AKHBAR DARBAR LAHORE, an unpublished collection of 92 letters, reports, notes and summaries of events connected with the second Anglo Sikh war, 1848-49. The manuscript, in Persian, is preserved in Dr Ganda Singh Collection at Punjabi University, Patiala. The entire manuscript comprises 382 pages. These documents are communications written by or summaries of those received or procured by news writers employed by the British and stationed at Lahore.
The earliest of these is dated 23 August 1848 and the last 25 January 1849. A number of them are undated, too, but they relate to this very period. Several of those initiating from Lahore are by “Lala Harsaran Das, Akhbarnawis, Darbar Lahore.” Other places from which these papers originated include Multan, Firozpur, Bahawalpur and Ramnagar. A 4page “Persian translation of a letter in English” gives an eyewitness account of the battle fought at Ramnagar on 22 November 1848.
The Akhbar Darbar Lahore is an unpublished collection of 92 documents, including letters, reports, notes, and event summaries, connected to the Second Anglo-Sikh War (1848–49). These documents, written in Persian, are preserved in the Dr. Ganda Singh Collection at Punjabi University, Patiala. The collection spans 382 pages and provides a unique glimpse into the political and military events of the time.
The documents were primarily communications from news writers employed by the British and stationed in Lahore. The earliest document is dated August 23, 1848, and the latest is from January 25, 1849. Some papers are undated but pertain to the same period. They include reports from various locations such as Multan, Firozpur, Bahawalpur, and Ramnagar.
One notable feature of the collection is a four-page Persian translation of an English letter, which provides an eyewitness account of the Battle of Ramnagar on November 22, 1848. These records are invaluable for understanding the dynamics of the Second Anglo-Sikh War and the role of British intelligence during that era.
