FATEHNĀMAH GURŪ KHĀLSĀ JĪ KĀ, by Ganesh Dās, an employee of the Sikh Darbār, and published as edited by Sītā Rām Kohlī, contains accounts, in Punjabi verse, of three of the major battles of Sikh times. The first of these was fought at Multān in 1818 between Mahārājā Raṇjīt Siṅgh's forces and the army of the local Afghān ruler Muzaffar Khān. The second, the first battle of Peshāwar, also known as the battle of Nausherā, was fought in 1823 between Sikhs and Muhammad 'Azīm Khān, who after the death of his brother Fateh Khān, had acquired power in Afghanistan and wished to re-establish Afghān supremacy over Peshāwar. The third, the second battle of Peshāwar, was waged at Saidū, a few kilometers south of Akoṛā, in 1826 between the Sikhs and Sayyid Ahmad's host. The Sayyid who hailed from Rāe Barelī, in present-day Uttar Pradesh, had declared Jihād against the Sikhs. Ganesh Dās's description of these engagements is embellished with conventional poetic devices, yet its historical core remains unimpaired. In fact, the details of the battles he has given correspond with those recorded in contemporary chronicles such as Twārīkh-i-Mahārājā Raṇjīt Siṅgh, Umdāt-ut-Twārīkh, Zafarnāmā-i-Raṇjīt Siṅgh and Jaṅg-i-Multān. Ganesh Dās has great admiration for Mahārājā Raṇjīt Siṅgh as well as for the Khālsā. His appraisal of the role of the Mahārājā in the Sikh body politic is highly perceptive. For him Raṇjīt Siṅgh was the leader of the Khālsā commonwealth rather than a Mahārājā or sovereign, and he addresses him as Siṅgh Sāhib (exalted member of the Khālsā). Ganesh Dās attributes victories won in these battles to the Khālsā as a whole and not to Raṇjīt Siṅgh. Hence the title of his work: Fatehnāmah Gurū Khālsā Jī Kā, i.e. account of the victories of the Gurū Khālsā.

Gur Rattan Pāl Siṅgh