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Conversation about this article
1: Lara Kaur (Birmingham, United Kingdom), February 26, 2014, 10:00 AM.
Wasn't Rani Chand Kaur herself murdered through further Dogra machinations right after this juncture? Her head smashed to a pulp with rocks, by nurses placed in her apartments by the Dogras? If I remember correctly, the nurses were then, in turn, murdered as well.
2: Jimmy Grewal (Chandigarh, Punjab), February 26, 2014, 11:14 AM.
This is it? Is this the total history of the crimes by the Dogras? As I said in my comment on your previous segment, this series has been a disappointing one. You have dwelled too much on looks and clothes and little on the crimes of these goondas. As another reader has pointed out ... you saw it fit to make no mention of the murder of Rani Chand Kaur at the heels of the murder of her son, Naunihal Singh? Also, you gave no ink to the fact that Kharak Singh's debilitation had been egged on, and his death accelerated through criminal tampering with his addictions.
3: Pritam Singh (Kenya), February 26, 2014, 11:24 AM.
I find it odd that so much reliance is being given to an account by a mercenary -- Alexander Gardner -- who thereafter spent the rest of his life in the employ of the very same criminals he describes so descriptively and flatteringly: specifically, Gulab Singh Dogra. Thank you for the Dogra perspective of the destruction of the Sikh Empire. Now, how about a Sikh perspective?
4: Uday Singh (San Jose, California, USA), February 26, 2014, 11:40 AM.
Riveting. Looking forward to more ...
5: Simranpal Singh (Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada), February 26, 2014, 2:05 PM.
Naunihal Singh's death an accident? With his father's death only a few hours before, and his mother's murder not too long after, you think it may have been an accident?
6: R Singh (Canada), February 26, 2014, 6:58 PM.
Gardener's version is of course biased and mischievous. The guy remained in Kashmir writing his so-called memoirs, after the Dogras were rewarded by the British for their treachery against their Sikh employers, with the rule of Kashmir. We still keep repeating the version of history that is obviously skewered. There was also a concerted effort to portray every Sikh prince as being of doubtful royal lineage, and character assassination of Rani Jindan. Compare this with the trivial Jhansi Rani, and laurels sung about her or the petty chief, Shivaji. We are left with our own people giving a stamp of approval to the half-baked tales written by a charlatan, pretending to be on the scene, as every atrocity was perpetrated. Judging from the vicious annihilation of buildings like Maharaj Kharrak Singh's haveli, we cannot accept everything dished out as history by the apologists and cheerleaders.
7: Sunny Grewal (Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada), February 26, 2014, 11:37 PM.
The unfortunate aspect of Indian culture is that there is no proper historiography written by the natives before the advent of British rule. The closest thing that India has ever had to having its history recorded properly was by Al-Biruni. The irony, of course, being that he was not even Indian! The sources which seem to describe every single one of Ranjit Singh's heirs as illegitimate is no doubt influenced by the British doctrine of lapse. If an Indian kingdom could not produce a legitimate heir, the British would use it as an excuse to annex the kingdom. Thus the annexation of Punjab could find some moral justification through administrative policy rather than the true intent of greed.
8: Sarvjit Singh (Massachusetts, USA), February 27, 2014, 8:49 AM.
Very well written, Sarbpreet ji. What I find unique about your write-ups is that you are presenting multiple accounts and not making any inferences, as others do. You are leaving it to the readers to judge if the Dogras were really traitors. Similarly, in your previous article about the Gurkhas, you were sympathetic to them while assessing the Sikh/Gurkha connection. It would be interesting to see what are the opinions of today's Dogras and Gorkhas on Sikhs. From my perspective traveling in Himachal and Uttrakhand, I have always had mixed feelings. Paharis (common terms for both 'mountain' people) have respect for and fear of Sardars but know little about our religion. At the same time, they were not outright violent (despite some murderous incidents) against us in 1984 like the Haryanvis or people from Uttar Pradesh, etc.
9: Baljit Singh Pelia (Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.), February 27, 2014, 11:12 AM.
Our scholars need to get their heads out of the British chronicles and stop reproducing and republishing these as facts. The objective of the history as written and published by the British was and is to project themselves above others as superior and fair, carrying the burden of cleaning up 'uncivilized' nations. This account of events simply washes their own hands of complicity, deflects the blame, or sows the seeds of self doubt, inferiority and guilt and, more importantly, divides the people. Although it might be a tad difficult than republishing, the author must investigate events by probing events methodically and critically. The covert apparatus of the British behind the scenes must be probed. For a cue, look at their covert involvement in 1984. The pawns and the player are still the same.
10: Sarvjit Singh (Massachusetts, USA), February 27, 2014, 12:31 PM.
I wish there was some kind of initiative within Sikhs themselves to document their own history instead of the British or Lateef or other chroniclers. We have all heard stories of grandeur and treachery from our elders, they should be documented somehow. That is why I find old books by Rattan Singh, Santokh Singh, et al to have fairly accurate description of what they saw but nothing of Ranjit Singh's times. For example, I remember hearing folk songs about Lal Singh and Rani Jindan, of the Khalsa army that was led by the traitor Dhian Singh, etc. I had always assumed that Jindan was not a good person. Then, all of a sudden I am finding that Rani Jindan is considered a great Rani. This shift in perception is recent. I am not sure what is the true story here. While I was doing my own digging into Sikh History, I found that Macauliffe's accounts to be somewhat better than any other Westerners'. It was also said that he wrote his books based on tales and stories that he had heard from the Sardars of his time.