This is the exhaustive and authoritative history of the Sikhs based on original records, both published and unpublished, available in India or abroad. It however steers clears of the hagiographic myth-making, as much as the prophets of doom who look upon the Sikh phenomenon as a momentary historical upsurge whose authenticity and potential will soon be exhausted. On almost every page, the reader will come across fresh information and ideas such as have not been provided by any single publication before. Almost every question raised with regard to the Sikh faith or historical events have been authoritatively answered by the celebrated author, whose first-even English translation of the entire corpus of the Sikh Scripture has won him world-wide acclaim.