Total population | |
---|---|
211,641 (2017) 0.2% of total Province population | |
Religions | |
Hinduism (majority) Nanakpanthi and Kalash | |
Scriptures | |
Bhagavad Gita, and Vedas Guru Granth Sahib (only by Nanakpanthi ) | |
Languages | |
Sanskrit (sacred) Punjabi, Marwari, Saraiki [1] Hindi, Urdu and other languages (minority) |
Hinduism is a minority religion in Punjab province of Pakistan followed by about 0.2% of its population. Punjab has the second largest number of Hindus in Pakistan after Sindh. [2] Hinduism is followed mainly in the Southern Punjab districts of Rahim Yar Khan and Bahawalpur. [3]
Hinduism has a strong historical presence in Punjab with many mandirs, shrines (samadhis), alongside various religious traditions and texts that were developed in the region. According to the 1941 census, Punjabi Hindus constituted approximately 13.7 percent of the population in the region that comprises the contemporary state of Punjab, Pakistan. [lower-alpha 1] With violence and religious cleansing accompanying the partition of India in 1947, the vast majority departed the region en masse, primarily migrating eastward to Delhi and the region of Punjab that would fall on the eastern side of the Radcliffe Line, in the contemporary Indian states of Punjab, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh.
Year | Pop. | ±% p.a. |
---|---|---|
1881 | 1,449,913 | — |
1901 | 1,944,363 | +1.48% |
1911 | 1,645,758 | −1.65% |
1921 | 1,797,141 | +0.88% |
1931 | 1,957,878 | +0.86% |
1941 | 2,373,466 | +1.94% |
1951 | 33,052 | −34.78% |
1998 | 116,410 | +2.72% |
2017 | 211,641 | +3.20% |
Source: [lower-alpha 2] [lower-alpha 3] [lower-alpha 4] [lower-alpha 5] [lower-alpha 6] [lower-alpha 1] [13] : 12–21 [14] [15] Census of India, Census of Pakistan |
Hinduism is the oldest recorded religion practiced by the Punjabi people. [16] The Rig Veda, the oldest and most sacred Hindu text, is believed to have been composed in the Punjab region of modern-day Pakistan (and India) on the banks of the Indus River around 1500 BCE. [17] The Punjab region also features heavily in the Mahabharata. [18] [19] According to Hindu religious texts, Multan was founded by the Hindu sage Kashyapa [20] and also asserts Multan as the capital of the Trigarta Kingdom ruled by the Katoch dynasty at the time of the Kurukshetra War that is central the Hindu epic poem, the Mahabharata . [21] [22] [23] Historically, the Punjabi Hindus and Saraiki Hindus followed mainly a Brahminical form of Hinduism. [24] The Prahladpuri Temple in Multan is believed to be constructed by Prahlada in honor of Narasimha. [25] Most of the Hindus in Punjab once also had also influence of Sikhism on their culture and lifestyle. Nanakpanthis are the Hindus who follows the teaching of Sikh guru, Guru Nanak. [26]
By the early 20th century, Western Punjab (present-day Punjab, Pakistan) had a Punjabi Muslim majority population (primarily supporting the Muslim League and Pakistan Movement) but also included significant Punjabi Hindu and Punjabi Sikh minority populations.
According to the 1941 census, Punjabi Hindus constituted approximately 13.7 percent of the population in the region that comprises the contemporary state of Punjab, Pakistan, numbering around 2.4 million persons. [lower-alpha 1] Following the partition of Punjab, according to the 1951 census, the Hindu population declined to 33,052 persons or 0.2 percent due to religious cleansing violence alongside large-scale mass migration and population transfer to East Punjab, India and Delhi in the violent events of partition of India. [13] : 12–21
With the formation of independent Pakistan and India during the partition of India in 1947, approximately 3 million Punjabi Hindus migrated to India. [27] [28] [29]
District or Princely State | 1881 [4] [5] [6] [30] | 1901 [7] : 34 [31] : 62 | 1911 [8] : 27 [9] : 27 | 1921 [10] : 29 | 1931 [11] : 277 | 1941 [12] : 42 | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pop. | % | Pop. | % | Pop. | % | Pop. | % | Pop. | % | Pop. | % | |
Sialkot District | 299,311 | 29.57% | 302,012 | 27.86% | 242,325 | 24.74% | 217,912 | 23.24% | 206,421 | 21.07% | 231,319 | 19.43% |
Lahore District | 193,319 | 20.92% | 276,375 | 23.78% | 217,609 | 21% | 255,690 | 22.6% | 259,725 | 18.84% | 284,689 | 16.79% |
Gujranwala District | 127,322 | 20.64% | 169,594 | 22.41% | 176,075 | 19.07% | 101,566 | 16.29% | 92,764 | 12.6% | 108,115 | 11.85% |
Multan District | 112,001 | 20.29% | 133,560 | 18.79% | 126,603 | 15.54% | 134,013 | 15.05% | 182,029 | 15.49% | 249,872 | 16.83% |
Shakargarh Tehsil [lower-alpha 7] | 109,241 | 49.77% | 111,819 | 47.69% | 93,052 | 44.22% | 90,645 | 42.59% | 101,318 | 40.96% | 116,553 | 39.98% |
Bahawalpur State | 91,272 | 15.92% | 114,670 | 15.91% | 109,548 | 14.03% | 114,621 | 14.67% | 149,454 | 15.18% | 174,408 | 13% |
Rawalpindi District | 86,162 | 10.5% | 86,269 | 9.27% | 48,449 | 8.84% | 57,185 | 10.05% | 59,485 | 9.38% | 82,478 | 10.5% |
Montgomery District | 83,974 | 19.69% | 109,945 | 23.72% | 66,803 | 12.48% | 94,791 | 13.28% | 136,783 | 13.68% | 210,966 | 15.87% |
Gujrat District | 72,450 | 10.51% | 69,346 | 9.24% | 49,430 | 6.63% | 62,529 | 7.59% | 73,356 | 7.95% | 84,643 | 7.66% |
Jhang District | 64,892 | 16.42% | 79,650 | 21.03% | 73,426 | 14.24% | 85,339 | 14.96% | 102,990 | 15.49% | 129,889 | 15.81% |
Jhelum District | 60,949 | 10.34% | 51,801 | 8.72% | 34,261 | 6.7% | 34,837 | 7.3% | 36,068 | 6.67% | 40,888 | 6.49% |
Shahpur District | 59,026 | 14% | 68,489 | 13.06% | 72,695 | 10.58% | 82,182 | 11.42% | 90,561 | 11.02% | 102,172 | 10.23% |
Dera Ghazi Khan District | 46,697 | 12.85% | 57,815 | 12.27% | 56,485 | 11.3% | 56,346 | 12.01% | 57,217 | 11.65% | 67,407 | 11.59% |
Muzaffargarh District | 43,297 | 12.79% | 52,221 | 12.87% | 68,158 | 11.97% | 69,878 | 12.29% | 72,577 | 12.27% | 90,643 | 12.72% |
Lyallpur District [lower-alpha 8] | — | — | 210,459 | 26.58% | 154,603 | 18.03% | 181,488 | 18.53% | 173,344 | 15.06% | 204,059 | 14.61% |
Mianwali District | — | — | 50,202 | 11.82% | 36,326 | 10.64% | 45,974 | 12.83% | 49,794 | 12.1% | 62,814 | 12.41% |
Biloch Trans–Frontier Tract | — | — | 136 | 0.56% | 169 | 0.59% | 180 | 0.67% | 173 | 0.58% | 160 | 0.4% |
Attock District [lower-alpha 9] | — | — | — | — | 19,741 | 3.8% | 26,184 | 5.11% | 31,932 | 5.47% | 43,209 | 6.39% |
Sheikhupura District [lower-alpha 10] | — | — | — | — | — | — | 85,781 | 16.4% | 81,887 | 11.75% | 89,182 | 10.46% |
Total Hindus | 1,449,913 | 18.26% | 1,944,363 | 18.65% | 1,645,758 | 14.82% | 1,797,141 | 15.12% | 1,957,878 | 13.94% | 2,373,466 | 13.68% |
Total Population | 7,942,399 | 100% | 10,427,765 | 100% | 11,104,585 | 100% | 11,888,985 | 100% | 14,040,798 | 100% | 17,350,103 | 100% |
According to the 2017 Census, Hinduism is followed by 0.19% of the population or about 2 lakh people including 11,000 scheduled of caste Hindus. [2] However according to the Pakistan Hindu Council, there are 349,230 Hindus in Punjab. [32]
According to estimates in religious minorities in Pakistan's elections, there are above 50,000 or more in 11 districts in Pakistan. All of these are in Sindh except the Rahim Yar Khan District in Punjab and is the only district in Punjab with more than 2% of its population as Hindu. [33]
About 90% of the Hindus in Punjab province live in Rahim Yar Khan and Bahawalpur. [34]
Districts of Punjab | Percentage of Hindus | Population |
---|---|---|
Rahim Yar Khan | 3.12% | 150,002 |
Bahawalpur | 1.12% | 41,094 |
Other districts | - | 20,545 |
Hindus in Punjab is mainly concentrated in the Southern Punjab districts. According to a study, the majority (86.5%) of the scheduled caste Hindus in Southern Punjab have experienced discrimination. The study found that majority (i.e 91.5%) of the respondents in Rahimyar Khan districts believed that political parties are not giving importance to them. [35] In Central Punjab, the population of Hindus are very low, so many of the Hindus have married Sikhs and vice versa. Intermarriages between the Hindus and Sikh community are very common there. [36] The Forced conversion of Hindu girls are a problem faced by the Hindu community. According to a report by Minority Rights Commission, the number of forced conversions and forced marriages increasing in South Punjab, particularly the Rahim Yar Khan District and adjacent areas. [37]
Hindu marriages in Punjab are registered under the Hindu marriage act of 2017. [38] [39]
Punjab Assembly has eight reserved seats for non-Muslims and most of them are Christians. [33] In 1997, the Seth Bharta Ram became the first Hindu to be elected to the minority reserved seat in Punjab Provincial assembly. It was only after 16 years, another Hindu member Kanji Ram was elected to the provincial assembly. [40] [41] Currently there are no Hindu member in the 17th Punjab provincial assembly.
Hindus form a significant electoral role in the assembly seats of Rahim Yar Khan District. [33]
There are many temples in the Punjab and mainly of them served as a worship place for multi-religious community. The notable of them includes:
Punjab, historically known as Pentapotamia or Panchanada, is a historical, geopolitical, ethnolinguistic and cultural region in the northwestern part of South Asia, along the five major eastern tributaries of the Indus River in the Indian Subcontinent. The region is divided between modern-day eastern-Pakistan and northwestern-India.
Punjab is a province of Pakistan. Located in central-eastern region of the country, Punjab is the second-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the largest by population. Lahore is the capital and the largest city of the province. Other major cities include Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala and Multan.
Bahawalpur is a city in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is one of the ten largest cities of Pakistan and 6th most populous city of Punjab. Bahawalpur is the capital of Bahawalpur Division.
Gujranwala is a city and capital of Gujranwala Division located in Pakistan. It is also known as "City of Wrestlers" and is quite famous for its food. It is the 5th most populous city proper after Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad and Rawalpindi respectively. Founded in the 18th century, Gujranwala is a relatively modern town compared to the many nearby millennia-old cities of northern Punjab. The city served as the capital of the Sukerchakia Misl state between 1763 and 1799, and is the birthplace of the founder of the Sikh Empire, Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
West Punjab was a province in the Dominion of Pakistan from 1947 to 1955. It was established from the western-half of British Punjab, following the independence of Pakistan. The province covered an area of 159,344 km sq, including much of the current Punjab province and the Islamabad Capital Territory, but excluding the former Princely state of Bahawalpur. Lahore, being the largest city and the cultural centre, served as the capital of the province. The province was composed of four divisions and was bordered by the state of Bahawalpur to the south-east, the province of Baluchistan to the south-west and Sind to the south, North-West Frontier Province to the north-west, and Azad Jammu and Kashmir to the north. It shared International border with Indian state of East Punjab to the east and Indian-administered Jammu & Kashmir to the north-east. It was dissolved and merged into West Pakistan upon creation of One Unit Scheme, in 1955.
Gurdaspur district is a district in the Majha region of the state of Punjab, India. Gurdaspur is the district headquarters. It internationally borders Narowal District of Pakistani Punjab, and the districts of Amritsar, Pathankot, Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur. Two main rivers Beas and Ravi passes through the district. The Mughal emperor Akbar is said to have been enthroned in a garden near Kalanaur, a historically important town in the district. The district is at the foothills of the Himalayas.
Jhang is the capital city of Jhang District in central Punjab, Pakistan. Situated on the east bank of the Chenab river, it is the 18th largest city of Pakistan by population.
The Punjab Province was a province of British India. Most of the Punjab region was annexed by the British East India Company on 29 March 1849; it was one of the last areas of the Indian subcontinent to fall under British control. In 1858, the Punjab, along with the rest of British India, came under the rule of the British Crown. It had a land area of 358,355 square kilometers.
Sialkot District, is one of the districts of the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is located in the Majha region of Punjab, otherwise the northeast of the province. The city of Sialkot is the capital of the district. The Sialkot Cantonment was established in 1852.
East Punjab was a province of India from 1947 until 1950. It consisted parts of the Punjab province that remained in India following the partition of the province between the new dominions of Pakistan and the Indian Union by the Radcliffe Commission in 1947. The mostly Muslim western parts of the old Punjab became Pakistan's West Punjab, later renamed as Punjab Province, while the mostly Hindu and Sikh eastern parts remained with India.
Sikhism in Pakistan has an extensive heritage and history, although Sikhs form a small community in Pakistan today. Most Sikhs live in the province of Punjab, a part of the larger Punjab region where the religion originated in the Middle Ages, with some also residing in Peshawar in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. Nankana Sahib, the birthplace of Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, is located in Pakistan's Punjab province. Moreover, the place where Guru Nanak died, the Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib is also located in the same province.
The official religion of Pakistan is Islam, as enshrined by Article 2 of the Constitution, and is practised by approximately 96.47% of the country's population. The remaining 3.53% practice Hinduism, Christianity, Ahmadiyya Islam, Sikhism and other religions.
Majha is a region located in the central parts of the historical Punjab region, currently split between the republics of India and Pakistan. It extends north from the right banks of the river Beas, and reaches as far north as the river Jhelum. People of the Majha region are given the demonym "Mājhī" or "Majhail". Most inhabitants of the region speak the Majhi dialect, which is the basis of the standard register of the Punjabi language. The most populous city in the area is Lahore on the Pakistani side, and Amritsar on the Indian side of the border.
Shakargarh, is a tehsil located in Narowal District, Punjab, Pakistan. Shakargarh was the only tehsil of Gurdaspur district which was included in Pakistan at the time of the independence in 1947. The literacy rate of Shakargarh is more than 97.6%, the highest in Pakistan. Pakistan Standard Time is referenced from Shakargarh.
Punjab is home to 2.3% of India's population; with a density of 551 persons per km2. According to the provisional results of the 2011 national census, Punjab has a population of 27,743,338, making it the 16th most populated state in India. Of which male and female are 14,639,465 and 13,103,873 respectively. 32% of Punjab's population consists of Dalits. In the state, the rate of population growth is 13.9% (2011), lower than national average. Out of total population, 37.5% people live in urban regions. The total figure of population living in urban areas is 10,399,146 of which 5,545,989 are males and while remaining 4,853,157 are females. The urban population in the last 10 years has increased by 37.5%. According to the 2011 Census of India, Punjab, India has a population of around 27.7 million.
Religion in the Punjab in ancient history was characterized by Hinduism and later conversions to Jainism, Buddhism, Islam, Sikhism and Christianity; it also includes folk practices common to all Punjabis regardless of the religion they adhere to. Such practices incorporate local mysticism, including ancestral worship and worship of local saints of all faiths.
Islam is a minority religion in Punjab, India followed by 535,489 people constituting about 1.93 percent of the state population out of 27.7 million population as of 2011 census report.
Hinduism is the oldest of the religions practiced by the Punjabis
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