The coveted and cursed Kohinoor diamond might have been lost in oblivion, if an Indian servant, working for one of the members of the Board of Administration, would not have mistaken it for a piece of glass and placed it in a tin box to be found later, records Rajmohan Gandhi’s new book with many other interesting revelations from History of the period related to Punjab.
The book titled, “Punjab: A history from Aurangzeb to Mountbatten,” was unveiled by the governor of Punjab and Ut administrator, Shivraj Patil on Wednesday in the presence of the author at the Chandigarh Judicial Academy. Gandhi while introducing his book said, “This is a subjective perspective of an author, about undivided Punjab, which records 240 years of history from the twilight phase of the mughal emperor Aurangzeb till the end of the British era.”
Current Punjab which, is on the Indian side, is one-seventh of the actual area, left behind after ravaged by plunderers and scarred by partisan, of a glorious Kingdom.The book opens in 1707 with the death of Aurangzeb and completes a journey of more than two century of documentation ending with the plight of partition in 1947.
The author said, “While researching for the book I came across several interesting aspects of that period. One of the important elements why Sikh forces working mainly with religious fervor were able to defeat Muslim forces, also fighting with religious fervor was the language. The Sikhs were using Punjabi, language of the land but the Muslims had to cater to Arabic which created a lot of confusion among native Muslims of the time.”
Post-1707 instability, invasions by Nadir Shah and Ahmed Shah Abdali, Afghan-Sikh clashes, half a century of Sikh rule, a century of British rule, the movements for independence and majority rule, the carnage of 1947, and the humanity that countered the carnage –all this and more is covered and interpreted by the author. Gandhi said that the book is divided into three phases through which the history of Punjab has been traced. The three phases being post Aurangzeb era, Rule of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and British Punjab.
Gandhi read out from his book to reveal few interesting facts which has been documented by him during the course of his research which ranged from the story of how a king belonging to a minority Sikh community emerged out as a potential ruler, an interesting story about the journey of the Kohinoor to their current owner, The British, and the role played by the de-mobilized soldiers in the carnage of 1947.
He said, “In a nutshell I compiled this book, so that neighbors could sort out their problems and not look forward towards other for resolutions. They should refer to problems amongst themselves and not look towards others for resolution.” While substantiating his view Gandhi drew few instances from his book where he mentioned how post-independence the Congress failed to unite the region by opposing the Unionist Party, a secular party, which was formed to represent the interests of Punjab's large feudal classes and gentry.
He also mentioned the fact the partition was not a result of religious polarization at the grass root level in the society but it was due to the divide at the leadership level which existed in Punjab. He went on to discuss the failure of the border commission set under Cyril Radcliffe and how the judges who were negotiating the partition failed the people of the region.
Shivraj Patil who launched the book said, “I agreed to launch the book on condition that I would first get to read it. From my reading I concluded that the area of undivided Punjab has played a significant role in the history of India. This was the gateway to India starting with the Aryans and Alexander.” “The history of every nation depicts two types of cosmic forces, which are at work are the unifying and the divisive one. The divisive forces destroy and the unifying forces lead to progress. And hence learning from history we need to focus on the unifying forces,” added the Governor of Punjab.
Gandhi on the other hand believes that one cannot understand the history of India without understanding the history of this age. His conclusion however is that neither USA nor China can help to resolve issues and relationship between neighbors, India and Pakistan. He said, “If relations between neighbors have to be improved, we have to do it ourselves. No Nehru, no Gandhi can do it for us.”Removing all speculations that one have about books in general and history books in particular, Shivraj Patil said, “It was an interesting read. I could not leave the book when required to do something else.” He emphasized on the last sentence of the book, “For tomorrows sake can we learn from this,” to bring out the necessity of interpreting and reinterpreting history for the sake of humanity.