Sikhān de Rāj dī Vithiā

Sikhan de Raj di Vithya ("History of Sikh Rule") is a 1865 Punjabi work by Shardha Ram Phillauri written by him while he was commissioned by the British colonial administration of Punjab.^[1][2] It was written for a British audience to educate them on the region's history, covering Guru Nanak to the annexation of the Sikh Empire in 1849. It is divided into three parts: the first on the Sikh gurus (with many factual errors present), the second covers the period of Sikh-rule till annexation, the third part covers Punjabi customs, rites, folk-songs, pro-verbs, and religious sects. The work concludes with Janamsakhi anecdotes.^[3]

Louis E. Fenech dates the original work to 1868,^[4] with K. S. Thapar stating it was written in 1866 and published in 1868.^[3] An English translation of the work under the title History of the Sikhs was published in 1888 by Henry Court with the assistance of Pandit Nihal Chand of Lahore.^[5] Another English translation of the work by Jawahir Singh was published in 1901, with an introduction section covering the errors of the original work.^[3] According to Thapar, the work is rife with errors due to its original author not being well-versed with Sikh theology and history.^[3]