This article is about an ethnic group. For the language,
see Punjabi language.
For information on the geographical Punjabi region, see Punjab. For other uses, see Punjabi (disambiguation).
The Punjabis (Punjabi (Shahmukhi): پنجابی, Punjabi (Gurmukhi):
ਪੰਜਾਬੀ) or the Punjabi people, are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group associated
with the Punjab region
in South Asia,
specifically in the northern part of the Indian
subcontinent presently divided between Pakistani Punjab and Indian Punjab. They speak Punjabi, a language from the Indo-Aryan language family.[20] The term Punjab means the five
waters from Persian: panj ("five") and āb ("waters").[21] The name of the region was introduced by the Turko-Persian conquerors[22] of the Indian subcontinent.
The
historical Punjab region (see Partition of Punjab for important historical context) is often referred to as
the breadbasket in
both India and Pakistan.[23][24] The coalescence of
the various tribes, castes and the inhabitants of the Punjab region into a
broader common "Punjabi" identity initiated from the onset of the
18th century CE. Prior to that the sense and perception of a common
"Punjabi" ethno-cultural identity and community did not exist, even
though the majority of the various communities of the Punjab region had long
shared linguistic, cultural and racial commonalities.[25][26][27]
Traditionally,
Punjabi identity is primarily linguistic, geographical and cultural. Its
identity is independent of historical origin or religion and refers to those
who reside in the Punjab region or associate with its population and those
who consider the Punjabi language their mother tongue.[28] Integration and assimilation are important
parts of Punjabi culture, since Punjabi identity is not based solely on
tribal connections. More or less all Punjabis share the same cultural
background.[29][30]
Historically,
the Punjabi people were a heterogeneous group and were subdivided into a number of clans
called biradari (literally
meaning "brotherhood") or tribes, with each person bound to a clan. However, Punjabi identity
also included those who did not belong to any of the historical tribes. With
the passage of time, tribal structures are coming to an end and are being
replaced with a more cohesive[31] and
holistic society, as community building and group cohesiveness[32][33] form the new pillars of Punjabi society.[34] In relative contemporary terms, Punjabis can be referred
to in four most common subgroups; Punjabi
Muslims, Punjabi
Hindus, Punjabi
Sikhs, and Punjabi
Christians.[35]
In
the 19th century, Maharaja Ranjit Singh established a Punjabi Sikh
Empire[36] based around the Punjab. The main geographical footprint of the country was the Punjab region to Khyber Pass in the west, to
Kashmir in the north, to Sindh in the south and Tibet in the east. The religious demography of the Kingdom
was Muslim (70%), Sikh (17%), Hindu (13%).[37] The population was 3.5 million, according to Amarinder
Singh's The Last Sunset: The Rise and Fall of the Lahore Durbar. In 1799
Ranjit Singh moved the capital to Lahore from Gujranwala, where it had been established in 1763 by his
grandfather, Charat Singh.[38]
The Punjab region was a region
straddling India and the Afghan Durrani Empire. The following modern-day political divisions made up the
historical Punjabi kingdom:
Peshawar,
Pakistan[42] (taken in 1818, retaken in 1834)
Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa and the Federally
Administered Tribal Areas, Pakistan (documented
from Hazara (taken in 1818, again in 1836) to Bannu)[43]
After
Ranjit Singh's death in 1839, the empire was severely weakened by internal
divisions and political mismanagement. This opportunity was used by the East India Company to launch
the First and Second Anglo-Sikh Wars. The country
was finally annexed and dissolved at the end of the Second Anglo-Sikh War in
1849 into separate princely states and the province of
Punjab. Eventually, a Lieutenant Governorship was
formed in Lahore as a direct representative of the Crown.[citation
needed]
The 1947 independence of India and
Pakistan, and the subsequent partition of Punjab, is considered by historians to be the
beginning of the end of the British Empire.[44] The UNHCR estimates 14 million Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims were displaced during the
partition.[45] To date, this is considered the largest mass migration in human
history.[46]
Until
1947, the province of Punjab was ruled by a coalition comprising the Indian National Congress, the
Sikh-led Shiromani Akali Dal and the Unionist Muslim
League. However, the growth of Muslim nationalism
led to the All India Muslim League becoming the dominant party in the 1946 elections. As
Muslim separatism increased, the opposition from Punjabi Hindus and Sikhs
increased substantially. Communal violence on the eve of Indian independence
led to the dismissal of the coalition government, although the succeeding
League ministry was unable to form a majority. Along with the province of
Bengal, Punjab was partitioned on religious lines – the Muslim-majority West
becoming part of the new Muslim state of Pakistan, and the Hindu and Sikh
East remaining in India. Partition was accompanied by massive violence on
both sides, claiming the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.[47] West Punjab was virtually cleansed of its Hindu and Sikh
populations, who were forced to leave for India, while East Punjab and Delhi
were virtually cleansed of their Muslim population.
By
the 1960s, Indian Punjab underwent reorganisation as demands for a linguistic
Punjabi state increased (in line with the policy of linguistic
states that had been applied in the rest of
India). The Hindi-speaking areas were formed into the states of Himachal Pradesh and Haryana respectively, leaving
a Punjabi speaking majority in the state of Punjab. In the 1980s, Sikh
separatism combined with popular anger against the Indian Army's counter-insurgency
operations (especially Operation Bluestar) led to violence and disorder in Indian Punjab, which only
subsided in the 1990s. Political power in Indian Punjab is contested between
the secular Congress Party and the Sikh religious party Akali Dal and its
allies, the Bharatiya Janata Party. Indian Punjab remains one of the most prosperous of India's
states and is considered the "breadbasket of India."
Subsequent
to partition, West Punjabis made up a majority of the Pakistani population,
and the Punjab province constituted 40% of Pakistan's total land mass. Today
Punjabis continue to be the largest ethnic group in Pakistan, accounting for
half of the country's population. They reside predominantly in the province
of Punjab, neighboring Azad Kashmir and in Islamabad Capital
Territory. Punjabis are also found in large
communities in the largest city of Pakistan, Karachi, located in the Sindh province.
Punjabis
in India can be found in the states of Punjab, as well as Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi and the Union Territory of Chandigarh. Large communities of Punjabis are also found in the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir and in Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.
Punjabi-inhabited areas of Pakistan and India (brown)
While
the total population of Punjab is 110 million,[48] ethnic Punjabis are numbered
as 91,454,609[49][50] which makes up 44.7%[51][52][53][54] of
the national population of 204 million[4] Pakistanis; this makes Punjabis
the largest ethnic group in Pakistan by population. The Punjabis found in Pakistan belong to
groups known as baradari. In addition, Punjabi society is divided into two divisions,
the zamindar groups
or qoums, traditionally associated with farming and the moeens, who are
traditionally artisans. Some zamindars are further divided into groups such
as the Rajputs, Jats, Shaikhs or Muslim Khatris, Gujjars, Awans, Arains and Syeds. People from neighbouring
regions, such as Kashmiris, Pashtuns and Baluch, also form size-able portion of the Punjabi population. A
large number of punjabis descend from the groups historically associated with
skilled professions and crafts such as Sunar, Lohar, Kumhar, Tarkhan, Julaha, Mochi, Hajjam, Chhimba Darzi, Teli, Lalari, Qassab, Mallaah, Dhobi, Mirasi etc.[55][page needed]
Religious
homogeneity remains elusive as a predominant Sunni population with Shia, Ahmadiyya and Christian minorities. A variety of related sub-groups
exist in Pakistan and are often considered by many Pakistani Punjabis to be
simply regional Punjabis including the Seraikis (who overlap and are often considered transitional with
the Sindhis).
The
recent definition of Punjabis, in Pakistani Punjab, is not based on racial
classification, common
ancestry or endogamy, but based on geographical and cultural basis.[citation
needed]
The
Punjabi-speaking people make 2.74% of India's population as of 2011.[56] The total number of Indian Punjabis is unknown due to the
fact that ethnicity is not recorded in the Census
of India. Sikhs are largely concentrated in the modern-day state of Punjab forming 57.7% of the
population with Hindus forming 38.5%.[57] Ethnic
Punjabis are believed to account for at least 40% of Delhi's total population
and are predominantly Hindi-speaking Punjabi Hindus.[58][59][60]
Indian
Punjab is also home to small groups of Muslims and Christians. Most of
the East Punjab's
Muslims (in today's states of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi and
Chandigarh) left for West Punjab in 1947. However, a small community still
exists today, mainly in Qadian, and Malerkotla, the only Muslim princely state among the seven that formed
the erstwhile Patiala and East Punjab States Union (PEPSU). The other six
(mostly Sikh) states were: Patiala, Nabha, Jind, Faridkot, Kapurthala and Kalsia. In addition, Meo Muslims in southern Haryana (part of erstwhile East
Punjab) also didn’t leave, and form a majority in the Nuh district.
The
Indian censuses record the native languages, but not the descent of the
citizens. Linguistic data cannot accurately predict ethnicity: for example,
Punjabis make up a large portion of Delhi's population but many descendants
of the Punjabi Hindu refugees, largely from West Punjab, who came to Delhi
following the partition of India now speak Hindi as their first language. Thus, there is
no concrete official data on the ethnic
makeup of Delhi and other Indian states.[60]:8–10
The
Punjabi people have emigrated in large numbers to many parts of the world. In
the early 20th century, many Punjabis began settling in the United States, including
independence activists who formed the Ghadar
Party. The United Kingdom has a significant number
of Punjabis from both Pakistan and India. The most populous areas being
London, Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow. In Canada (specifically Vancouver,[61] Toronto,[62] and Calgary[63]) and the United States, (specifically California's Central Valley). In the 1970s, a
large wave of emigration of Punjabis (predominately from Pakistan) began to
the Middle East, in places such as the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. There are also large communities in East Africa including the
countries of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Punjabis have also
emigrated to Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia including Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and Hong Kong.
Of recent times many Punjabis have also moved to Italy.
According
to Pippa Virdee, the 1947 partition of India and Pakistan has shadowed the
sense of loss of what used to be a homeland nation for the Punjabi people in
the Indian subcontinent and its diaspora.[64] Since
the mid 1980s, there has been a drive for Punjabi cultural revival,
consolidation of Punjabi ethnicity and a virtual Punjabi nation.[65] According to Giorgio Shani, this is predominantly a Sikh
ethno-nationalism movement led by some Sikh organizations, and a view that is
not shared by Punjabi people organizations belonging to other religions.[66]
Indigenous
population flourished in this region, leading to a developed civilization in
5th to 4th millennium BC,[67] the ancient Indus Valley
Civilization. Also, Buddhist remnants have been
found like that of the Mankiala and the Gandhara civilisation. The remains of the ancient city of Taxila,[68] and
many ornaments that have been found in this region, suggests that,[69] one of the centres of Indus
Valley Civilization was established at many
parts of Punjab, most notably Taxila and Harappa,[70] Punjab became a center of early civilization from around 3300
BC. During the Vedic Era The earliest text of Rigveda were composed in greater Punjab (northwest India and
Pakistan) region.[71]
According
to historians, this region was ruled by many small kingdoms and tribes around
the 4th and 5th BCE. The earliest known notable local king of this region was
known as King Porus[72][73] and
he fought a famous Battle of the Hydaspes[74] against Alexander. His kingdom, known as Pauravas, was situated between
Hydaspes (modern Jhelum) and Acesines (modern-day Chenab).[72] These kings fought local battles to gain more
ground. Taxiles (Ambhi),
another local king from Punjab, wanted to defeat his eastern adversary Porus in a turf war and he invited Alexander the Great to defeat
Porus. This marked the first intrusion of the West in the Indian subcontinent
and Indus valley in general. But such was the valor of Porus and his kingdom
forces in Punjab, that despite being defeated, he was appreciated by Alexander the Great for his
skill and valor and he was granted further territories in the North.[citation needed] The other local kings did not like the fact that Porus
was now an ally of Western forces. In less than ten years an Indian
king Chandragupta Maurya[75] defeated the forces and conquered the Northern Indian
regions up to the Kabul River (in modern-day Afghanistan). Alexander mostly ruled this land with the help of local
allies like Porus.[76]
Centuries
later, areas of the Punjab region were ruled by local kings followed by
the Ghaznavids, Ghurids, Delhi Sultanate, Mughals and others. Islam
arrived in Punjab when the Muslim Umayyad army led by Muhammad bin
Qasim conquered Sindh in 711 AD, by
defeating Raja Dahir. Some of the Muslims are said to have settled in the region
and adopted the local culture. Centuries later, the Ghaznavids introduced
aspects of foreign Persian and Turkic culture in Punjab.
Map showing the sites and extent of the Indus
Valley Civilisation. Harappa was the center of one
of the core regions of the Indus Valley Civilization, located in
central Punjab.
The Harappan architecture and Harrapan Civilization was one of the most developed
in the old Bronze Age.
Regions
of North India and Punjab were annexed into the Afghan Durrani Empire later on in
1747, being a vulnerable target.[77] However,
in 1758, the Marathas captured most of Punjab including Lahore during its northwest expansion campaign. After
conquering Peshawar and Attock, the Marathas defeated the Durrani Empire in
the Battle of Lahore fought in 1759.The region was lost to the Durranis,
however, after the Third Battle of Panipat. The grandson of Ahmed Shah Durrani (Zaman Shah Durrani), lost it
to Ranjit Singh,
a Punjabi Sikh. He was born in 1780 to Maha Singh and Raj Kaur in Gujranwala, Punjab. Ranjit took a
leading role in organising a Sikh militia and got control of the Punjab
region from Zaman Shah Durrani. Ranjit started a Punjabi military expedition
to expand his territory.[78] Under his command the
Sikh army began invading neighbouring territories outside of Punjab.
The Jamrud Fort at
the entry of Khyber Pass was built by Ranjit Singh.[79] The
Sikh Empire slowly began to weaken after the death of Hari Singh Nalwa at the Battle of Jamrud in 1837. Two
years later, in 1839, Ranjit Singh died and his son took over control of the
empire. By 1850 the East India Company took over control of the Punjab region after defeating the Sikhs in
the Anglo-Sikh wars,[80][81] establishing their rule over the region for around the
next 100 years as a part of the British Raj. Many Sikhs and Punjabis later pledged their allegiance to the
British, serving as sepoys (native soldiers) within the Raj.[citation needed]
In
ancient and the medieval era, before the arrival of Islam into the Indian
subcontinent, Hinduism and Buddhism were the predominant religions in the
Punjab region. After Islamic conquest, conversions began leading to a mixed
population of Muslims and Hindus, and Buddhism vanished.[82][83][84] After Guru Nanak founded Sikhism in
the 15th century, the population increasingly became a mix of Hindus, Muslims
and Sikhs, as with the contemporary Punjabis.[19]
The
region of Punjab is the birthplace of one monotheistic religion that is known
as Sikhism.[85][86] Also many well known followers of Sufism[87] were born in Punjab.[88]
Due
to religious tensions, emigration between Punjabi people started far before
the partition and dependable records.[93][94] Shortly
prior to the Partition of India, Punjab had a slight majority Muslim population at about 53.2% in 1941, which was an increase
from the previous years.[95] With the division of
Punjab and the subsequent independence of Pakistan and later India, mass
migrations of Muslims from Indian Punjab to Pakistan, and those of Sikhs and Hindus from Pakistan to Indian Punjab
occurred. Today the majority of Pakistani Punjabis follow Islam with a small Christian
minority, and less Sikh and Hindu populations, while the majority of Indian
Punjabis are either Sikhs or Hindus with a Muslim minority. Punjab is also the birthplace of Sikhism and the movement Ahmadiyya.[96]
Following
the independence of Pakistan and the subsequent partition, a process of population exchange took place in 1947 as
Muslims began to leave India and headed to the newly created Pakistan and Hindus and
Sikhs left Pakistan[97] for the newly created state of India.[98] As a result of these population exchanges, both parts are
now relatively homogeneous, where religion is concerned.
Population trends
for major religious groups in the Punjab Province of British India (1881–1941)[89]
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