Portal:Punjab

The Punjab Portal

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Introduction

P:PA

Punjab (/pʌnˈdʒɑːb, -ˈdʒæb, ˈpʊn-/; Punjabi: [pə̞ɲˈdʒäːb] ^ⓘ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb), also known as the Land of the Five Rivers, is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern-Pakistan and northwestern-India. Punjab's major cities are Lahore, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Multan, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Sialkot, Chandigarh, Shimla, Jalandhar, Patiala, Gurugram, and Bahawalpur.

Punjab grew out of the settlements along the five rivers, which served as an important route to the Near East as early as the ancient Indus Valley civilization, dating back to 3000 BCE, followed by migrations of the Indo-Aryan peoples. Agriculture has been the chief economic feature of the Punjab and formed the foundation of Punjabi culture. The Punjab emerged as an important agricultural region, especially following the Green Revolution during the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s, and has been described as the "breadbasket of both India and Pakistan."

Punjab's history is a tapestry of conflict, marked by the rise of indigenous dynasties and empires. Following Alexander the Great's invasion in the 4th century BCE, Chandragupta Maurya allied with Punjabi republics to establish the Maurya Empire. Successive reigns of the Indo-Greek Kingdom, Kushan Empire, and Indo-Scythians followed, but were ultimately defeated by Eastern Punjab Janapadas such as the Yaudheya, Trigarta Kingdom, Audumbaras, Arjunayanas, and Kuninda Kingdom. In the 5th and 6th centuries CE, Punjab faced devastating Hunnic invasions, yet the Vardhana dynasty emerged triumphant, ruling over Northern India. The 8th century CE witnessed the Hindu Shahis rise, known for defeating the Saffarid dynasty and the Samanid Empire. Concurrently, the Tomara dynasty and Katoch Dynasty controlled eastern Punjab, resisting Ghaznavid invasions. Islam took hold in Western Punjab under Ghaznavid rule. The Delhi Sultanate then succeeded the Ghaznavids in which the Tughlaq dynasty and Sayyid dynasty Sultans are described as Punjabi origin. The 15th century saw the emergence of the Langah Sultanate in south Punjab, acclaimed for its victory over the Lodi dynasty. After the Mughal Empire's decline in the 18th century, Punjab experienced a period of anarchy. In 1799 CE, the Sikh Empire established its rule, undertaking conquests into Kashmir and Durrani Empire held territories, shaping the diverse and complex history of Punjab.

The boundaries of the region are ill-defined and focus on historical accounts and thus the geographical definition of the term "Punjab" has changed over time. In the 16th century Mughal Empire the Punjab region was divided into three, with the Lahore Subah in the west, the Delhi Subah in the east and the Multan Subah in the south. Under the British Raj until the Partition of India in 1947, the Punjab Province encompassed the present Indian states and union territories of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, and Delhi, and the Pakistani regions of Punjab, and Islamabad Capital Territory.

The predominant ethnolinguistic group of the Punjab region are the Punjabi people, who speak the Indo-Aryan Punjabi language. Punjabi Muslims are the majority in West Punjab (Pakistan), while Punjabi Sikhs are the majority in East Punjab (India). Other religious groups include Hinduism, Christianity, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, and Ravidassia. (Full article...)

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Illuminated Guru Granth Sahib folio with nisan (Mul Mantar) in the penmanship of Guru Gobind Singh

The Guru Granth Sahib (Punjabi: ਗੁਰੂ ਗ੍ਰੰਥ ਸਾਹਿਬ, pronounced [ɡʊɾuː ɡɾənt̪ʰᵊ säː(ɦ)(ɪ)bᵊ(˦)]) is the central holy religious scripture of Sikhism, regarded by Sikhs as the final, sovereign and eternal Guru following the lineage of the ten human gurus of the religion. The Adi Granth (Punjabi: ਆਦਿ ਗ੍ਰੰਥ), its first rendition, was compiled by the fifth guru, Guru Arjan (1564–1606). Its compilation was completed on 29 August 1604 and first installed inside the Golden Temple in Amritsar on 1 September 1604. Baba Buddha was appointed the first Granthi of the Golden Temple. Shortly afterwards Guru Hargobind added Ramkali Ki Vaar. Later, Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh guru, added hymns of Guru Tegh Bahadur to the Adi Granth and affirmed the text as his successor. This second rendition became known as the Guru Granth Sahib and is also sometimes referred to as the Adi Granth.

The text consists of 1,430 angs (pages) and 5,894 shabads (line compositions), which are poetically rendered and set to a rhythmic ancient north Indian classical form of music. The bulk of the scripture is divided into 31 main rāgas, with each Granth rāga subdivided according to length and author. The hymns in the scripture are arranged primarily by the rāgas in which they are read. The Guru Granth Sahib is written in the Gurmukhi script in various languages including Punjabi, Lahnda, regional Prakrits, Apabhramsa, Sanskrit, Hindi languages (Braj Bhasha, Bangru, Awadhi, Old Hindi), Bhojpuri, Sindhi, Marathi, Marwari, Bengali, Persian and Arabic. Copies in these languages often have the generic title of Sant Bhasha. (Full article...)

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General images

Image 1
The dominant mother tongue in each District of Pakistan, according to the 2017 Pakistan Census
(from Punjab)
Image 2Map showing the Punjabi Sikh Empire (from Punjab)
Image 3Kumhars in Lahore (c. 1859–1869) (from Punjab)
Image 4The Indian subcontinent in 1805. (from Sikh Empire)
Image 5Ranjit Singh, c. 1830. (from Sikh Empire)
Image 6The charge of the British 16th Lancers at Aliwal on 28 January 1846, during the First Anglo-Sikh War (from Sikh Empire)
Image 7Jats in Delhi (1868) (from Punjab)
Image 8Tarkhans in Lahore (c. 1862–1872) (from Punjab)
Image 9Contemporary painting of the Battle of Sobraon in 1846. (from Sikh Empire)
Image 10Maharaja Ranjit Singh holding court outside near the Golden Temple in Amritsar with everyone dressed in Basant (yellow) (from Sikh Empire)
Image 11Map of the Punjab Province (British India) (from Punjab)
Image 12The Samadhi of Ranjit Singh is located in Lahore, Pakistan, adjacent to the iconic Badshahi Mosque (from Sikh Empire)
Image 13Arains in Lahore (1868) (from Punjab)
Image 14Map of the Multan Province of the Sikh Empire, Herbert B. Edwardes, 1848–49 (from Sikh Empire)
Image 15Arora in Lahore (c. 1862–1872) (from Punjab)
Image 16A letter sent from the King of France, Louis-Philippe to Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Ranjit Singh is addressed as “Rendjit Sing Bahador – Padichah du Pendjab”. 27 October 1835 (from Sikh Empire)
Image 17The expanding Sikh Empire in 1809. The Cis-Sutlej states are visible south of the Sutlej River (from Sikh Empire)
Image 18Taxila in Pakistan is a World Heritage Site. (from Punjab)
Image 19Rajputs in Delhi (1868) (from Punjab)
Image 20Left to right: Gurkha, Brahmin and Shudra (Chuhra-Chamar) in Shimla (1868) (from Punjab)
Image 21Gujjars in Delhi (c. 1859–1869) (from Punjab)
Image 22Silver copper coin of Khizr Khan, founder of the Sayyid dynasty (from Punjab)
Image 23Nanakshahi coins of the Sikh Empire (from Sikh Empire)
Image 24
Ranjit Singh listening to Guru Granth Sahib being recited near the Akal Takht and Golden Temple, Amritsar, Punjab, India.
(from Sikh Empire)
Image 25Maharaja Ranjit Singh seeking the sanctuary of Guru Nanak, c. 1830 (from Sikh Empire)
Image 26One of the first known kings of ancient Punjab, King Porus, fought against Alexander the Great. His surrender is depicted in this 1865 engraving by Alonzo Chappel. (from Punjab)
Image 27Rig Veda, the oldest known Hindu text, originated in the Punjab region. (from Punjab)
Image 28Sikh warrior helmet with butted mail neckguard, 1820–1840, iron overlaid with gold with mail neckguard of iron and brass (from Sikh Empire)
Image 29Illustration of Ranjit Singh, founder of the Sikh Empire (from Punjab)
Image 30Two late 19th century drawings of Sikh troops in action against British forces during the Anglo-Sikh Wars (from Sikh Empire)
Image 31Brahmin in Lahore (c. 1799–1849) (from Punjab)
Image 32Ranjit Singh holding court in 1838 (from Sikh Empire)
Image 33The snow-covered Himalayas (from Punjab)
Image 34Detail from ‘Darbar (royal court) of Maharaja Ranjit Singh’, gouache, ca.1850 (from Sikh Empire)

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Singh in 1929

Bhagat Singh (27 September 1907 – 23 March 1931) was an Indian anti-colonial revolutionary, who participated in the mistaken murder of a junior British police officer in December 1928 in what was to be retaliation for the death of an Indian nationalist. He later took part in a largely symbolic bombing of the Central Legislative Assembly in Delhi and a hunger strike in jail, which—on the back of sympathetic coverage in Indian-owned newspapers—turned him into a household name in the Punjab region, and after his execution at age 23 into a martyr and folk hero in Northern India. Borrowing ideas from Bolshevism and anarchism, the charismatic Bhagat Singh electrified a growing militancy in India in the 1930s, and prompted urgent introspection within the Indian National Congress's nonviolent but eventually successful campaign for India's independence.

In December 1928, Bhagat Singh and an associate, Shivaram Rajguru, both members of a small revolutionary group, the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (also Army, or HSRA), shot dead a 21-year-old British police officer, John Saunders, in Lahore, Punjab, in what is today Pakistan, mistaking Saunders, who was still on probation, for the British senior police superintendent, James Scott, whom they had intended to assassinate. They held Scott responsible for the death of a popular Indian nationalist leader Lala Lajpat Rai for having ordered a lathi (baton) charge in which Rai was injured and two weeks thereafter died of a heart attack. As Saunders exited a police station on a motorcycle, he was felled by a single bullet fired from across the street by Rajguru, a marksman. As he lay injured, he was shot at close range several times by Singh, the postmortem report showing eight bullet wounds. Another associate of Singh, Chandra Shekhar Azad, shot dead an Indian police head constable, Channan Singh, who attempted to give chase as Singh and Rajguru fled. (Full article...)

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Guru Gobind Singh Guru Nanak Ranjit Singh Porus Bulleh Shah Manmohan Singh Harjit Sajjan Abdus Salam Jagmeet Singh Banda Singh Bahadur Jind Kaur Sophia Duleep Singh Har Gobind Khorana Abdus Salam Guru Tegh Bahadur

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A coin of the Scythian king Azes.

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Punjabi wikipedians' noticeboard

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WikiProject Punjab

WikiProject Punjab was formed to foster better articles on the region of Punjab with a spirit of cooperation. The project is a home base that provides a place for Wikipedians (editors) to discuss issues, while share information and resources regarding improvements to Punjabi related articles, which can be discussed at the project's talk page. To join WikiProject Punjab (anyone may join), simply list your username on the members page. Editors are also encouraged to participate in the more regional and/or topic specific WikiProject 's as listed below.

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