A History of the Sikhs, 2 vols

Contents: Vol. 1: 1469-1839: Preface. I. The Punjab and the birth of Sikhism: 1. The Sikh homeland. 2. Birth of Sikhism. 3. Building of the Sikh church. 4. The call to arms. 5. From the Pacifist Sikh to the Militant Khalsa. II. The agrarian uprising: 6. The rise and fall of Banda Bahadur. 7. Persecution of the Sikhs and the reorganisation of the Khalsa Army. 8. Ahmed Shah Abdali and the Sikhs. 9. From the Indus to the Ganges. III. Punjab monarchy and imperialism: 10. Rise of the Sukerchakia Misl. 11. Maharajah of the Punjab. 12. Suzerain of Malwa. 13. British annexation of Malwa: treaty of Lahore, 1809. 14. Consolidation of the Punjab. 15. Extinction of Afghan power in Northern India. 16. Europeanisation of the army. 17. Dreams of Sindh and the sea. 18. Across the Himalayas to Tibet. IV. Appendices: 1. Janamsakhis and other sources of information on the life of Guru Nanak. 2. Adi Granth or the Granth Sahib. 3. Bhai Gurdas. 4. Dasam Granth. 5. Hymns from the Adi Granth. 6. Treaty of Lahore, 1809. 7. Tripartite treaty of 1838. Bibliography. Index.

Vol. 2: 1839-1988: Preface. I. Fall of the Sikh Kingdom: 1. The Punjab on the death of Ranjit Singh. 2. First Anglo-Sikh war. 3. The Punjab under British occupation. 4. Second Anglo-Sikh war. II. Consolidation of British power in the Punjab: 5. Annexation of the Punjab. 6. Sikhs and the mutiny of 1857. 7. Crescat e Fluviis. III. Social and religious reform: 8. Religious movements. 9. Singh Sabha and social reform. IV. Political movements: Marxist, national and sectarian: 10. Rural indebtedness and peasant agitation. 11. World War I and its aftermath. 12. Xenophobic Marxism. 13. Gurdwara reform: rise of the Akali immortals. 14. Constitutional reform and the Sikhs. V. Politics of partition: independence and the demand for a Sikh homeland: 15. Sikhs and World War II (1939-1945). 16. Prelude to the partition of India. 17. Civil strife, exodus, and resettlement. 18. A state of their own. 19. Prosperity and religious fundamentalism. 20. The Anandpur Sahib resolution and other Akali demands. 21. Fatal miscalculation. 22. Assassination and after. 23. Elections and the accord. 24. Foreign connections and Khalistan. VI. Appendices: 1. Cultural heritage of the Sikhs. 2. Treaty between the British Government and the state of Lahore, March 9, 1846. 3. Articles of agreement concluded between the British Government and the Lahore Durbar on March 11, 1846. 4. Articles of agreement concluded between the British and the Lahore Durbar on December 16, 1846. 5. Mr. Suhrawardy's statement on the Riots, September 30, 1946. 6. Anandpur Sahib resolution. 7. Revised list of 15 demands received from the Akali Dal by Government in October, 1981. Bibliography. Index.

"First published in 1963, this is the standard and well-established book on its subject. It is accessible to a general, non-scholarly audience, while being based on scholarly archival research.

"Volume 1 covers the social, religious and political background which led to the forming of the Sikh faith in the fifteenth century. Basing his account on original documents in Persian, Gurmukhi and English, the author traces the growth of Sikhism and tells of the compilation of its sacred scriptures in the Granth Sahib.

"The transformation of the Sikhs from a pacifist sect to a militant group called the Khalsa led by Guru Gobind Singh is portrayed in detail, as is the relationship of the Sikhs with the Mughals and the Afghans, until the consolidation of Sikh power under Maharaja Ranjit Singh.

"Volume 2 continues Khushwant Singh's history of the Sikhs, taking up the thread at the death of Maharaja Ranjit Singh in 1839, and focusing on the continuing Sikh struggle for survival as a separate community. The development of religious, sociological, and political movements under British expansionism and the threat of Muslim domination are explored. The author chronicles the years following Indian independence, marked by the demand for a distinct Sikh state, and presents the events leading up to and following 'Operation Blue Star' when the Indian army entered the Golden Temple in 1984."

[Khushwant Singh is a renowned journalist, and an authority on Sikh history.]