A Singular Nation,
WHO INHABIT THE
PROVINCES OF THE PENJAB,
SITUATED BETWEEN
The Rivers Jumna and Indus.
BY
LIEUTENANT-COLONEL MALCOLM,
AUTHOR OF THE POLITICAL SKETCH OF INDIA.
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET,
By James Moyes, Greville Street, Hatton Garden.
1812.
This Sketch has already appeared in the eleventhvolume of the Asiatic Researches: but, as that valuablework is not in common circulation, it is nowrepublished; and may prove acceptable, as a short andclear account of an oriental people, of singular religionand manners, with whose history the European readercan be but little acquainted.
When with the British army in thePenjáb, in 1805, I endeavoured to collectmaterials that would throw light upon thehistory, manners, and religion of the Sikhs.Though this subject had been treated byseveral English writers, none of them hadpossessed opportunities of obtaining morethan very general information regardingthis extraordinary race; and their narrativestherefore, though meriting regard,have served more to excite than to gratifycuriosity.
In addition to the information I collectedwhile the army continued within the[2]territories of the Sikhs, and the personalobservations I was able to make, duringthat period, upon the customs and mannersof that nation, I succeeded with difficultyin obtaining a copy of the Adí-Grant'h[1],and of some historical tracts, the mostessential parts of which, when I returnedto Calcutta, were explained to me by aSikh priest of the Nirmala order, whom Ifound equally intelligent and communicative,and who spoke of the religion andceremonies of his sect with less restraintthan any of his brethren whom I had metwith in the Penjáb. This slender stockof materials was subsequently much enrichedby my friend Dr. Leyden, who hasfavoured me with a translation of severaltracts written by Sikh authors in the Penjábíand Dúggar dialects, treating of theirhistory and religion; which, though full ofthat warm imagery which marks all orientalworks, and particularly those whose authorsenter on the boundless field of Hindú mythology,contain the most valuable verificationsof the different religious institutionsof the Sikh nation.
It was my first intention to have endeavouredto add to these materials, and tohave written, when I had leisure, a historyof the Sikhs; but the active nature of mypublic duties has made it impossible tocarry this plan into early execution, andI have had the choice of deferring it toa distant and uncertain period; or of giving,from what I actually possessed, a shortand hasty sketch of their history, customs,and religion. The latter alternative I have[4]adopted: for, although the information Imay convey in such a sketch may be verydefective, it will be useful at a momentwhen every information regarding the Sikhsis of importance; and it may, perhaps, stimulateand aid some person, who has moreleisure and better opportunities, to accomplishthat task which I once contemplated.
In composing this rapid sketch of theSikhs, I have still had to encounter variousdifficulties. There is no part of orientalbiography in which it is more difficult to