FATEHNAMAH GURU KHALSA JI KA,

FATEHNAMAH GURU KHALSA JI KA, by Ganesh Das, an employee of the Sikh Darbar, and published as edited by Sita Ram Kohli, contains accounts, in Punjabi verse, of three of the major battles of Sikh times. The first of these was fought at Multan in 1818 between Maharaja Ranjit Singh`s forces and the army of the local Afghan ruler Muzaffar Khan. The second, the first battle of Peshawar, also known as the battle of Naushera, was fought in 1823 between Sikhs and Muhammad`Azim Khan, who after the death of his brother Fateh Khan, had acquired power in Afghanistan and wished to reestablish Afghan supremacy over Peshawar.

The third, the second battle of Peshawar, was waged at Saidu, a few kilometers south of Akora, in 1826 between the Sikhs and Sayyid Ahmad`s host. The Sayyid who hailed from Rae Bareli, in present day Uttar Pradesh, had declared jihad against the Sikhs. Ganesh Das`s description of these engagements is embellished with conventional poetic devices, yet its historical core remains unimpaired. In fact, the details of the battles he has given correspond with those recorded in contemporary chronicles such as Twarikh-i-Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Umdat-ut-Twarikh, Zafar Nama-i-Ranjit Singh and Jang-i-Multan.

Ganesh Das has great admiration for Maharaja Ranjit Singh as well as for the Khalsa. His appraisal of the role of the Maharaja in the Sikh body politic is highly perceptive. For him Ranjit Singh was the leader of the Khalsa commonwealth rather than a Maharaja or sovereign, and he addresses him as Singh Sahib (exalted member of the Khalsa). Ganesh Das attributes victories won in these battles to the Khalsa as a whole and not to Ranjit Singh. Hence the title of his work: Fatehnamah Guru Khalsa Ji Ka, i.e. account of the victories of the Guru Khalsa.