The Illustrated History of the Sikhs

This pictorial edition of A History of the Sikhs has updated and edited the most comprehensive two-volume book on the community. Written in Khushwant Singh’s trademark style to be accessible to a general audience, it is based on scholarly archival research of original documents in Persian, Gurmukhi and English. It examines the social, religious and political background which led to the formation of the Sikh faith in the fifteenth century. The transformation of the Sikhs from a pacifist sect to a militant group called the Khalsa led by Guru Gobind Singh is portrayed in detail, as is the relationship of the Sikhs with the Mughals and the Afghans, until the consolidation of Sikh power under Maharaja Ranjit Singh. The continuing Sikh struggle for survival as a separate community marked by the demand for a distinct Sikh state has been chronicled, until the events leading up to and following Operation Blue Star when the Indian army entered the Golden Temple. The edition includes an epilogue that analyses events following the end of terrorism in Punjab and the achievement of the community’s aspirations never more visible than in the elevation of a Sikh to the country’s Prime Ministership.