Author: Henry Steinbach
Publisher: National Book Shop
ISBN/UPC (if available): 817116322X
This book relates to that north-west part of the subcontinent which Maharaja Ranjit Singh left behind on his death in 1839 AD and which the British annexed following two Anglo-Sikh Wars in 1845 and 1849. This was known as Punjab, most of which is now in Pakistan.
It is Maharaja Ranjit Singh's dominion which in history is known as a Sikh state under the rule of the Sikhs though the Sikhs were only a fraction of the total population comprising of Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs. In 1845, a foreign traveler and histori9an estimated the total population of Punjab at 53,30,000 of which the Sikh component was just about 16 percent. Among the peasantry, Jats were predominant. It is this small compo9nent of Punjab's population - the Sikhs - that this book talks about.
The author Henry Steinbach, a German by nationality, was in Maharaja Ranjit Singh's service. He gives a first hand account of the Sikhs as a community, an independent entity. Loping through the history of the Sikhs and of that particular epoch when he was an eye-witness, he dwells more studiously on the social and religious aspect of the Sikhs, not forgetting other aspects of life in the Punjab. Under special focus is 'The Court of the Sikh Sovereigns' and Anglo-Sikh relations.
I Topography of the Punjab
II Early History of the Punjab
III Punjab from the death of Ranjit Singh
To the death of Nau Nihal Singh
IV After the Death of Nau Nihal Singh
V Climate and Production of the Punjab
VI commerce and Manufactures of the Punjab
VII The Government and Army of the Punjab
VIII Population, Manners and Customs
IX The Court of the Sikh Sovereigns
X The Religion of the Sikhs