Punjab

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Punjab region Summary

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Punjab

Literally the land of the "five rivers" from the Persian words panj (five) and ab (water), the name "Panjab" (Punjab in English) identifies a large alluvial plain in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, defined by the basin of the Indus River. All the five rivers of its name—the Beas, Chinab, Jhelum, Rawi, and Satlej—are tributaries of the Indus. Historically, the region of Punjab overran its geographic borders including, before the Partition of 1947, areas such as the district of Dera Ghazi Khan, portions of the Sirhind, and the Sind-Sagar Doab.

Most of the region is characterized by a flat plain sloping gradually from northeast toward the southwest, following the direction of the rivers. Due to its subtropical inland position, its climate is continental and semiarid, with marked variations of temperature between winter and the hot season.

At present divided between the rival states of Pakistan and India, this fertile region (once called the "granary of the Raj") has always been of crucial importance in the history of the Indian subcontinent because of its richness and its location and because Punjab has been the cradle of several civilizations.

From Ancient Periods to the Creation of the Mughal Empire

During the third millennium BCE, the Indus Valley became the cradle of an advanced urban civilization, generally called the Indus civilization or Harappan empire, from the name of an ancient city in Punjab, largely excavated since 1920, together with its "twin city" of Mohenjo Daro in Sind. From about 2500 to 1600 BCE, this civilization built up a large empire stretching from Punjab and Sind to Baluchistan and Rajasthan, having strong commercial ties with both East and West. Recent archaeological and historical research has largely undermined the old theory that held that the Harappa and Mohenjo Daro civilization was brought to an end by Aryan invasions (c. 1700–1500 BCE). More probably, natural catastrophes and changes in the course of the Indus were the major reasons for its decline. However, the Aryan peoples effectively settled in the region around the midway point of the first millennium BCE, imposing their own civilization on the area.

In historic times (c. 518 BCE), Punjab became part of the Achaemenid empire (559–330 BCE), when the Persian Emperor Darius I conquered the region of Gandhara, whose capital was Taxila, near Islamabad, the present capital of Pakistan. In 326, Alexander of Macedon (356–323 BCE) marched through Punjab in his attempt to conquer India, when the mutiny of his troops obliged him to withdraw. King Candragupta I (d. 297 BCE), the founder of the Maurya dynasty, soon afterward incorporated the Punjab into his empire. After some centuries the region became part of the territories under the control of the Gupta dynasty (320– c. 550 CE).

In 713 CE, the Arab commander Muhammad ibn Qasim captured Sind and the rich city of Multan, the main urban center of southwest Punjab, while east Punjab remained subjected to Hindu kingdoms. Only at the beginning of the eleventh century was the region completely subjected to Muslim power, represented by the Turk dynasty of the Ghaznavids (977–1186), who moved from the Afghan region. In 1186 CE, Muhammad Ghuri (d. 1206) conquered Punjab, which became on his death a province of the sultanate of Delhi until the rising of Mughal power during the sixteenth century.

From the Mughals to the British Empire

In 1526, the Afghan dynasty of the Lodis was defeated at Panipat by Zahir-ud-din Muhammad (Babur, 1483–1530), a commander of Turkish-Mongol origins, and the founder of the great Mughal dynasty (1526–1858). Within a few years, Babur was able to create a large empire over the northern territories of the Indian subcontinent, Punjab included. During the reign of Akbar the Great (1542–1605), the territories of Punjab were divided among the subas (provinces) of Delhi, Multan, and Lahore, considered the prominent city of the region. Under Mughal power, the region enjoyed a long period of economic prosperity, artistic and architectural enrichment, and political stability.

However, during the first half of the eighteenth century, the declining Mughal power was unable to defend northwest India from the raids and attacks coming from Afghanistan. In 1747, Lahore itself fell under control of Ahmad Shah Durrani (1722–1773), the first emir of Afghanistan. His ephemeral empire over Punjab was challenged by the growing power of the Sikhs, a militant religious sect. Although disastrously defeated by Ahmad Shah in 1762, the Sikhs rapidly recovered their military force, challenging the power of both the Hindu confederation of the Marathas in north central India and the Afghans to the west.

When the former were crushed by the rising British power and the latter weakened by their intertribal feuds, the Sikhs emerged as the main political and military power in Punjab, especially under Ranjit Singh (1781–1839), the so-called Lion of Punjab. His army of 100,000 men—called khalsa (the army of the pure)— represented a powerful challenge even for the British, who entered into treaty relations with Singh in 1809. After his death, however, internal rivalries among the numerous heirs and antagonists for the throne shattered Sikh unity and worsened relations with the British. Two bloody wars broke out in 1845–1846 and in 1848–1849; British victories over the Sikhs led to their annexation of Punjab in 1849.

Under British rule, Punjab rapidly became the main recruitment center for the India Army. The British supported the expansion of irrigated agriculture as a means of social and political stability, since this policy favored landlords and rural traditional authorities. With the gradual introduction of some sort of representation through assemblies and councils (for example, the Provincial Assembly created in 1937), the British colonial administration left the urban, more politicized communities almost deprived of power and political representation, allocating to the rural elite an exaggerated level of political visibility.

Until World War II, the main political party was therefore the Unionist Party, strongly linked with Muslim and Hindu landowners. With the outbreak of the conflict and the signals of an end to British rule over India, however, the Muslim League of Mohammed Ali Jinnah (1876–1948)—who championed the idea of a separate state, named Pakistan, for the Muslims of the Indian subcontinent—became the main party. Similarly to the rest of the country, the end of the British period saw the outbreak of ethnic and religious violence among the different local communities of Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs—the latter suffered (in percentage terms) the highest casualties.

On 15 August 1947, the Partition of the Indian subcontinent created two states: India and Pakistan. Punjab was divided between them.

The Contemporary Period

According to the so-called 3 June plan for the partition of the Indian territories, Punjab was divided between Pakistan and India, with a boundary line that crossed the region between the cities of Amritsar (in India) and Lahore (in Pakistan). Dominant cultural-religious communities present at that time in Punjab were the Muslims and the Hindus; there was a small Christian Punjabi community, too. But the real peculiarity of the region was the presence of the Sikhs, a syncretistic sect founded at the beginning of the sixteenth century. During the eighteenth century they became a military power, conquering Kashmir and Punjab. Defeated by the British (1845–1849), the Sikhs remained an important minority, separated by both the Muslims and the Hindus. The only possibility for them was to migrate from the territories given to Pakistan toward the new Indian state of Punjab (in 1981 they represented more than 60 percent of the total population).

In Pakistan, Punjab represents the second-largest province (about 205,000 square kilometers), but it is the most densely populated, with more than 50 percent of the total population and also the more industrialized, though agriculture is still the first source of income. At present, the population is almost completely Muslim. The Punjabi are the political, administrative, and military elite of the country, a predominance that has negatively affected their relations with the other Pakistani ethnic groups (Sindhi, Baluchi, Pashtun/Pathans, Bengali until 1971) during these decades.

Inside the Indian Union, the region of Punjab (about 100,000 square kilometers) has seen several administrative reorganizations, which have attempted to divide it according to cultural and linguistic differences. Besides the state of Punjab (where the majority of the Sikhs are settled), the states of Haryana (Hindi-speaking) and mountainous Himachal Pradesh have been created within the region.