| Panth Prakash | |
| Language: | Braj and Punjabi mix |
| Genre: | Sikhism |
| Published: | 1810 A.D. (G. Mann), 1841 (V. Singh) |
| Author: | Rattan Singh Bhangu |
| Country: | Sikh Empire |
Panth Prakash (Gurmukhi: ਪੰਥ ਪ੍ਰਕਾਸ਼), also called Pracīn Panth Prakash ["Old' Panth Prakash, not to be confused with "Naveen" Panth Prakash by Giani Gian Singh] (Gurmukhi: ਪ੍ਰਾਚੀਨ ਪੰਥ ਪ੍ਰਕਾਸ਼ lit. "The Rise of the Honorable Guru Panth/Sikh Community"),[1] is a historical text about Sikh history in the 1700s by Rattan Singh Bhangu and was completed in the early 1810s.[2] The text's opening foundation briefly covers the lives of the ten Sikh Gurus, then traces the accomplishments of the Sikh community from 1708 to the establishment of Sikh rule in Punjab.[3] The text provides the most comprehensive compilation of stories related to the feats of Sikh warriors in the 18th century, the evolving Sikh martial formations, and the internal power dynamics between Sikh Misl groups.
Rattan Singh Bhangu, being the grandson of Mehtab Singh Bhangu, was privy to rare oral histories, often the author remarks how he had heard the story from an elder.[4] [5] Regarding the sources Rattan Singh Bhangu utilizes, G.S. Mann writes:
The text of Sri Gur Panth Prakash makes it clear that its author was a person of considerable learning with access to wide range of Sikh sources, which included the Guru Granth and historical documents ranging from the Puratan Janam Sakhi (1580s), Gurdas Bhalla’s Vars (pre-1630), Sainapati’s Sri Gur Sobha (pre-1710), and Sukha Singh’s Sri Gur Bilas (1797). He also refers to his access to non-Sikh documents, some of which were written in ʺSanskrit, Bhakha, and Persian.[6]
Rattan Singh Bhangu indicates that the original drive to write the text was to provide an accurate account of the Sikh Panth to the East India Company officials, as he deemed other accounts biased.[7] Bhangu met with Captain William Murray, the head of the local British army of Colonel David Ochterlony, who then listened to the stories recounted by Bhangu.[8] [9] Even still, Dhavan argues the text was written for Punjabi-speaking Sikh audience, as opposed to a British one.[10] Dhavan argues Bhangu asks "the Khalsa Sikh reader to participate in both witnessing and rememorializing the Sikh past … both as a form of spiritual practice and as a curb on the self-interest of the Khalsa warrior.”[11] [12]
W. H. McLeod claims the text "vigorously arms the distinctive nature of the Khalsa identity and the claim that this was the identity which Guru Gobind Singh intended his followers to adopt".[13] The text holds great esteem within the Nihang Sikh community, for they believe Rattan Singh himself to be a Nihang.[14]
Vir Singh published the text in 1914, but this version has been criticized by scholars, such as Louis E. Fenech and Harinder Singh, for editing and chopping out sections.[15] [16] Baba Santa Singh also published a Punjabi commentary in 2000.[17] A revised edition, based on manuscripts, was published by Balwant Singh Dhillon in 2004.[18]
The text is available in English in two volumes, published by the Institute of Sikh Studies (Chandigarh).