Punjabi is an Indo-Aryan language with more than 125 million native speakers in the Indian subcontinent and around the world. It is the native language of the Punjabi people, an ethnolinguistic group of the cultural region of Punjab, which encompasses northwest India and eastern Pakistan.
The Punjabis or 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 Punjab, India and Punjab, Pakistan. They speak Punjabi, a language from the Indo-Aryan language family. The name Punjab literally means the land of five waters in Persian: panj ("five") āb ("waters"). The name of the region was introduced by the Turko-Persian conquerors of the Indian subcontinent. The historical Punjab region is often referred to as the breadbasket in both India and Pakistan.
After Independence, the Punjab state was no longer existed, it was now just a bunch of principalities. During, this time the Indian states were reformed on linguistic basis, but the same was not done for these remaining northern states. The only way to bring back the Punjab state, was to demand a state on linguistic basis. The Indian Govt. denied this linguistic recognition to Punjab. Hence, the Punjabi Suba movement was launched, its goal was the creation of a Punjabi-language subah ("province") in the erstwhile East Punjab state of India in the 1950s. Led by the Akali Dal, it resulted in the formation of the Punjabi-language Punjab state, the Haryanvi-Hindi-majority Haryana state and the Union Territory of Chandigarh. Some Pahari majority parts of the East Punjab were also merged with Himachal Pradesh as a result of the movement. This act of the Govt. was highly criticised by the Punjabi's, as the language-based voting process was tampered with and many Punjabi speaking areas were kept out of the newly formed Punjab State.
The Sikh Empire was a state originating in the Indian subcontinent, formed under the leadership of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, who established a secular empire based in the Punjab. The empire existed from 1799, when Ranjit Singh captured Lahore, to 1849 and was forged on the foundations of the Khalsa from a collection of autonomous Sikh misls. At its peak in the 19th century, the Empire extended from the Khyber Pass in the west to western Tibet in the east, and from Mithankot in the south to Kashmir in the north. Religiously diverse, with an estimated population of 3.5 million in 1831, it was the last major region of the Indian subcontinent to be annexed by the British.
Punjabi University is a state university located in Patiala, Punjab, India. It was established on the 30 April 1962, and is only the second university in the world to be named after a language, after Hebrew University of Israel. Originally it was conceived as a unitary multi-faculty teaching and research university, primarily meant for the development and enrichment of Punjabi language and culture, but alive to the social and education requirements of the state.
Giani Gurdit Singh was born in Mithewal village in the state of Punjab, India. He was considered one of the greatest contemporary writers in Punjabi and his book Mera Pind is regarded as a classic. It is now in its 14th edition and has been in print continuously since 1961. He was also a pioneering journalist, the Owner-Editor of Parkash 1947–1978. He was also the Editor of Singh Sabha Patrika a monthly magazine of Sikh history and divinity. Giani Gurdit Singh graduated as "Giani" from Punjab University, Lahore in 1945 and he specialised in literature, divinity, history and folklore. He was a member of the Punjab Legislative Council from 1956 to 1962. He contributed to the debates at that time and in the creation of Punjabi University, Patiala and in the recognition of Takht Sri Damdama Sahib, Talwandi Sabo, as the 5th Takht of the Sikhs. He was General Secretary of the Singh Sabha Shatabadi Committee, Amritsar, which was renamed Kendriya Sri Guru Singh Sabha. As the Editor of the magazine Singh Sabha Patrika he focused on issues of importance to the Sikhs. He also established two Guru Granth Vidya Kendras, one in Chandigarh and another in Mehrauli, Delhi.
The Sikhs are adherents to Sikhism the fifth largest organized religion in the world, with around 27 million adherents. Sikh History is around 500 years and in that time the Sikhs have developed unique expressions of art and culture which are influenced by their faith and synthesize traditions from many other cultures. Sikhism is Punjab's only indigenous religion with all other religions coming from outside Punjab. All the Sikh gurus, saints and majority of the martyrs in Sikh history were from Punjab and from the Punjabi people. Punjabi culture and Sikhism are considered inseparably intertwined. "Sikh" properly refers to adherents of Sikhism as a religion, not an ethnic group. However, because Sikhism has seldom sought converts, most Sikhs share strong ethno-religious ties. Many countries, such as the U.K., therefore recognize Sikh as a designated ethnicity on their censuses. The American non-profit organization United Sikhs has fought to have Sikh included on the U.S. census as well, arguing that Sikhs "self-identify as an 'ethnic minority'" and believe "that they are more than just a religion".
Guru Shabad Ratnakar Mahan Kosh, known by its more popular name of Mahan Kosh, is a Punjabi language encyclopedia which was compiled by Bhai Kahn Singh Nabha over fourteen years. It was the first Punjabi encyclopedia, it contains more than 70,000 words, some of them has sufficient reference from Guru Granth Sahib, Dasam Granth, Gur Pratap Suraj Granth and from other Sikhism books. It is considered a groundbreaking work in terms of its impact and its level of scholarship.
Harjinder Singh Dilgeer is considered an authority on Sikh history, Gurbani and philosophy. He is the only author who has written Complete History of the Sikhs and has translated Guru Granth Sahib in English and has published DILGEER KOSH Encyclopedia of Sikh literature and Punjab & Sikh History. He has written in detail about the concept and the history of Akal Takht Sahib, Sikh culture, Shiromani Akali Dal, the history of Anandpur Sahib, and Kiratpur Sahib, Dictionary of Sikh Philosophy etc. The Sikh Reference Book is his magnum opus. 'The Sikh Reference Book' is an encyclopaedia consisting of more than 2400 biographies, complete chronology of Sikh history, 400 concepts of Sikh philosophy as well more than 800 Sikh shrines. He has produced a Sikh Encyclopaedia CD-ROM. His latest works are Encyclopaedia of Jalandhar (English), Banda Singh Bahadur, Sikh Twareekh in five volumes, Sikh History in ten volumes ; and English translations of Nitnaym and Sukhmani Sahib.. His latest work is English translation of Guru Granth Sahib, in seven volumes.
Punjab is a state in northern India. Forming part of the larger Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, the state is bordered by the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir to the north, and Indian states of Himachal Pradesh to the east, Haryana to the south and southeast, and Rajasthan to the southwest. It is bordered by the Pakistani province of Punjab to the west. The state covers an area of 50,362 square kilometres, 1.53% of India's total geographical area. It is the 20th-largest Indian state by area. With 27,704,236 inhabitants at the 2011 census, Punjab is the 16th-largest state by population, comprising 22 districts. Punjabi is the most widely spoken and official language of the state. The main ethnic group are the Punjabis, with Sikhs (58%) and Hindus (38%). The state capital is Chandigarh, a Union Territory and also the capital of the neighbouring state of Haryana. The five tributary rivers of the Indus River from which the region took its name are Sutlej, Ravi, Beas, Chenab and Jhelum Rivers; Sutlej, Ravi and Beas are part of the Indian Punjab.
Professor Puran Singh (1881–1931) was a Punjabi poet, scientist and mystic. Born in Abbottabad, now in Pakistan, in an Ahluwalia family, he is acclaimed as one of the founders of modern Punjabi poetry. He passed his matriculation examination at the Mission High School Rawalpindi in 1897 and, after obtaining a scholarship for the years 1900 to 1903, obtained a degree in Industrial Chemistry from Tokyo University in Pharmaceutical Sciences. Though a born Sikh he became a Buddhist Bhikshu and a sanyasi under influence of Ukakura a Japanese Buddhist monk and Swami Ramtirath respectively before he finally got settled as a Sikh mystic when he came under influence of Bhai Vir Singh during a Sikh Educational Conference meeting at Sialkot in 1912.
The Panjab Digital Library is a voluntary organization digitizing and preserving the cultural heritage of Panjab since 2003. With over 23 million digitized pages, it is the biggest resource of digital material on Panjab. There are many historically significant documents stored and made available online. Its scope covers Sikh and Punjabi culture. The library funded by The Nanakshahi Trust was launched online in August 2009. Its base office is located at Chandigarh.
Roopinder Singh is an Indian journalist and author. He is Senior Associate Editor with the English daily newspaper, The Tribune, published from Chandigarh, India. His specialization is Sikh history and culture, information technology, and education. He is the author of five major books in English, including a critically acclaimed volume on the founder of Sikh religion, Guru Nanak Dev, and a volume on Sikh heritage. He lives in Chandigarh, Punjab.
Harbans Singh was an educationist, administrator, scholar and the editor-in-chief of the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism. He was respected for his contributions to Sikh scholarship and Punjabi literary studies and had a vital and pervasive influence in the field of religious studies, with special reference to Sikhism.
Dr. Ganda Singh was a Punjabi historian and Padma Bhushan awardee. In addition to scores of research papers, booklets and pamphlets, he published over two dozen full-length volumes of historical value.
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) is an Indian state political party in Punjab, India. Although, there are many parties with the name Akali Dal but the party recognised as "Shiromani Akali Dal" by the Election Commission of India is the one led by Sukhbir Singh Badal. It controls Sikh religious bodies Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee, Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee and is the largest and most influential Sikh political party worldwide. The basic philosophy of Akali Dal was to give a political voice to Sikh issues and it believed that religion and politics go hand in hand but after 1996 Moga Conference party adopted moderate Punjabi secular agenda. Shiromani Akali Dal is part of the BJP led NDA.
This article refers to the ideology that asserts Punjabi cultural solidarity. For the militant separatist movement aimed at creating an independent Sikh country, see Khalistan.
Kirpal Singh Narang was an Indian historian, educationist and the vice-chancellor of Punjabi University. He was the second in line of the vice-chancellors of the university (1966–75) and the longest serving among them. Born on 12 April 1912 in Amritsar in Punjab of the British India, he published several books on the history of Punjab and Sikhs, which included four volumes of Punjab history and a book on Islam. The Government of India awarded him the third highest civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan, in 1975, for his contributions to education and literature.
Khem Singh Bedi KCIE claims he was a direct descendant of Guru Nanak, a leader, founder of the Singh Sabha in 1873, and a Sanatan Sikh who believed there were no essential differences between Sikhs and Hindus. It instituted many charitable causes for Sikhs, was a landowner and politician in the Punjab during the British Raj.
