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MARCH, 1894.]
A NOTICE OF THE 'UMDATU'T-TAWARIKH.
A NOTICE OF THE 'UMDATU'T-TAWARIKH.
BY THE LATE E. REHATSEK, THE anthor of this work, Lala Sohan Lal Sart, having been a vakil at the Court of
1 the Maharaja Ranjit Singh, through twenty-seven years of that monarch's reign, and through the entire period during which his successors occupied the throne of the Pañjáb, till the deportation of his last son, Mahârâjâ Dalip Singh, by the British Government in 1849,- took advantage of his exceptional opportunities to compile a MS. of some 7,000 pages, relating to the events of the very stirring times in which he lived. A lithographed Persian edition of the said MS, having been placed at my disposal by the Editor of this Journal, I shall now proceed to give a notice of the work, which consists of five large volumes. The whole work, in contradistinction to the Zafarnáma of Ranjit Singh, noticed ante, in Vols. XVI. and XVII., is written in prose, excepting only a few verses occasionally interspersed, and a brief monotheistic address with which it begins. Owing to the minute detail in which the events mentioned in it are recorded, there is no donbt that the work is one of first rate importance to the student of Panjabi and Anglo-Indian History.
Vol. I., from Guri Nának, V. St. 1526, = 4. D. 1469, to Ahmad Shah Durráni,
St. 1828, = A. D. 1771. After a few reflections on historiography, accounts of three modern vernacular works are given, the last being in allusion to the 'Umdatu't-tawarikh and its author. We are first told that in the reign of Aurangzêb, one Lala Subhân Râi, an inhabitant of Batâlâ, composed an elegant and wonderful book, entitled Khulásatu't-tawárikh, which contained accounts of the great RAjás, beginning with Judishtar and ending with Raja Pirthîrâj, known also as Râjâ Pithaur of the time of Aurangzeb, in A. H. 1116.1 This is followed by the • Ibratnáma, written by Mîr Qasim Lâhôri, on the wars of the sons of Bahadur Shah. Lastly, we are informed that our anthor, Sôhan Lal Sûri the vakil, son of Ganpat Rai, who had spent much time in the study of Persian and Arabic, as well as in the pursuit of various sciences, produced an historical work, commencing with the events of A, H. 1017, which he completed in V. St. 1870 = A, D. 1823.
Then follows a brief account of the Guras. The first, Bâbâ-NAnakji, was born at Talvandi in St. 1526,5 corresponding to A. H. 880, during the reign of the Sultan Bahlôl Lôdhi. He began to manifest signs of divine inspiration and to work miracles at the early age of twelve, his preaching attracting adherents from every part of the country. He afterwards composed the Janam Sakhi, written in the Gurmukhi character," listening to the explanations whereof puts all hearers into ecstacy!” He died during the reign of Salim Shah Sûr at the age of seventy years. Although he had an intelligent son, Lakhmi Dâs by name, he refrained from appointing him his successor, but selected on his deathbed a faithful disciple, called Lahn, whom he surnamed Angad, to be Gurû after him. Angad occupied the position for thirteen years, and then died. He placed on the masnad Amar Dås, a faithful disciple, who died after having been the spiritual guide of the people for twenty-two years. Amar Das appointed Rûm Das to succeed bim, and Ram Das held the position of Gurû for seven years. He was succeeded by
1 Bogan 6th May 1704. (See Elliot, Hist. of India, where some very hard words are used towards this wellknown work in the opening pages of Vol. viii. The date given above varies from Elliot's. -ED.] 3 [But see Elliot, op. cit., Vol. viii. p. 237 ff. ED.)
• Began 17th April 1608. • (But see post, p. 60 ff. - ED.)
. Zafarnama, st. 1525 [A. D. 1468). . This extraordinary statement may be valuable, if it relates the general educated Sikh belief of the last eneration. But it is of course entirely wrong. Soo Trumpp, Adi Granth, p. ii. ff. 1 and the title of Sardar 'Atar Singh's Sakhee Book, Benares, 1873.- ED.)
1 Zafarnáma, St. 1596 (A.D. 1539).
