From The Back Cover Of 'Adventures Of An Officer In The Service Of Runjeet Singh' By H.M.L.Lawrence

This book is a fictional autobiography of an officer in the service of Maharaja Runjeet Singh (1780-1839), the leading Sikh chieftain. In 1809, Runjeet Singh made a treaty with the British, by which he agreed not to expand his domain south of the Sutlej River. However, he built up a formidable army with the help of European officers ( the narrator in this book is one such officer) and rapidly expanded his holdings to the north and the west. By the time of his death he controlled all of the Punjab as well as Kashmir.

This book traces the history of Runjeet Singh's reign through the first person account of a European, Colonel Bellasis, who finds himself in the service of the Maharaja. Although the personal adventures ascribed to Bellasis are purely fictitious yet the story is just a convenient vehicle for conveying to the reader characteristic illustrations of the broader country, its people, its manners, its rulers, and their modes of ruling. From the eyes of this wilayati, who had the chance of observing him from close quarters, we get an objective assessment of Runjeet Singh's exceptional qualities of military leadership, diplomacy, and administrative skills in welding together a large and united state of Punjab.