LAHORE POLITICAL DIARIES is how volumes III to VI of the Records of the Punjab Government arc collectively referred to. Comprising a part of the British Government records published in nine volumes during the early years of the twentieth century, these four volumes deal with the regency period, 1846-49. They contain journals, reports and diaries of the British residents at the Sikh capital, Lahore, and the agents appointed in different districts of the Punjab. Altogether they afford an intimate glimpse of the administration of the Punjab during the period between the two Anglo Sikh wars, and the settlement of various districts under British officers. These energetic and vigilant officers also kept the Lahore Residency informed of all political events and trends in the areas under their charge.

MARATHASIKH RELATIONS spanning a period of half a century from 1758 to 1806 alternated between friendly cooperation and mistrust born out of rivalry of political and military ambition. Although Shivaji (1627-80), the founder of Maratha power, and Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708), the creator of the Khalsa, both rose against the tyiannical rule of Aurarigzib, and although the Sikhs` real crusade in the Punjab took its birth on the banks of the River Godavari in Maharashtra, the two forces did not come in direct contact with each other until the Marathas, in a bid to fill the power vacuum caused by the fall of the Mughal empire, expanded their influence as far as Delhi.