This book provides an in-depth study of the Punjabi Muslim community. Wikeley explores the history, culture, and religious practices of Punjabi Muslims, as well as their political and economic status. With a focus on the colonial and post-colonial periods, this book sheds light on the challenges faced by Punjabi Muslims and their place in the broader Indian society. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Ashes to Glory is a fascinating account of the 4th Battalion of the Sikh Regiment (XXXVI SIKH). Written and compiled by two officers of the Battalion who have been brought up in its traditions, the book recalls how, time and again, it has rallied to the call and risen to even greater glory. The Battalion suffered over 600 casualties within three hours at Hai during World War I and was overrun by Rommel’s Panzer division in the burning sands of EI Alamien during World War II. Again, in 1962 and 1965 it faced major reverses, yet emerged unscathed. Tracing the Battalion’s trials and tribulations, triumph and glory, the book recounts how, within four years of its raising, it earned its first Battle Honour in Manipur. However, it is in the NWFP on 12 September 1897, while defending the post of Saragarhi, that it achieved undying glory. Havildar Ishar Singh and twenty-one other ranks laid down their lives fighting, refusing to surrender to thousands of Orakazi tribesmen surrounding their post. All twenty-one of them were awarded the Indian Order of Merit, the then highest award given to an Indian. Ever since then it has been known as the Saragarhi Battalion. The Battalion went on to win twenty-two Battle Honours, thereby establishing its claim as not only one of the most decorated units of the Indian Army, but also a widely travelled one. These pages contain a fascinating account of the Battalion’s operations in China during the Boxer Rebellion; NWFP and Aden between the two World Wars, Abysinnia, Ethiopia, Eriteria, Egypt and Italy during World War II. The Battalion also has the honour of having participated in all the four operations since Independence, including the 1947 Kashmir Operations when it was air lifted into the valley. This is not only the story of the Battalion of the Sikh Regiment but in a way that of soldiering in the Indian Army, for it brings out the resilience of the Indian Soldier when pitched against insurmountable odds. Written on the eve of the centenary of the Battalion, it makes compelling reading.

These five volumes concern one of the most important institutions in human history, the military, and the interactions of that institution with the greater society. Military systems serve nations; they may also reflect them. Soldiers are enlisted; they may also be said to self-select. Military units have missions; they also have interests. In an older, more traditional military history, while the second reflects a newer approach. Although each statement in the pairs may be said to be true, the former speak from the framework of the military sciences; the latter, from the framework of the social and behavioral sciences. The military systems of our past differ from one another over time, in political origins, size, missions, and technological and tactical fashions, but to a great extent their historical experiences have been more noticeably similar than they were different. When we ask questions about the recruiting, training, or motivating of military systems, or of those systems' interactions with civilian governments and with the greater society, as do the essays in these five volumes of reading on The Military and Society we are struck by the almost timeless patterns of continuity and similarity of experience. In each of these volumes approximately half of the essays selected deal with the experience in the United States; the other half, with the experiences of other states and times, enabling the reader to engage in comparative analysis.

This is the first scholarly study of the subject for twenty years, and the only one based on extensive archival research. The Indian Army conquered India for the British, and protected the Raj against its enemies within and without. In this evocative and compassionate work, David Omissi examines the origins, motives and protests of the several million Indian peasant- soldiers who served the colonial power.

This book deals with the representation of the Partition of India — the experience of trauma and violence — through fiction, literary motifs and narratives, and shows that in examining the nature of such testimony through history, cultural memory has a significant role to play.

The Partition of British India in 1947 set in motion events that have had far-reaching consequences in South Asia – wars, military tensions, secessionist movements and militancy/terrorism. This book looks at key events in 1947 and explores the aftermath of the Partition and its continued impact in the present-day understanding of nationhood and identity. It also examines the diverse and fractured narratives that framed popular memory and understanding of history in the region. The volume includes discussions on the manner in which regions such as the Punjab, Sindh, Kashmir, Bengal, Uttar Pradesh (Lucknow) and North-East India were influenced. It deals with issues such as communal politics, class conflict, religion, peasant nationalism, decolonization, migration, displacement, riots, the state of refugees, women and minorities, as well as the political relationship between India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Drawing on major flashpoints in contemporary South Asian history along with representations from literature, art and popular culture, this book will interest scholars of modern Indian history, Partition studies, colonial history, postcolonial studies, international relations, politics, sociology, literature and South Asian studies.