J. D. Cunningham
J.D. Cunningham(1812 - 1851), whose full name was Joseph Davey Cunningham[1] was a British Officer in India. He was closely associated with the Punjab and had closely watched the progress of events leading to defeat of the Sikhs and ultimate annexation of the Punjab in the British Indian Empire.
Author of Sikh History
A History of the Sikhs from the Origin of the Nation to the Battles of the Sutlej, by Cunningham, is the first serious and sympathetic account of the Sikh people ever written of them by a foreigner. Cunningham explored the available materials with the rneticulousness of a scholar. Besides official despatches and documents and the earlier English accounts, he went to the original sources and acquainted himself with the Sikh scriptures as well as with relevant manuscripts in Persian and Punjabi. The emphasis in Cunningham's History shifted from his predecessors' concern with the assessment of Sikhs' political and military strength or the description of the manner of their court to the identification of the ingredients of their moral and religious inspiration and of the driving force behind their rise from a religious sect to nationhood. The book is also significant for its account of the geography and economy of the Punjab and for its analysis of the social milieu in which Sikhism was born. Elaborate footnotes and appendices show the minuteness and range of Cunningham's learning.
Joseph Davey Cunningham was the first British historian of the Sikhs, his History of the Sikhs was published in London in 1849.
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