''Sau Sakhi'' ( lit. ''Hundred Anecdotes''), also known as ''Guru Ratan Mal'', is a collection of hundred sakhis traditionally attributed to Bhai Ram Kanwar, a descendant of

Baba Buddha Baba Buddha (Gurmukhi: ਬਾਬਾ ਬੁੱਢਾ; ''bābā buḍhā''; lit. meaning "wise old man"; 6 October 1506 – 8 September 1631) was a prime figure in early Sikhism. Early life He was born to a Jat family in 1506 in the village of ...

who had dictated it to scribe Sahib Singh. Sau Sakhi has multiple perspectives, with its authenticity being debated. The text is held high in regard by the

Namdhari The Namdharis or Namdhari Sikhs (Gurmukhi: ਨਾਮਧਾਰੀ; Devanagari: नामधारी; ''nāmadhārī'', meaning "bearers of the name"), also known as Kuka (Gurmukhi: ਕੂਕਾ; ''kūkā'' (''sing.)''; ਕੂਕੇ; ''kūkē'' (''p ...

and the

Nihang The Nihang (also spelt as Nihung lit. "Crocodiles") or Akali (lit. "Immortals"), also known as '' Dal Khalsa'', is an armed Sikh warrior order originating in the Indian subcontinent. Nihangs are believed to have originated either from Fateh Sin ...

History

The text was originally titled ''Panj Sau Sakhi'' (lit. ''Five Hundred Anecdotes''), but was later divided into five parts with each part being known as ''Sau Sakhi''. The existence of a text called ''Panj Sau Sakhi'' was unknown until a manuscript was discovered in 1815 at

Thanesar Thanesar (IAST: Sthāṇvīśvara) is a historic city and Hindu pilgrimage sites, Hindu pilgrimage centre in the Kurukshetra district of Haryana, India. It is located approximately 160 km northwest of Delhi. The city Kurukshetra's area merge ...

and presented to Amar Singh Singhpuria. The text, a combination of Hindi for

prose Prose is language that follows the natural flow or rhythm of speech, ordinary grammatical structures, or, in writing, typical conventions and formatting. Thus, prose ranges from informal speaking to formal academic writing. Prose differs most n ...

and Punjabi for verse, was written in . Some parts of the original Sau Sakhi have been lost; the text has been interpolated and corrupted. However, later interpolations were easily decipherable. One version of the text prophesied the rule of the

Sikh Empire The Sikh Empire was a regional power based in the Punjab, Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent. It existed from 1799, when Maharaja Ranjit Singh captured Lahore, to 1849, when it was defeated and conquered by the East India Company, Br ...

over the Indian subcontinent about a year after this version was revealed; the Sikh Empire was defeated by the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

in the

Second Anglo-Sikh War The Second Anglo-Sikh War was a military conflict between the Sikh Empire and the East India Company which took place from 1848 to 1849. It resulted in the fall of the Sikh Empire, and the annexation of the Punjab region, Punjab and what sub ...

, and the empire ceased to exist. Later versions prophesied an invasion from the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

, leading to the downfall of the British. Another version prophesizes that Ram Singh Kuka will conquer all of the Punjab and establish Namdhari rule. Sir Attar Singh of Bhadaur translated the book to English in 1873 and published it in

Varanasi Varanasi (, also Benares, Banaras ) or Kashi, is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world.* * * * The city has a syncretic tradition of I ...

. Several versions were published after 1890 in Punjabi, with almost all of them contradicting each other.

s look forward to the revival of Khalsa rule and the

s. The British published their own versions during the

Revolt of 1857 The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the form ...

, which prophesied an alliance between Sikhs and the British and both of them capturing Delhi together. The Sikhs were the main component of the British army, which assaulted Delhi.

References

{{Sikhism Sikh Empire Historical books