A very good copy of this history of Ranjit Singh, the first Maharaja of the Sikh Empire, and his descendants which the author states was "compiled partly from native manuscripts, and partly from information collected from Seik Sirdars, and European officers in the Seik service; but chiefly from the notes of a Captain Gardner of the Seik Artillery, who has for several years past supplied important information to the British Government ..."
Commencing with an account of Ranjit Singh and his family, it continues with chapters on the Secret History of the Lahore Durbar; The Siege of Lahore by Shere Sing; Goolaub Sing and Affghanistan; Murder of Jewalla Sing and of Ranee Chund Kour; The assassination of Shere Sing and Dehan Sing; Punishment of the Murderers; Birth and Parentage of Dulleep Sing; The Wuzeerut of Heera Sing; The Expedition to Jummoo; The Murder of Peshora Sing; Dearth of Jewahir Sing; Rajah Lall Sing, and the Slave-girl Mungela; The War with the British. Miscellaneous notes on Pholah Sing, the Akalee; The Mutiny in Cashmere; Wuzeer Zoroveroo; The Soodhun Revolt; and Futteh Khan Tewanah are appended as well as a Genealogical History of the Jummoo Family.
Alexander Gardner, on whose notes the text was based, was one of the most colourful figures in India and Central Asia in the nineteenth century. Born in the United States, of Irish descent, Gardner spent thirteen years in the saddle travelling from the Caspian to the Aral Sea and on to Kabul where he entered the service of Habib Ullah, the dispossessed heir to the throne, then engaged in a struggle with Dost Mohammed. After Habib Ullah's defeat and the murder of Gardner's wife and child by Dost Mohammed's forces he fled to the Punjab in 1826. In 1831 he joined Ranjit Singh's army. He played a prominent role in the power struggle following Ranjit’s death, and later enlisted in Gulab Singh's service. He died in 1877, aged 91.
Printed in Calcutta, this gossipy work is enhanced by the lithographed map and plates, each of which feature family portraits. The list of 297 subscribers includes many of the British active in the area at the time, from Sir Charles Napier to Lady Sale.
The "Notes on Malcolm, Prinsep &c" comprise an interesting appendix in which the author addresses inaccuracies and misunderstandings in other published works. These include: Sir J. Malcolm's Sketch of the Sikh (1812), Henry T. Prinsep's Origin of the Sikh Power in the Punjab and Political Life of Muha-Raja Runjeet Singh (1834), Sir Henry Lawrence Some Passages in the Life of an Adventurer in the Punjaub (1842) and Colonel Steinbach's The Punjab (1845) amongst others.
Most copies of this book are in poor condition as the paper is of inferior quality. This copy is one of the best we have seen.
