut-Twarikh, a Persian history of India, includes a section on Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji and his successors because of his interest in the Batala area.

How far to trust it. J. S. Grewal, in the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, is favourable. He admits errors, such as making Sri Guru Amar Das Ji the son-in-law of Sri Guru Angad Dev Ji, but finds the account strikingly accurate overall and careful in its gathering of facts. He also values its observations on how Sikhs of the 1690s lived and worshipped. Sohan Lal Suri acknowledged it as a model.[EoS][EoS]

• Khulasat ut-Twarikh (1695-96). Useful as an early non-Sikh outline of all the Gurus to the time of Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji, and a rare picture of Sikh life at the time.Internet Archive, Persian text edited by Zafar Hasan, Delhi, 1918

Trumpp was commissioned by the India Office in 1869 to translate the Sikh scripture. His partial translation, The Adi Granth, appeared in 1877. He found the Colebrooke janamsakhi among manuscripts sent to him in 1872.

How far to trust it. Nripinder Singh, in the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, calls his approach prejudiced and his conclusions insulting to Sikhs, while crediting him as a linguist. Macauliffe wrote to repair that offence. Trilochan Singh attacks him as a tool of missions and empire, while the foreword to his book, by Noel Q. King, still grants that Trumpp did good work on the language and metre of the text. His discovery of the Colebrooke manuscript led to the modern study of the janamsakhis.[EoS][EoS][Singh]

• The Adi Granth (1877). Useful for the history of Western study and for its grammar notes. Not recommended as an interpretation of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji. Partial translation only.Internet Archive, 1877 edition, London

Smyth compiled this history of the Lahore ruling family in 1847, mainly from the notes of Alexander Gardner, an artillery officer in Sikh service.

How far to trust it. J. S. Grewal, in the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, calls its tone contemptuous, says its dates are few and thin, and notes that the Government of India publicly reprimanded the author. Its one merit, he says, is the use of Gardner's notes. Smyth openly wanted British expansion into the Punjab.[EoS]

• A History of the Reigning Family of Lahore (1847). Useful for court intrigue after 1839, through Gardner, and as an example of expansionist writing.Internet Archive, 1847 edition, Calcutta

Prinsep compiled his account of the rise of Sikh power at Calcutta in 1834 from the papers of Captain Murray and Captain Wade, and from Khushwaqt Rai.

How far to trust it. S. K. Bajaj, in the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, calls it a fair and useful account and praises its insight into British motives and Maharaja Ranjit Singh's character. It is a compilation by an official and starts only with the 1740s. An anonymous two-volume History of the Punjab of 1846 is credited to him in some catalogues and to T. H. Thornton or William Murray in others. Bhagat Singh says that book uses no Punjabi or Persian sources and repeats Malcolm's mistakes.[EoS][EoS][EoS]

• Origin of the Sikh Power in the Punjab (1834). Useful for British intelligence on Maharaja Ranjit Singh up to 1832. Includes Murray's report on Sikh customs.Internet Archive, 1834 edition, Calcutta
• History of the Punjab (anonymous, attribution disputed) (1846). Useful for the official British view of the first Anglo-Sikh war.Internet Archive, 1846 edition, volume 2

Cunningham joined the Bengal Army and from 1837 worked under Claude Wade on Punjab relations. He wrote A History of the Sikhs at Bhopal, and it appeared in 1849. His criticism of Lord Hardinge cost him his political post. He passed away at Ambala in 1851.

How far to trust it. S. S. Bal, in the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, calls it the first serious and sympathetic account by a foreigner, based on official papers, Sikh scripture and Persian and Punjabi manuscripts. Hasrat treats it as the first critical history on the subject. Others in his own day, led by J. W. Kaye, attacked him as an apologist for the Khalsa. Hasrat adds that such work by non-Sikhs does not belong to Sikh tradition itself. His last chapter, on the war, was the part that caused the trouble.[EoS][EoS]

• A History of the Sikhs from the Origin of the Nation to the Battles of the Sutlej (1849; later edition 1918). Useful as the first full English history drawing on Sikh sources, and for British policy before the war of 1845-46.Internet Archive, 1849 first edition · Internet Archive, 1918 edition, Oxford University Press

James Browne was a British agent in Delhi who obtained an account of the Sikhs from Lahore informants and published it in English in his India Tracts.

How far to trust it. His text is a translation of the Risala-i-Nanak Shah, so its reliability is that of its Persian source. Bhagat Singh, in the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, finds it wrong on many facts about the Gurus and fairly sound on the eighteenth century. He obtained it in his role as a British agent.[EoS]

• History of the Origin and Progress of the Sicks (1788). Useful as one of the earliest English accounts of the Sikhs, published within India Tracts.Internet Archive, India Tracts, 1788

Malcolm met the Sikhs while with Lord Lake's army in 1805. His account appeared in Asiatick Researches in 1810 and as a book in 1812.

How far to trust it. J. S. Grewal, in the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, calls it impressionistic and partly pejorative, but useful when read critically with other sources. He credits Malcolm as the first British writer to treat Sikh writings as the crucial sources, using translations by John Leyden, though Malcolm relied on Siyar ul-Mutakherin for the early eighteenth century. Grewal says he wrongly treats Sikhism as a movement within Hinduism, and undervalues Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji. Malcolm himself admits haste. He leaned on Bakht Mall.[EoS][EoS][EoS]

• Sketch of the Sikhs (1812). Useful for British perceptions around 1805 and for Sikh government at that date. Later writers often repeated its errors.Internet Archive, 1812 edition, London

Griffin reached Lahore in 1860 and became Chief Secretary of the Punjab in 1880. He wrote on Punjab states and families, and a life of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.

How far to trust it. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism has no entry on him but cites him widely in its bibliographies, mainly as a source on families and states. He writes as an official. One later title even presents Maharaja Ranjit Singh as a barrier between the British empire and Central Asia. No full critical assessment of his reliability was read for this entry.[Web][EoS]

• The Panjab Chiefs (1865). Useful for family histories of the Punjab nobility.Internet Archive, 1865 edition, Lahore
• The Rajas of the Punjab (1870). Useful for the histories of Patiala and other states and their relations with the British.Internet Archive, 1870 edition, Lahore
• Ranjit Singh (1892). Short official-minded biography in the Rulers of India series.Internet Archive, 1892 edition, Clarendon Press

Macauliffe joined the Indian Civil Service in 1862, reached the Punjab in 1864 and retired in 1893 to work on Sikh scripture. His six-volume The Sikh Religion appeared at Oxford in 1909. He passed away in London on 15 March 1913.

How far to trust it. He worked closely with Sikh scholars, above all Bhai Kahn Singh Nabha, and with Sikh rulers as sponsors, and his aim was to defend the tradition against Trumpp. Donald Dawe, in the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, regards his translation as a basic witness and notes that later scholars have corrected him. McLeod, as J. S. Grewal reports, names him with Bhai Vir Singh and Bhai Kahn Singh as one of the three most influential Singh Sabha writers. McLeod says this view still shapes most writing on the Sikhs. So his narrative rests largely on the janamsakhi tradition and on Singh Sabha views, and should not be read as neutral history. Government officials were cool to him, and in 1911 a Sikh conference declined to commend his work.[EoS][EoS][Web][Macauliffe]

• The Sikh Religion: Its Gurus, Sacred Writings and Authors (1909). Useful for translations of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji with the life of each Guru, as understood by Sikh scholars around 1900.Internet Archive, 1909 edition, volume 1 · Internet Archive, 1909 edition, volume 2 · Internet Archive, 1909 edition, volume 3 · Internet Archive, 1909 edition, volume 4 · Internet Archive, 1909 edition, volume 5 · Internet Archive, 1909 edition, volume 6

Latif published History of the Punjab from the Remotest Antiquity to the Present Time in 1891.

How far to trust it. Hasrat, in the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, names it the next important book after Cunningham in the line of modern history and notes it is not part of Sikh tradition. No detailed critical assessment was read for this entry, so readers should treat this as a pointer.[EoS]

• History of the Panjab (1891). A long general history written under British rule. Useful as a reference for its period.Internet Archive, 1891 edition, Calcutta

M'Gregor published The History of the Sikhs in two volumes in 1846, on the Gurus and the misls and then on the war of 1845-46.

How far to trust it. J. S. Grewal, in the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, calls it full of errors of fact and interpretation and coloured by British opinion, with little sympathy for Sikhs, but valuable as source material when its purposes are kept in view. He says the early part rests on Ahmad Shah's Twarikh-i-Hind and on Prinsep.[EoS]

• The History of the Sikhs (1846). Useful for British attitudes during the first Anglo-Sikh war.Internet Archive, 1846 edition, volume 1 · Internet Archive, 1846 edition, volume 2

Bhai Vir Singh was born at Amritsar on 5 December 1872 and trained in the Giani tradition of exegesis under his grandfather. He became a major figure in modern Punjabi writing and edited many early Sikh texts. He passed away at Amritsar on 10 June 1957.

How far to trust it. For readers of history his importance lies in his editions as much as his own writing. He prepared the Puratan Janam Sakhi of 1926, the Prachin Panth Prakash of 1914 and the annotated Suraj Prakash of 1927-35, and his choices shaped what those texts look like. McLeod, writing on the Puratan, notes that his edition merges two manuscripts. McLeod also counts him with Kahn Singh and Macauliffe as the writers who set the Singh Sabha reading of the past, as J. S. Grewal reports. Attar Singh, in the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, writes with admiration and credits him with creating modern Punjabi literature.[EoS][EoS][EoS][EoS][Web]

• Puratan Janam Sakhi (editor) (1926). A conflated text of the Colebrooke and Hafizabad manuscripts. See the entry on the Puratan compilers for the link.
• Sri Gur Pratap Suraj Granth (editor) (1927-35). Fourteen-volume annotated edition. See the entry on Bhai Santokh Singh for the link.
• Sundari. Historical novel on Sikh suffering in the eighteenth century. Useful for Singh Sabha ideals, and not a historical source.Internet Archive, later reprint from Bhai Vir Singh Sahit Sadan, Gurmukhi

Ditt Singh, born at Kalaur on 21 April 1853, began as a Gulabdasi preacher before joining the Arya Samaj and then the Singh Sabha. He became a leading reform editor and writer.

How far to trust it. He was a reforming journalist and poet. His career shows the movement drawing in people from Ravidasia and sectarian backgrounds. Macauliffe consulted him and had him read proofs, according to Donald Dawe in the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, so his influence reaches beyond his own tracts. No critical study of his reliability was read for this entry.[EoS][EoS]

• Singh Sabha journalism and tracts. Useful for reform debate in the 1880s and 1890s. No readable copy was confirmed.

Gurmukh Singh, born at Kapurthala on 15 April 1849, helped found the Lahore Singh Sabha in 1879. He was the first lecturer in Punjabi at Oriental College and first chief secretary of the Khalsa Diwan, Amritsar.

How far to trust it. He is important as an organiser and discoverer, and not as a historian. W. H. McLeod, in the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, credits him with finding the Hafizabad janamsakhi, which he passed to Macauliffe. His reforming zeal brought him into conflict with Baba Khem Singh Bedi.[EoS][EoS][EoS]

• Sudharak and other Singh Sabha publications. Useful for the reform movement from the inside. No readable copy was confirmed.

Kahn Singh was born on 30 August 1861 (Bhadon vadi 10, 1918 Bk) and was largely self-taught. He served Nabha state as tutor to the heir, private secretary and judge, assisted Professor Gurmukh Singh at Lahore, and was the main adviser to Macauliffe. He passed away at Nabha on 24 November 1938.

How far to trust it. His great dictionary is widely trusted, while his Ham Hindu Nahin is openly a work of argument. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, in entries by Dharam Singh and Satyindra Singh, presents the tract as a clear statement of the Singh Sabha position that Sikhism is a separate faith, and it was framed as a dialogue built on selected texts. Bhai Kahn Singh first signed it with coded initials. McLeod, as reported by J. S. Grewal, ranks him among the three most influential Singh Sabha writers, and Harjot Oberoi's work challenges the idea of Sikh identity that the movement promoted. The dictionary and the tract should be judged separately.[EoS][EoS][EoS][EoS][Web]

• Ham Hindu Nahin (1898). Useful as the classic statement of the Tat Khalsa position on Sikh identity. Scans found were recent commercial reprints, so none is linked.
• Gurushabad Ratanakar Mahan Kosh (1930). Dictionary and encyclopaedia of Sikh literature, with 64,263 entries. Useful for words in the scripture and in Sikh historical texts.SearchGurbani, searchable online text
• Gurmat Prabhakar (1898). Glossary of Sikh terms, concepts and institutions. No readable copy was confirmed.
• Gurmat Sudhakar (1899). Anthology of Sikh texts. Copies found were later reprints, so none is linked.

Karam Singh left Khalsa College before his final examinations in 1905 to record the memories of old men who had lived under Sikh rule. He became State Historian at Patiala and was made secretary of the Sikh Historical Society in 1929. He passed away in 1930.

How far to trust it. Hasrat, in the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, calls him the first Sikh to base history on modern research. Major Gurmukh Singh reports that traditionalists opposed his critical approach and that this left him without patronage. He valued oral testimony. Hasrat describes his output as short books and articles.[EoS][EoS]

• Jivan Britant Banda Bahadur (1907). Early research biography of Banda Singh Bahadur. No readable copy was confirmed.
• Gurpurb Nirnaya. Study of the dates of Sikh observances. No readable copy was confirmed.
• Karam Singh Historian di Itihasik Khoj. Collected writings, published by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee. No readable copy was confirmed.

Ganda Singh served in the army and in Iran before taking charge of the Sikh History Research Department at Khalsa College, Amritsar, in 1931. He later directed archives at Patiala, founded the Punjab History Conference in 1965 and launched The Panjab Past and Present in 1967. He passed away at Patiala on 27 December 1987.

How far to trust it. Major Gurmukh Singh, in the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, writes in warm admiration of his collecting and research, and Hasrat names him among the leading historians. He edited and translated key sources, including Sri Gur Sobha and the Sikh section of the Dabistan. McLeod placed him among traditionalist historians shaped by the Singh Sabha reading. J. S. Grewal rejects that label as a caricature.[EoS][EoS][Web][EoS]

• Life of Banda Singh Bahadur (1935). Documentary biography. Useful for its Persian and other sources. In copyright, and scans found could not be confirmed as lawful.
• Ahmad Shah Durrani (1959). His doctoral study. Useful on the Afghan invasions. In copyright, and scans found could not be confirmed as lawful.
• A Bibliography of the Punjab (1966). Guide to sources on the Punjab, listing many of the works on this page.Internet Archive, library loan copy (free account; in copyright)
• Sri Gur Sobha (editor) (1967). Standard edition of Sainapati. In copyright. See the entry on Sainapati for readable copies.

Mann taught at Baring Union Christian College, then at Columbia University, and held the Sikh Studies chair at the University of California, Santa Barbara, from 1999 to 2015. He now directs the Global Institute for Sikh Studies in New York.

How far to trust it. He works on manuscripts of the Sikh canon. J. S. Grewal notes that Mann, with Pashaura Singh and Balwant Singh Dhillon, argued for the authenticity of the Kartarpur text, and that differences remain among these scholars about its origins. Grewal also cites his dating of the Prem Sumarag to the time of Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji.[Web][Web][Mann]

• The Goindval Pothis: The Earliest Extant Source of the Sikh Canon (1996). Study of the early manuscripts behind the scripture. No lawful online copy was confirmed.
• The Making of Sikh Scripture (2001). Useful for how Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji took shape.Internet Archive, 2003 Oxford University Press edition, library loan copy (free account; in copyright)

Harbans Singh edited the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, published by Punjabi University between 1992 and 1998, and wrote on Sikh history and on Bhai Vir Singh. He was a pupil of Ganda Singh.

How far to trust it. This site relies on his Encyclopaedia, so readers should know its position. It is a project of Punjabi University, and many entries are admiring in tone, but it includes critical writers such as W. H. McLeod and J. S. Grewal as contributors. McLeod counted Harbans Singh among the traditionalist historians, a label Grewal rejects. No separate biography or critical study of him was read for this entry.[EoS][Web][EoS]

• The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism (editor) (1992-1998). Signed entries on people, works and places in Sikh history. Useful as a first reference, with attention to who wrote each entry.Punjabi University, Encyclopaedia of Sikhism online
• The Heritage of the Sikhs (1964). General history from a Sikh viewpoint.Internet Archive, 1994 Manohar edition, library loan copy (free account; in copyright)
• Guru Nanak and Origins of the Sikh Faith (1969). A life of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji published in the centenary year 1969.Internet Archive, 1969 edition, library loan copy (free account; in copyright)

Gupta took the first history doctorate at Panjab University, Lahore, in 1937, with a thesis on the Sikh confederacies, and spent his career on the Sikhs of the eighteenth century. He passed away at Delhi on 28 March 1992 with his multi-volume history unfinished.

How far to trust it. Jadunath Sarkar, his examiner, praised the thesis highly, and Hasrat names him among the significant modern historians. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism and Wikipedia differ on where he held his chair, and no critical review was read for this entry.[EoS][Web][EoS]

• History of the Sikhs (1939 onward). Detailed political history. Useful for the misls and the eighteenth century. Older scans of the early volumes could not be confirmed as lawful.Internet Archive, volume 4, 1982, library loan copy (free account; in copyright)

Oberoi took his doctorate at the Australian National University and is known for his work on Sikh identity in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

How far to trust it. His book argues that most Sikhs long held multiple local and religious identities, and that sharp boundaries were drawn only under the Singh Sabha, which replaced what he calls Sanatan Sikhism. McLeod called it superb and adopted the idea, and Tony Ballantyne praises its cultural analysis. Surinder Jodhka reports that it is highly controversial among Sikhs though many regard it as a landmark. J. S. Grewal calls the concept of Sanatan Sikhism dubious and says it did harm to McLeod's later work.[Web][Web]

• The Construction of Religious Boundaries: Culture, Identity, and Diversity in the Sikh Tradition (1994). Useful for Sikh identity before and during the Singh Sabha. Read with its critics.Internet Archive, University of Chicago Press edition, access for print-disabled readers (in copyright)

Grewal belonged to the first generation that made Sikh Studies a field. He studied at SOAS, wrote Guru Nanak in History, taught at Panjab University, became Vice-Chancellor of Guru Nanak Dev University and directed the Indian Institute of Advanced Study at Shimla. He passed away on 11 August 2022.

How far to trust it. He is the most important critic of McLeod from within professional history. He accepts critical method but rejects what he calls McLeod's dichotomy of tradition and history, insists on using the compositions of the Gurus and the hukamnamas, and argues that Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji saw his path as new. His essay on McLeod is plainly a critique, so it is best read with McLeod's own replies. He also wrote several of the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism's entries on colonial writers.[Web][Web][Web][EoS][EoS]

• Guru Nanak in History (1969). Places the life and thought of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji in the setting of his time.Internet Archive, library loan copy (free account; in copyright)
• From Guru Nanak to Maharaja Ranjit Singh (1972). Essays in Sikh history. No lawful online copy was confirmed.
• The Sikhs of the Punjab (1990). The New Cambridge History volume. A strong single-volume survey.Internet Archive, 2011 printing, library loan copy (free account; in copyright)
• Contesting Interpretations of the Sikh Tradition (1998). On the debates over Sikh history. No lawful online copy was confirmed.
• W. H. McLeod and Sikh Studies (2010). Long critical assessment of McLeod. Essential for the debate.Journal of Punjab Studies 17, University of California, Santa Barbara, open PDF

Khushwant Singh was a Punjabi Sikh author best known for his novel Train to Pakistan. He also wrote the two-volume A History of the Sikhs.

How far to trust it. Hasrat, in the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, names him among the most eminent modern historians of the Sikhs. He reviewed McLeod's 1968 book warmly, praising its objectivity. McLeod still placed him with the traditionalist writers, according to J. S. Grewal, who objects to that grouping.[Web][EoS][Web][Web]

• A History of the Sikhs (1963). General history. Useful as a first narrative, to be checked against specialist work.Internet Archive, 1963 Princeton University Press edition, library loan copy (free account; in copyright)

Fenech took his doctorate at the University of Toronto in 1995 and works on Sikh literature and martyrdom, and the world of Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji. He co-edited The Oxford Handbook of Sikh Studies and the later editions of McLeod's Historical Dictionary of Sikhism.

How far to trust it. He is a Western scholar who co-edited with McLeod and has written on McLeod and his students. His research looks at the part Indic and Islamic cultures played in Sikh history. No detailed independent review of his reliability was read for this entry, so this is a description more than a verdict.[Web][(eds.)]

• Martyrdom in the Sikh Tradition: Playing the Game of Love (2001). Studies how Sikh ideas of martyrdom developed. No lawful online copy was confirmed.
• The Darbar of the Sikh Gurus: The Court of God in the World of Men (2008). On the court of the Gurus and its Persian culture. No lawful online copy was confirmed.
• The Sikh Zafar-namah of Guru Gobind Singh: A Discursive Blade in the Heart of the Mughal Empire (2012). Study of the Zafarnamah. A copy found online looks unauthorised, so none is linked.
• The Cherished Five in Sikh History (2021). On the Panj Piare in tradition. No lawful online copy was confirmed.

From the 1980s a group of Sikh writers and sympathisers, including Justice Gurdev Singh, Daljeet Singh and Trilochan Singh, published sustained replies to McLeod, often through the Institute of Sikh Studies at Chandigarh and the International Centre of Sikh Studies. Noel Q. King, a Western scholar, wrote a foreword for Trilochan Singh.

How far to trust it. In their own terms, they argue that outsiders using sceptical methods misread a revealed religion and cannot grasp Sikh texts without inside knowledge. Gurdev Singh, quoted in Fundamental Issues in Sikh Studies, charges McLeod with attacking most Sikh traditions and institutions. Trilochan Singh links McLeod with Trumpp and with a Christian missionary group at Batala. King, in his foreword, expects Western scholars to reject much of it, and himself qualifies the missionary charge by quoting McLeod that he had long ceased to be a missionary or believer. McLeod replied that traditional historians begin from the certainty of faith. J. S. Grewal, who also criticises McLeod, keeps his distance from them and says Daljeet Singh attacked McLeod vehemently. King calls the book a mirror held up to Western scholars. Grewal, for his part, compares McLeod's stance with that of the orientalists.[Singh][Singh][Web][Web]

• Perspectives on the Sikh Tradition (1986). Edited by Gurdev Singh. A central reply to McLeod. No lawful online copy was confirmed.
• Ernest Trumpp and W. H. McLeod as Scholars of Sikh History, Religion and Culture (1994). By Trilochan Singh, with a foreword by Noel Q. King. The fullest attack on McLeod. In copyright, and the only copy found was a third-party upload, so none is linked.
• Fundamental Issues in Sikh Studies (1992). Edited by Kharak Singh, Gobind Singh Mansukhani and Jasbir Singh Mann. Essays setting out the traditional case.Internet Archive, library loan copy (free account; in copyright)
• Advanced Studies in Sikhism (1989). Edited by J. S. Mann and H. S. Saraon, and named by these writers as a reply to McLeod. No lawful online copy was confirmed.

Pashaura Singh took his doctorate at the University of Toronto under W. H. McLeod and holds the Dr. Jasbir Singh Saini Endowed Chair in Sikh and Punjabi Studies at Riverside.

How far to trust it. His doctoral work on the text of the scripture became a public controversy. Copies of the thesis circulated without permission, and conservative Sikhs complained to the Akal Takht. According to the Wikipedia summary, which cites India Today, he refused to withdraw parts of it, then appeared before the Akal Takht, apologised for any distress and offered to correct anything shown to be wrong, and this was accepted. In 2019 groups objected to his invitation to a Punjabi University conference, and he did not attend. McLeod credited him with changing his mind on the Ramkali hymn, and Grewal notes he argued for the Kartarpur text. McLeod counted him among the sceptical historians, while Grewal notes that on that central point he defends the text.[Web][Web][(eds.)]

• The Guru Granth Sahib: Canon, Meaning and Authority (2000). On the formation and interpretation of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji.Internet Archive, 2003 edition, library loan copy (free account; in copyright)
• The Bhagats of the Guru Granth Sahib (2003). On the place of the Bhagats in Sikh self-definition.Internet Archive, library loan copy (free account; in copyright)
• Life and Work of Guru Arjan (2006). On history and memory in the case of Sri Guru Arjun Dev Ji.Internet Archive, library loan copy (free account; in copyright)
• The Oxford Handbook of Sikh Studies (2014). Co-edited with Louis E. Fenech. A broad survey of the field. No lawful online copy was confirmed.

Sahib Singh was born Natthu Ram on 16 February 1892 and took Khalsa vows in 1906. He taught Sanskrit at Gujranwala and from 1929 to 1952 at Khalsa College, Amritsar, and was jailed during the gurdwara reform agitation. He passed away at Amritsar on 29 October 1977.

How far to trust it. Wazir Singh, in the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, says no later exegesis has been possible without his Gurbani Viakaran, because of its rules on vowel endings. He writes as a committed Sikh scholar, and his work is on the meaning of scripture and not on historical questions, so he is listed here as a guide to the text.[EoS]

• Gurbani Viakaran (1932). Grammar of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji. Useful for anyone checking a translation. In copyright, and no clearly lawful copy was confirmed.
• Sri Guru Granth Sahib Darpan (1962-64). Ten-volume commentary. In copyright. Websites and scans found could not be confirmed as authorised.

Teja Singh taught at Khalsa College, Amritsar, joined the gurdwara reform movement and was jailed in 1923. He was the main author of the annotated Shabadarth edition of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji. He passed away at Amritsar on 10 January 1958.

How far to trust it. Sardar Singh Bhatia, in the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, describes him warmly as the interpreter of Sikhism to the outside world. He took part in the reform movement himself. McLeod, according to J. S. Grewal, names him among the traditionalist historians, a grouping Grewal rejects as a gross oversimplification.[EoS][Web]

• A Short History of the Sikhs (1950). With Ganda Singh. Useful as a clear mid-century Sikh account of the period to 1765.Internet Archive, volume 1, Punjabi University edition, 1999, library loan copy (free account; in copyright)
• Sikhism: Its Ideals and Institutions (1938). Essays explaining Sikh practice from a reformist viewpoint. No readable copy was confirmed.
• Essays in Sikhism (1944). Collected essays. No readable copy was confirmed.

McLeod went to the Punjab in 1958 with the New Zealand Presbyterian mission, and taught at Baring Union Christian College, Batala. He took his doctorate in London and published Guru Nanak and the Sikh Religion in 1968. He left the church in 1969, taught at the University of Otago from 1971 and passed away on 20 July 2009.

How far to trust it. He is the most debated modern writer on Sikh history. His method applied higher criticism to Sikh sources, and his 1968 book concluded that the janamsakhis give only a broad outline of the life of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji, with very little dependable detail. He described Guru Ji's teaching as a reworking of the Sant synthesis. His supporters say he set the field on a professional footing: Tony Ballantyne credits him with rigorous professionalism, Harjot Oberoi says the field is indebted to him, and Christopher Shackle calls his work on the janamsakhis formidable, while finding the 1968 book reductive about hagiography. His critics are of two kinds. Traditional Sikh writers such as Daljeet Singh, Gurdev Singh and Trilochan Singh argue that he undermines Sikh tradition, and point to his missionary background. J. S. Grewal, a historian who shares much of his method, argues that he treats tradition and history as opposites, generalises from thin evidence and lets his assumptions steer his reading, and that he compartmentalises the life of Guru Ji. McLeod replied that he was a Western historian writing for Western readers in terms rooted in the Enlightenment, that he offered no apology for it, that he was no longer a missionary or a believer, and that readers should judge his work against his critics. He changed his view on one question, the Ramkali hymn in the Kartarpur text, crediting his student Pashaura Singh, according to Grewal. Grewal still concludes that McLeod widened the field and brought much Sikh literature to scholars' attention.[Web][Web][Singh][Singh]

• Guru Nanak and the Sikh Religion (1968). Critical study of the sources for the life and teachings of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji. The starting point of the debate.Internet Archive, library loan copy (free account; in copyright)
• The Evolution of the Sikh Community (1975-76). Five essays arguing for strong social influences on Sikh development. Criticised by Grewal.Internet Archive, 1976 Clarendon Press edition, library loan copy (free account; in copyright)
• Early Sikh Tradition: A Study of the Janam-sakhis (1980). Detailed analysis of the janamsakhi traditions. Christopher Shackle found it far more sophisticated than the 1968 book.Internet Archive, Sikhs and Sikhism omnibus, 1999, which includes this book, library loan copy (free account; in copyright)
• Textual Sources for the Study of Sikhism (1984). Translated extracts from Sikh writings. Useful as a reader for students.Internet Archive, library loan copy (free account; in copyright)
• Who is a Sikh? The Problem of Sikh Identity (1989). Lectures on the Khalsa and on who counts as a Sikh.Internet Archive, library loan copy (free account; in copyright)
• Exploring Sikhism: Aspects of Sikh Identity, Culture and Thought (2000). Collected essays, including his reply to critics in Cries of Outrage.Internet Archive, library loan copy (free account; in copyright)
• Sikhs of the Khalsa: A History of the Khalsa Rahit (2003). History of the Khalsa code of conduct. No lawful online copy was confirmed.
• Discovering the Sikhs: Autobiography of a Historian (2004). His account of his own career and his answer to critics. No lawful online copy was confirmed.