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An Overview of the Khaleseh Nameh by Ratan Chand Raizadeh

نگاھی بہ خالصہ نامہ از رتن چند رایزادہ

Abstract

Khaleseh Nameh (خالصہ نامہ), usually known as the History of Khalestan (خالصتان), was written by Ratan Chand Raizadeh (رتن چند رایزادہ), a renowned historian of 19th century AD, in 1843 & 1844, in the Persian language. In fact, it is the history of the Sikh empire, founded by Maharaja Ranjit Singh (مہاراجا رنجیت سینگ) (1780-1839) in 1799. Ratan Chand has also written in detail about Baba Guru Nanak (بابا گورو نانک), (1469-1539), the founder of Sikh religion and his ten successors, known as Guru (گورو). Guru Gobind Singh (گورو گوبند سینگ) (1666-1708) was the 10th and the last Guru. He gave a new direction & dimension to the Sikh religion. He defined certain principles and named every single person of his community as Sikh (سیک) & Khaleseh (خالصہ). Ratan Chand Raizadeh has given some interesting details about the invasion of Nader Shah Afshar (1688-1747) and Ahmad Shah Abdali (1722-1772). Moreover, he has analyzed the reasons behind the rapid decline of the great Mughal Empire. The facts mentioned about the Afghan tribes & the British rulers are quite significant. Ratan Chand Raizadeh himself was the eyewitness of many historical events, so the book may be considered the authentic history of the Sikh dynasty. The only available manuscript of this important history is preserved in the main library of the University of the Punjab, vide no. 2134/PCIII/73.

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