Top Sikh Historians.

Pyaareh Jeeo

Please name your favourite Sikh Historians and maybe some recommended books from them.

Our Ithiaas is so rich and glorious may we read till our hearts content. There is so much valuable Gurmat lessons from our Great Guru Sahibaan and Gursikhs. Truly our History helps in invoke the seed of Dharam in us, along with Naam and GurbaNee Abhyass.

Sikhs have made a lot of history but have failed to accurately record it. The modern history recording techniques and methodology was not available when Sikh historical texts were written and for this reason, these texts e.g. Sooraj Prakash, Pracheen Panth Prakash etc. contain few errors and some mythology as well.

Modern Sikh historians from Sardar Karam Singh Historian to Principal Satbir Singh have written Sikh history based on the few aforementioned historical texts. Sardar Karam Singh has written that he wishes to kiss the hands of Sardar Rattan Singh Bhangu, who wrote Pracheen Panth Prakash. Even though this Granth has many errors but still we would have never known about Shaheed Bota Singh, Shaheed Tara Singh Vaan, Shaheed Mehtab Singh and Shaheed Sukha Singh who cut the head of Massa Rangadh in such a dashing way. By the same token, this Granth also sowed the seeds of disdain towards our best and first General - Baba Banda Singh jee Bahadur.

Similarly, the Sooraj Prakash Granth, written by the legendary poet, Mahakavi Santokh Singh jee Chooramani, contains some errors and exaggerated material, but still with the absence of this Granth, a lot that we know about our Guru Sahibaan, would have been unknown to us.

We should not call Mahakavi jee and Sardar Rattan Singh jee pure historians but what they did was that they recorded anything event or Saakhi they heard about Guru Sahib, without any bias and left the task of deciphering Gurmat from Manmatt, to the future historians. I think this was a wonderful thing they did. If they had started filtering out Saakhis they collected by traveling village to village, they would have possibly left out some real and genuine Saakhis and this would have been a great loss for us. We can't imagine not knowing even one Saakhi of Guru Sahib.

Bhai Vir Singh jee is not known to be a pure historian because he wrote our history not from pure historian's point of view but wrote it from a devout Sikh's point of view. The wonderful thing is that while writing history this way, he tried not to ignore the facts and quite often backed his claims with references. Having said that, he did make some judgmental errors e.g. writing about meat being served in the Langar of Siri Guru Angad Dev jee, and thus blindly following Sooraj Prakash Granth.

Dr. Ganda Singh is said to be one of the best historians of Sikhs because while he employed modern methodology while writing history, he was a very Sikh-minded person who did not let his opinion get biased by reading non-Sikh references to our history. He collected a lot of references from Farsi sources and these have been very helpful in writing our history. Some of his best books are on Baba Banda Singh, Sardar Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, and Kooka movement. He has covered about 100 years of history in the first two books. His third book mentioned above is a very good book that presents a very unbiased view of Baba Raam Singh jee Namdhari.

Principal Satbir Singh has written Sikh history with both Shardha and correct facts. There are some errors in his writings e.g. he writes about Sardar Ala Singh taking Amrit from Nawab Kapur Singh, instead of saying Punj Pyare including Nawab Kapur Singh but we can ignore such errors as they are not material. He has written a history book on each of our Guru Sahibaan. Furthermore, he wrote the history of Sikhs post Guru period. He has written some wonderful books that are a must for the serious reader.

Couple of decades ago, Sardar Sarvan Singh's historical writings used to appear in the Soora magazine and then he also published some books e.g. Bhai Tara Singh Vaan, Massa Rangad etc. but we did not hear much from him afterwards. He was a very promising historian who should have written more. His serial article on history had a very interesting name - ਭੂਰਿਆਂ ਵਾਲੇ ਰਾਜੇ ਕੀਤੇ, ਮੁਗ਼ਲਾਂ ਜ਼ਹਿਰ ਪਿਆਲੇ ਪੀਤੇ।

My first book on Sikh history and written in Punjabi, was a book called "Sikh Kithon taun Kithay". I read this when I was about 12-13 years old. This book contains complete history of Sikhs concisely but not too tersely. It's got just enough to get you aware of the proud Sikh history. I recently saw that a new edition of this book has come out. I think this is an excellent book for a beginner.

Kulbir Singh

"Tey Diva Jagda Rahega" is one of the many interesting books that give a glimpse of the terrible times Sikhs had to face.
Another great book on Yodha Itihaas of the 80s is "Tavi Ton Talvaar Tak".

Apologies for sidetracking in advance but had to put in just a bit more on my favourite:

Dr. Ganda Singh


Dr Ganda Singh (1900-1987) is the celebrated Sikh historian, who by his sustained and pioneer work in the field of historical research, initiated new trends in Sikh historiography and who, by his critically important work, became a vital and pervasive influence in historical learning in the field of Sikh Studies, He was born on 15 November 1900, at Hariana, an old town close to the city of Hoshiarpur in Punjab. His father's name was Sardar Jawala Singh. He got his initial education in the village mosque,later shifting to the primary school. He passed the middle standard examination from DAV (Dayanand Anglo-Vernacular) Middle School, Hoshiarpur, and his matriculation from Government High School in the same town. He joined the Forman Christian College at Lahore, but soon left it to enlist in the army (1919). He served at the Supply and Transport Corps Base Depot, Rawalpindl, and at the divisional office at Peshawar before he was attached to the Mesopotamia Expeditionary Force, Basra, in 1920 and later to the British Royal Army Pay Corps, also at Basra, in 1921. There he had his thigh torn by a bullet shot and he was hospitalized. After recovery he was repatriated to India, but had been mistakenly reported dead to his family. This led to a dramatic situation. When he suddenly appeared at the door of his home in the village late one evening, he was taken for a ghost and was refused admittance. As he was recognized the following morning at the doorstep of his house, the family's horror turned into jubilation.

Ganda Singh did not stay at home for long. He went back to Mesopotamia (now Iraq) and then to Iran, to join the Anglo-Persian Oil Company at Abadan as accounts officer. At Abadan, he came under the influence of the British scholar, Sir Arnold Wilson, who besides his official duties as General Manager of the company was working on his Bibliography of Persia . Young Ganda Singh now aspired to prepare a bibliography of his native Punjab. On his return to Punjab towards the end of 1930, he first worked on the editorial board of Phulwari, a Punjabi monthly published from Lahore. One long-lasting friendship he picked up there was with Bhagat Lachhman Singh, a Sikh reformer and educationist. He however missed the opportunity to meet Karam Singh, the historian, then very enthusiastic in promoting the cause of Sikh history. Karam Singh died before Ganda Singh could meet him.

In October 1931 began Dr Ganda Singh's long and fruitful career as a researcher and historian. The Khalsa college at Amritsar placed him in charge of its newly-created Sikh History Research Department, which position he occupied till 1949. During this period he travelled extensively, rummaging various public libraries, archives and private collections throughout India in quest of material on Sikh history, enriching the library of his department and also brought out several books and tracts based on these.

In 1949, he came to Patiala where he was appointed Director of Archives and Curator of Museum under the Government of PEPSU (Patiala and East Punjab States Union). In 1950, he received the additional charge of Director of the Punjabi Department. His thesis on Ahmad Shah Durrani earned him the degree of Doctor of Philosophy from the Panjab University in 1954, as well as much applause from scholars and historians among whom was Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, a leading Indian savant of the day.

Dr. Ganda Singh was principal of the Khalsa College, Patiala, when he was invited by Punjabi University, Patiala, to organize its Department of Punjab Historical Studies. He set up Punjab History Conference in 1965 which became a very active forum for the discussion of matters relating to Punjab history. In l967, he launched the university's journal, the bi-annual The Punjab Past and Present of which he was the editor and which gathered high repute and much prestige over the years.

In 1938, he had been appointed a corresponding member of Indian Historical Records Commission of Government of India, and was a full member of the Commission from 1950 to 1956. He was nominated member of Punjab Regional Committee for the Survey of Historical Records, Government of Punjab, Lahore, and of Indian Historical Records Commission, Government of India. He was secretary of the Committee for the History of Freedom Movement in PEPSU, Patiala, and chairman of the Regional Records Survey Committee for History of Freedom Movement, Shimla / Patiala, from November 1957 to December 1962. He held membership of Asiatic Society, Calcutta, Indian Institute of Historical Studies, Calcutta, Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, London, and Itihas Sanshodhak Mandal, Poona. He presided over the medieval section of Punjab History Conference session of the Institute of Historical Studies, Calcutta, held at Shillong in 1974 as well as over its 13th session held at Panaji (Goa) in 1975. In 1974, he presided the 35th session of Indian History Congress at Jadavpur.
Dr. Ganda Singh was a prolific writer in addition to scores of research papers, booklets and pamphelets, he published over two dozen full-length volumes of great historical value. Dr. Ganda Singh's magnificent work was widely acknowledged and lauded in his lifetime, and he received honours from a number of professional institutions and associations. The Punjab Government invested him with the award for literature on 31 March 1963, and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, Amritsar, paid its tributes on 28 March 1964. On 19 December 1964, Muslim University, Aligarh, conferred on him the "degree of D. Litt. honoris causa". Sikh Educational Conference honoured him during its 52nd annual session held at Kanpur on 25-27 October 1974, and Punjabi University, Patiala, at the annual session of the Punjab History Conference held during November 1976. The University also brought out during the same year an anthology, Essays in Honour of Dr Ganda Singh, lovingly edited by his old pupil Professor Harbans Singh (Editor of Encyclopaedia of Sikhism from where many documents have been sourced on this site). The University also awarded him the degree of Doctor of Literature at its 15th convocation held on 25 February 1978. The Indian History Congress during its Silver jubilee session held at Panaji (Goa) on 5-7 November 1987, honoured him as one of the five distinguished historians of India. The Government of India honoured him with the award of Padma Bhushan in 1983.

In the course of his long career as a researcher and scholar, Dr. Ganda Singh had acquired a vast personal collection of rare books, maps, documents and manuscripts which occupied several rooms of his modest residence on the Lower Mall at Patiala. This precious treasure is now the property of Punjabi University, Patiala, to which institution he donated the entire collection. Dr. Ganda Singh died at Patiala on 27 December 1987

Thanks NS44 jeeo for providing excellent write up on Dr Ganda Singh.

I remember very vividly, the day in 1987, when the news came that Dr Ganda Singh had died. I had not yet been introduced to Sikhi and that was the first time I heard of him. My father expressed heavy sorrow at his death. My father had remarked that Dr Ganda Singh was the greatest historian of Sikhs. That's when I found out that Dr Ganda Singh was a great historian. Later when I read his work, I came to the same conclusion as my Dad - Dr Ganda Singh was a great Sikh historian.

Kulbir Singh

Kulbir Singh veer jio, What are your thoughts about Giani Gian Singh? His books like Twarikh Guru Khalsa & Raj Khalsa are pretty famous but I am finding some serious mistakes in it. Can they be considered similar to Pracheen Panth Prakash by Bhai Rattan Singh Bhangu where the author without bias or filtering tried to document every Sakhi prevelant at that time?

Also advice your views of book Guru Kian Saakhian by Dr. Ganda Singh where there is vast knowledge to learn from but some stories have to be ruled out when tested from Gurmat perspective.

Giani Gian Singh's books contain history and he did work hard to collect Saakhis but he could not prevent his personal opinions to influence the history he wrote. He was fond of consuming opium and went as far as writing a Saakhi depicting Guru Sahib consuming opium. It was when Bhai Sahib caught him red-handed consuming opium, that Gian Singh admitted to doctoring this Saakhi to hide his own weakness.

Guru kiyaan Saakhiyaan is a great book which I believe has Saakhis from Bhatt Vahees but is this book by Dr Ganda Singh or Dr Pyara Singh Padam.

Kulbir Singh

Thanks for telling about Giani Gian Singh.

Sorry, Guru Kian Saakhian by Piara Singh Padam and it contains Bhat Vahis but there are some mistakes in that as well but overall it looked pretty detailed for history perspective. It is one of the books where I find mention of first Amrit Sanchaar in 1699 where Keski was defined as 5th Kakkar which I liked