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  SKETCH
  OF
  THE SIKHS;
  A Singular Nation,
  WHO INHABIT THE
  PROVINCES OF THE PENJAB,
  SITUATED BETWEEN
  The Rivers Jumna and Indus.

  BY
  LIEUTENANT-COLONEL MALCOLM,
  AUTHOR OF THE POLITICAL SKETCH OF INDIA.

  LONDON:
  PRINTED FOR JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET,
  By James Moyes, Greville Street, Hatton Garden.

  1812.




ADVERTISEMENT.


This Sketch has already appeared in the eleventh volume of the Asiatic
Researches: but, as that valuable work is not in common circulation,
it is now republished; and may prove acceptable, as a short and clear
account of an oriental people, of singular religion and manners, with
whose history the European reader can be but little acquainted.




SKETCH OF THE SIKHS.




INTRODUCTION.


When with the British army in the Penjáb, in 1805, I endeavoured to
collect materials that would throw light upon the history, manners, and
religion of the Sikhs. Though this subject had been treated by several
English writers, none of them had possessed opportunities of obtaining
more than very general information regarding this extraordinary race;
and their narratives therefore, though meriting regard, have served
more to excite than to gratify curiosity.

In addition to the information I collected while the army continued
within the territories of the Sikhs,