Perso Indica

[Preliminary Entry] Ranjitsingh-nāma is a short historical treatise written by an unknown poet, in praise of Maharaja Ranjit Singh (r. 1801-1839) and his sons and relating the significant events in their lives. Ranjit Singh was the founder of the Sikh kingdom of Punjab. All his conquests were achieved by Punjabi armies composed of different religious communities e.g. Sikhs, Muslims and Hindus. However, in 1820 Ranjit Singh commenced the process of modernizing his army by using European officers beside native soldiers. Ranjitsingh-nāma recounts details on Ranjit Singh’s death and funeral ceremony, his successors’ battles and government and also courtier’s hidden plots and conspiracies. The book Ranjitsingh-nāma is a panegyric maṯnawī and is composed in Firdowsī’s Šāh-nāma epic rhythm. The manuscript kept at Oxford is illustrated and was bought by Bodleian in 1891 from a certain G. T. Johnston.

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