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{{Short description|Ethnolinguistic group native to Punjab}}
{{cleanup|date=December 2010}}
{{About|an ethnic group|their language|Punjabi language|the geographical Punjabi region|Punjab|other uses|Punjabi (disambiguation)}}
{{infobox ethnic group|
{{pp|small=yes}}
|group= ਪੰਜਾਬੀ Punjabis پنجابیوں पंजाबियों
{{pp-move-indef}}
|image = [[File:Har_Gobind_Khorana_nobel.jpg|75px]][[File:Amrita_Pritam_(1919_%E2%80%93_2005)_,_in_1948.jpg|75px]][[File:Sikh Gurus with Bhai Bala and Bhai Mardana.jpg|75px]][[File:Vinod_Dham.jpg|75px]][[File:Nusrat_Magic_Moments.jpg|75px]][[File:Wasim Akram.jpg|75px]][[File:RanjitSingh by ManuSaluja.jpg|75px]][[File:Amrita_Sher-Gil,_painter,_(1913-1941).jpg|75px]][[File:BullehShah.jpg|75px]] [[File:Bhagat_Singh_1929_140x190.jpg|75px]] [[File:Gulzar_2008_-_still_38227.jpg|75px]][[File:Abdus_salam.gif|75px]][[File:Mittal.jpg|75px]][[File:Manmohansingh04052007.jpg|75px]][[File:Kalpana_Chawla,_NASA_photo_portrait_in_orange_suit.jpg|75px]][[File:Amir_Khan.jpg|75px]][[File:Gama1916.jpg|75px]][[File:Mishal_Husain.jpg|75px]][[File:Alexander in Punjab.jpg|175px]]
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2023}}
{{EngvarB|date=November 2023}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group = Punjabis
| native_name = {{hlist|{{lang|pnb|ਪੰਜਾਬੀ}}|{{lang|pa|{{Nastaliq|پنجابی}}}}}}
| native_name_lang =
| image =
| image_caption =
| population = {{Circa|150 million|lk=yes}}<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.worlddata.info/languages/punjabi.php#:~:text=The%20Punjabi%20language%20(native%20name,Punjabi%20as%20their%20mother%20tongue. | title=Punjabi - Worldwide distribution }}</ref><ref name="e21|pnb">{{e21|pnb}}</ref><ref name="Census2011"/><ref>{{cite web |title= Pakistan Census 2017 |url= https://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files//population_census/census_2017_tables/pakistan/Table11n.pdf |website=www.pbs.pk |access-date=20 September 2020}}</ref>
| regions =
| region1 = {{flag|Pakistan}}
| pop1 = 112,806,516 (2024){{efn|name="PakistanPunjabiPopulation"|Punjabis comprise 44.7% (112,806,516) of Pakistan's total population of 252,363,571 per 2024 estimate by the World Factbook.<ref name="cia.gov">{{cite web |title=South Asia :: Pakistan — The World Fact book - Central Intelligence Agency |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/pakistan/ |website=www.cia.gov |access-date=23 June 2024}}</ref>}}<ref name="WorldAtlas">{{Cite web|url=https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/ethnic-groups-in-pakistan.html | title=Ethnic Groups in Pakistan|website=Worldatlas.com| date=30 July 2019|quote=Punjabi people are the ethnic majority in the Punjab region of Pakistan and Northern India accounting for 44.7% of the population in Pakistan.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title= Pakistan Census 2017 |url=https://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files//population_census/census_2017_tables/pakistan/Table11n.pdf |website=www.pbs.pk |access-date=20 September 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.worlddata.info/languages/punjabi.php | title=Punjabi - Worldwide distribution }}</ref>
| region2 = {{flag|India}}
| pop2 = 38,046,464 (2024){{efn|Punjabis comprise 2.7% (38,046,464) of India's total population of 1,409,128,296 per 2024 estimate by the World Factbook.<ref name="cia.govIN">{{cite web |title=South Asia :: India — The World Fact book - Central Intelligence Agency |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/india/#people-and-society |website=www.cia.gov |access-date=23 June 2024}}</ref>}}<ref name="Census2011">{{cite web |title=Abstract Of Speakers' Strength Of Languages And Mother Tongues - 2011 |url=http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011Census/Language-2011/Statement-1.pdf |publisher=[[Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India]] |access-date=12 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220220172325/https://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011Census/Language-2011/Statement-1.pdf |archive-date=20 February 2022}}</ref>{{efn|This figure comprises speakers of the [[Punjabi language]] in India. Ethnic Punjabis who no longer speak the language are not included in this number.}}<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.worlddata.info/languages/punjabi.php#:~:text=The%20Punjabi%20language%20(native%20name,Punjabi%20as%20their%20mother%20tongue | title=Punjabi - Worldwide distribution |access-date=April 20, 2024}}</ref>
| region3 = {{flag|Canada}}
| pop3 = 942,170 (2021)<ref name="punjabicanada2021">{{Cite web |last=Government of Canada |first=Statistics Canada |date=17 August 2022 |title=Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population Profile table Canada [Country] |url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?LANG=E&GENDERlist=1,2,3&STATISTIClist=1,4&DGUIDlist=2021A000011124&HEADERlist=,15,13,18,12,16,14,17&SearchText=Canada |access-date=18 August 2022 |website=www12.statcan.gc.ca}}</ref>{{efn|name=canada|Statistic includes all speakers of the [[Punjabi language]], as many [[Immigrant generations|multi-generation]] individuals do not speak the language as a [[Mother-tongue|mother tongue]], but instead as a [[Second language|second]] or [[Third language acquisition|third language]].}}
| region4 = {{flag|United Kingdom}}
| pop4 = 700,000 (2006)<ref name="HC">{{cite web|url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200607/cmhansrd/cm061205/halltext/61205h0001.htm|title=Punjabi Community|first=John|last=McDonnell|work=House of Commons|date=5 December 2006|access-date=3 August 2016|quote=We now estimate the Punjabi community at about 700,000, with Punjabi established as the second language certainly in London and possibly within the United Kingdom.}}</ref>
| region5 = {{flag|United States}}
| pop5 = 253,740<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www2.census.gov/library/data/tables/2008/demo/language-use/2009-2013-acs-lang-tables-nation.xls|title=US Census Bureau ''American Community Survey (2009-2013)'' See Row #62|website=2.census.gov}}</ref>
| region6 = {{flag|Australia}}
| pop6 = 132,496 (2017)<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/2071.0~2016~Main%20Features~Cultural%20Diversity%20Article~20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170709233002/http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/2071.0~2016~Main%20Features~Cultural%20Diversity%20Article~20|url-status=dead|title=Top ten languages spoken at home in Australia|archive-date=9 July 2017}}</ref>
| region7 = {{flag|Malaysia}}
| pop7 = 56,400 (2019)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ethnologue.com/country/MY|title=Malaysia|website=Ethnologue.com|access-date=28 July 2019}}</ref>
| region9 = {{flag|Philippines}}
| pop9 = 50,000 (2016)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/punjabi-community-money-lending-philippines-president-rodrigo-duterte-2806212/|title=Punjabi community involved in money lending in Philippines braces for 'crackdown' by new President|date=18 May 2016}}</ref>
| region10 = {{flag|New Zealand}}
| pop10 = 34,227 (2018)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.stats.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/2018-Census-totals-by-topic/Download-data/2018-census-totals-by-topic-national-highlights.xlsx|title=New Zealand|website=Stats New Zealand|access-date=24 September 2019}}</ref>
| region11 = {{flag|Norway}}
| pop11 = 24,000 (2013)<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=27JOMobauYAC|title=Encyclopedia of Linguistics|first=Philipp|last=Strazny|date=1 February 2013|publisher=Routledge|via=Google Books|isbn=978-1-135-45522-4}}</ref>
| region12 = {{flag|Bangladesh}}
| pop12 = 23,700 (2019)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ethnologue.com/country/BD|title=Bangladesh|website=Ethnologue.com|access-date=28 July 2019}}</ref>
| region13 = {{flag|Germany}}
| pop13 = 18,000 (2020)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.remid.de/info_zahlen/verschiedene|title=Deutsche Informationszentrum für Sikhreligion, Sikhgeschichte, Kultur und Wissenschaft (DISR)|website=remid.de|access-date=3 January 2020}}</ref>
| region14 = {{flag|Nepal}}
| pop14 = 10,000 (2011)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/sources/census/wphc/Nepal/Nepal-Census-2011-Vol1.pdf|title=National Population and Housing Census 2011 |website=Unstats.unorg|access-date=29 July 2019}}</ref>
| region15 = Others
| pop15 = See [[Punjabi diaspora]]
| langs = {{small|'''[[First language|L1]]'''}}: [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]] and its [[Punjabi dialects|dialects]]<br/>{{small|'''[[Second language|L2]]'''}}: [[Urdu]] {{small|(in Pakistan)}} and [[Hindi]] and other [[Languages of India|Indian languages]] {{small|(in India)}}
| religions = '''Majority''' <br/>[[File:Star and Crescent.svg|18px]] [[Punjabi Muslims|Islam]] <br/>'''Minority''' <br/> [[File:Khanda.svg|15px]] [[Sikhism]] • [[File:Om.svg|15px]] [[Punjabi Hindus|Hinduism]] (incl. [[Nanakpanthi]]s) • [[File:Christian cross.svg|12px]] [[Punjabi Christians|Christianity]] • [[File:HarrNishaan.png|30px]] [[Ravidassia]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jacobsen |first1=Knut A. |last2=Myrvold |first2=Kristina |title=Sikhs in Europe: Migration, Identities and Representations |date=2011 |publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. |isbn=978-1-4094-2434-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y3v3t9bjPAcC&pg=PA290 |access-date=19 May 2024 |language=en}}</ref><br/><br/>
'''[[Punjab, Pakistan|Pakistani Punjab]]''':<br/>'''Majority'''<br/>[[File:Star and Crescent.svg|18px]] [[Punjabi Muslims|Islam]] (97%)<br/>'''Minority'''<br/>[[File:Christian cross.svg|12px]] [[Punjabi Christians|Christianity]] (2%) • [[File:Om.svg|15px]] [[Punjabi Hindus|Hinduism]] (0.2%) • [[File:Khanda.svg|15px]] [[Sikhism]]<br/><br/>'''[[Punjab, India|Indian Punjab]]''':<br/>'''Majority'''<br/>[[File:Khanda.svg|15px]] [[Sikhism]] (57.7%)<br/>'''Minority'''<br/>[[File:Om.svg|15px]] [[Punjabi Hindus|Hinduism]] (38.5%) • [[File:Star and Crescent.svg|18px]] [[Punjabi Muslims|Islam]] (1.9%) • {{nowrap|[[File:Christian cross.svg|12px]] [[Punjabi Christians|Christianity]]}} (1.3%)<ref name="auto1">{{cite web|url=http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011census/C-01/DDW03C-01%20MDDS.XLS|format=XLS|title= C-1 Population By Religious Community - 2011|access-date=29 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923230423/http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011census/C-01/DDW03C-01%20MDDS.XLS|archive-date=23 September 2015}}</ref><ref name="Harrison2007p132">{{cite book|author1=Wade Davis|author2=K. David Harrison|author3=Catherine Herbert Howell|title=Book of Peoples of the World: A Guide to Cultures|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rkG8f2lyeUMC&pg=PA132|year=2007|publisher=National Geographic|isbn=978-1-4262-0238-4|pages=132–133}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Punjabis |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/punjabis |website=[[Encyclopaedia]]}}</ref>
| related_groups = Other [[Indo-Aryan peoples]]
}}
{{Punjabis}}


The '''Punjabis''' ([[Punjabi language|Punjabi]]: {{Nastaliq|پنجابی}} {{small|([[Shahmukhi alphabet|Shahmukhi]])}}; ਪੰਜਾਬੀ {{small|([[Gurmukhi]])}}; [[romanised]] as '''Pañjābī''')<ref name=":9">{{Cite book |last=Minahan |first=James |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=abNDLZQ6quYC&pg=PA257 |title=Ethnic Groups of South Asia and the Pacific: An Encyclopedia |date=2012 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-59884-659-1 |pages=257–259}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Temple |first=Richard Carnac |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BtlztAEACAAJ |title=A Dissertation on the Proper Names of Panjabis: With Special Reference to the Proper Names of Villagers in the Eastern Panjab |date=20 August 2017 |publisher=Creative Media Partners, LLC |isbn=978-1-375-66993-1}}</ref> are an [[Indo-Aryan peoples|Indo-Aryan]] ethnolinguistic group<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Goh |first1=Daniel P. S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-1N5AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA187 |title=Race and Multiculturalism in Malaysia and Singapore |last2=Gabrielpillai |first2=Matilda |last3=Holden |first3=Philip |last4=Khoo |first4=Gaik Cheng |date=12 June 2009 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-01649-5 |page=187}}</ref> associated with the [[Punjab region]], comprising areas of northwestern [[India]] and eastern [[Pakistan]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Minahan |first=James |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=abNDLZQ6quYC&pg=PA257 |title=Ethnic Groups of South Asia and the Pacific: An Encyclopedia |date=2012 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-59884-659-1}}</ref> They generally speak [[Majhi dialect|Standard Punjabi]] or various [[Punjabi dialects]] on both sides.<ref>{{cite book|title=Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F2SRqDzB50wC&pg=PA522|year=2010|publisher=Elsevier|isbn=978-0-08-087775-4|pages=522–523}}</ref>
|caption = <span style="font-size:80%;">
1st: [[Har Gobind Khorana]]{{•}}[[Amrita Pritam]]{{•}}[[Guru Nanak Dev]]<br />
2nd: [[Vinod Dham]]{{•}}[[Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan]]{{•}}[[Wasim Akram]]<br />
3rd: [[Ranjit Singh]]{{•}}[[Amrita Sher-Gil]]{{•}}[[Abdus Salam|Dr Abdus Salam]]<br />
4rd: [[Bhagat Singh]]{{•}}[[Gulzar|Sampooran Singh]]{{•}}[[Bulleh Shah]] <br />
5th: [[Sunil Mittal]]{{•}}[[Manmohan singh]]{{•}}[[Kalpana Chawla]] <br />
6th: [[Amir_Khan_(boxer)|Amir Khan]]{{•}}[[The Great Gama]]{{•}}[[Mishal Husain]]<br />
7th: [[King Porus]]<br />
{{Main|List of Punjabi people}}


Majority of the overall Punjabi population adheres to [[Islam]] with significant minorities practicing [[Sikhism]] and [[Hinduism]] and smaller minorities practicing [[Christianity]]. However, the religious demographics significantly vary when viewed from Pakistani and Indian sides, respectively, with over 95 percent of the Punjabi population from Pakistan being [[Punjabi Muslims|Muslim]], with a small minority of [[Punjabi Christians|Christians]] and [[Punjabi Hindus|Hindus]] and an even smaller minority of [[Punjabi Sikhs|Sikhs]]. Over 57 percent of the population of the Indian state of Punjab is Sikh and over 38 percent Hindu with a small minority of Muslims and Christians.<ref name="auto1">{{cite web|url=http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011census/C-01/DDW03C-01%20MDDS.XLS|format=XLS|title= C-1 Population By Religious Community - 2011|access-date=29 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923230423/http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011census/C-01/DDW03C-01%20MDDS.XLS|archive-date=23 September 2015}}</ref><ref name="Harrison2007p132">{{cite book|author1=Wade Davis|author2=K. David Harrison|author3=Catherine Herbert Howell|title=Book of Peoples of the World: A Guide to Cultures|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rkG8f2lyeUMC&pg=PA132|year=2007|publisher=National Geographic|isbn=978-1-4262-0238-4|pages=132–133}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Punjabis |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/punjabis |website=[[Encyclopaedia]]}}</ref>
|pop= 130 million (estimated)
|region1={{flag|Pakistan}}
|pop1=76,335,300
|ref1= <ref>[http://www.statpak.gov.pk/depts/pco/statistics/other_tables/pop_by_mother_tongue.pdf Pakistan 2008 census - Population by mother tongue]</ref>
|region2={{flag|India}}
|pop2=29,102,477
|ref2=<ref>[http://www.censusindia.gov.in/ Indian Census]</ref>
|region3={{flag|United Kingdom}}
|pop3=2,300,000
|ref3=<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://books.google.com/?id=74ZVFb37zuIC&pg=PA20 |title=Desh Pardesh |publisher=C. Hurst & Co. Publishers |year=1994 |pages=19–20 |author=Roger Ballard, Marcus Banks |isbn=978-1-85065-091-1}}</ref>
|region4={{flag|Canada}}
|pop4=800,000
|ref4=<ref>[http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census06/data/topics/RetrieveProductTable.cfm?TPL=RETR&ALEVEL=3&APATH=3&CATNO=&DETAIL=0&DIM=&DS=99&FL=0&FREE=0&GAL=0&GC=99&GK=NA&GRP=1&IPS=&METH=0&ORDER=1&PID=92333&PTYPE=88971,97154&RL=0&S=1&ShowAll=No&StartRow=1&SUB=801&Temporal=2006&Theme=80&VID=0&VNAMEE=&VNAMEF= 2006 Census: Ethnic Origin]</ref>
|region5={{flag|United Arab Emirates}}
|pop5=720,000
|region6={{flag|United States}}
|pop6=640,000
|region7={{flag|Saudi Arabia}}
|pop7=620,000
|region8={{flag|Hong Kong}}
|pop8=260,000
|region9={{flag|Malaysia}}
|pop9=185,000
|region10={{flag|South Africa}}
|pop10=140,000
|region11={{flag|Russia}}
|pop11=120,000
|langs= [[Punjabi language|Punjabi with many Dialects]][[ Urdu ]] [[ Hindi ]] [[English]]
|rels= • [[File:Allah-green.svg|18px]] [[Islam]] • [[File:Khanda1.svg|15px]] [[Sikhism]] • [[File:Om.svg|15px]] [[Hinduism]] • [[Sufism]] • [[Ahmadiyya|Ahmedis]] • [[Quranism]]• [[Christianity]] •[[Deism]] • Others
|related=• [[Indo-Aryans]] • [[Sindhi people]] related to [[Indus Valley Civilization]]• [[Chamar]]• [[Balmiki]]• [[Khatri]] • [[Saini]]s • [[Rajput]]s • [[Gujjars|Gujjar]] • [[Agarwal]]s • [[Arora]] •[[Jatt]]s •[[Aheer]]s. [[Hindko]]wans • [[Seraikis]] • [[Hazaras]] • [[Awans]] • [[Gakhars]] [[Chhachi]]
[[Punjabi Rajputs]]}}


The [[ethnonym]] is derived from the term ''Punjab'' (Five rivers) in [[Persian language|Persian]] to describe the geographic region of the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, where five rivers [[Beas River|Beas]], [[Chenab River|Chenab]], [[Jhelum River|Jhelum]], [[Ravi River|Ravi]], and [[Sutlej]] merge into the [[Indus River]],<ref name="Nayar1">{{Cite book |last=Nayar |first=Kamala Elizabeth |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q7pO-IZY218C&pg=PA7 |title=The Punjabis in British Columbia: Location, Labour, First Nations, and Multiculturalism |date=2012 |publisher=McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP |isbn=978-0-7735-4070-5 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Gandhi 2013">{{cite book |last=Gandhi |first=Rajmohan |title=Punjab: A History from Aurangzeb to Mountbatten |publisher=Aleph Book Company |year=2013 |isbn=978-93-83064-41-0 |location=New Delhi, India, Urbana, [[Illinois]]}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{cite book |last=Canfield |first=Robert L. |title=Persia in Historical Perspective |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1991 |isbn=978-0-521-52291-5 |location=[[Cambridge]], United Kingdom<!--|isbn=0-521-39094-X--> |page=1 ("Origins")}}</ref> in addition of the now-vanished [[Ghaggar-Hakra River|Ghaggar]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=West |first=Barbara A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pCiNqFj3MQsC |title=Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania |date=19 May 2010 |publisher=Infobase Publishing |isbn=978-1-4381-1913-7 |language=en}}</ref>
[[File:RanjitSinghKing.jpg|thumb|[[ Ranjit Singh| Sher e Punjab ( Lion of Punjab Ranjit Singh]]]]


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.<ref>{{cite book|last=Malhotra|first=Anshu|title=Punjab reconsidered : history, culture, and practice|year=2012|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|location=New Delhi|isbn=978-0-19-807801-2|url=http://global.oup.com/academic/product/punjab-reconsidered-history-culture-and-practice-9780198078012;jsessionid=67C0F3362215BC7FE368DF643C70CA16?cc=de&lang=en&|author2=Mir, Farina|access-date=6 April 2014|archive-date=7 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307092802/https://global.oup.com/academic/product/punjab-reconsidered-history-culture-and-practice-9780198078012;jsessionid=67C0F3362215BC7FE368DF643C70CA16?cc=de&lang=en&|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Ayers|first=Alyssa|title=Language, the Nation, and Symbolic Capital: The Case of Punjab|journal=Journal of Asian Studies|year=2008|volume=67|issue=3|pages=917–46|url=http://alyssaayres.com/pdf/Ayres-JAS-Language-Nation.pdf|doi=10.1017/s0021911808001204|s2cid=56127067|issn = 0021-9118}}</ref><ref name="Thandi 1996">{{cite book|last1=Singh|first1=Pritam|last2=Thandi|first2=Shinder S.|title=Globalisation and the region : explorations in Punjabi identity|year=1996|publisher=Association for Punjab Studies (UK)|location=Coventry, United Kingdom|isbn=978-1-874699-05-7}}</ref> Historically, the Punjabi people were a [[heterogeneous]] group and were subdivided into a number of clans called ''[[Baradari (brotherhood)|biradari]]'' (literally meaning "brotherhood") or ''[[Punjabi tribes|tribes]]'', with each person bound to a clan. With the passage of time, tribal structures became replaced with a more cohesive and holistic society, as [[community building]] and [[group cohesiveness]] form the new pillars of Punjabi society.<ref name="Thandi 1996" /><ref>{{cite journal|last=Mukherjee|first=Protap|author2=Lopamudra Ray Saraswati |title=Levels and Patterns of Social Cohesion and Its Relationship with Development in India: A Woman's Perspective Approach|journal=Ph.D. Scholars, Centre for the Study of Regional Development School of Social Sciences Jawaharlal Nehru University New Delhi – 110 067, India|date=20 January 2011|url=http://www.oecd.org/dev/pgd/46839502.pdf}}</ref>
[[File:Sikh_Empire.JPG|thumb|right|250px|[[Ranjit_Singh| Ranjit Singh Sher e Punjab Empire]] constituting [[Punjab]], [[Peshawar]], [[Khyber Pass]], Present day [[Federally Administered Tribal Areas|FATA]],[[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa|KPK]] and [[Kashmir]]]]


Traditionally, the 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.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Singh |first1=Pritam |last2=Thandi |first2=Shinder S. |title=Punjabi identity in a global context |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=igpuAAAAMAAJ |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-19-564864-5 |location=New Delhi }}</ref> [[social integration|Integration]] and [[cultural assimilation|assimilation]] are important parts of Punjabi culture, since Punjabi identity is not based solely on tribal connections.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Singh |first=Prtiam |year=2012 |title=Globalisation and Punjabi Identity: Resistance, Relocation and Reinvention (Yet Again!) |url=http://www.global.ucsb.edu/punjab/journal/v19_2/Singh.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=Journal of Punjab Studies |volume=19 |issue=2 |pages=153–72 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160124071525/http://www.global.ucsb.edu/punjab/journal/v19_2/Singh.pdf |archive-date=24 January 2016 |access-date=6 April 2014}}</ref> While Punjabis share a common territory, ethnicity and language, they are likely to be followers of one of several religions, most often [[Punjabi Muslims|Islam]], [[Punjabi Sikhs|Sikhism]], [[Punjabi Hindus|Hinduism]] or [[Punjabi Christians|Christianity]].<ref name="Gupta, S.K">{{cite book |last=Gupta |first=S.K. |title=The Scheduled Castes in Modern Indian Politics: Their Emergence as a Political Context |publisher=Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd |year=1985 |location=New Delhi, India |pages=121–122}}</ref>
[[File:Dialects_Of_Punjabi.jpg|right||250px|[[Punjabi dialects]]]]
[[File:CiviltàValleIndoMappa.png|thumb|right|250px|[[Harappa]] was the center of one of the Oldest Civilizations [[Indus Valley Civilization]] located in central [[Punjab]]. The [[Harappan architecture]] and Harrapan Civilization was one of the most developed in the old [[Bronze Age]].]]


== Etymology ==
The term "Punjab" came into currency during the reign of [[Akbar]] in the late sixteenth century.<ref name=":2" /><ref name="Gandhi 2013" /><ref name=":1" /> Though the name Punjab is of [[Persian language|Persian]] origin, its two parts ({{Langx|fa|پنج|translit=panj|label=none|lit=five}} and {{Langx|fa|آب|translit=āb|label=none|lit=water}}) are cognates of the [[Sanskrit]] words, {{Langx|sa|पञ्‍च|lit=five|translit=pañca|label=none}} and {{Langx|sa|अप्|lit=water|translit=áp|label=none}}, of the same meaning.<ref name=EoS>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.learnpunjabi.org/eos/PUNJAB.html |title=The Punjab |author=H K Manmohan Siṅgh|encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Sikhism, Editor-in-Chief Harbans Singh |publisher=[[Punjabi University]], Patiala|access-date=18 August 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305062705/http://www.learnpunjabi.org/eos/PUNJAB.html |archive-date=5 March 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Gandhi |first=Rajmohan |title=Punjab: A History from Aurangzeb to Mountbatten |publisher=Aleph Book Company |year=2013 |isbn=978-93-83064-41-0 |location=New Delhi, India, Urbana, [[Illinois]] |page=1 ("Introduction")}}</ref> The word ''pañjāb'' thus means 'The Land of Five Waters', referring to the rivers [[Jhelum River|Jhelum]], [[Chenab River|Chenab]], [[Ravi River|Ravi]], [[Sutlej]], and [[Beas River|Beas]].<ref>"Punjab." Pp. 107 in [[Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition|''Encyclopædia Britannica'' (9th ed.)]], vol. 20.</ref> All are [[Tributary|tributaries]] of the [[Indus River]], the Sutlej being the largest. References to a land of five rivers may be found in the ''[[Mahabharata]]'', which calls one of the regions in ancient Bharat ''Panchanada'' ({{Langx|sa|पञ्चनद|lit=five rivers|translit=pañca-nada}}).<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GdKcAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA199 |title=The Geography of India: Sacred and Historic Places |publisher=Britannica Educational Publishing |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-61530-202-4 |editor=Kenneth Pletcher |pages=199 |quote=The word's origin can perhaps be traced to panca nada, Sanskrit for "five rivers" and the name of a region mentioned in the ancient epic the Mahabharata.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Rajesh Bala |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PzduAAAAMAAJ |title=Punjab History Conference, Thirty-seventh Session, March 18-20, 2005: Proceedings |publisher=Punjabi University |year=2005 |isbn=978-81-7380-990-3 |editor=Sukhdial Singh |page=80 |chapter=Foreign Invasions and their Effect on Punjab |quote="The word Punjab is a compound of two words-Panj (Five) and aab (Water), thus signifying the land of five waters or rivers. This origin can perhaps be traced to panch nada, Sanskrit for 'Five rivers' the word used before the advent of Muslims with a knowledge of Persian to describe the meeting point of the Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej rivers, before they joined the Indus."}}</ref> The ancient [[Greek people|Greeks]] referred to the region as ''Pentapotamía'' ({{langx|el|Πενταποταμία}}),<ref>[[Christian Lassen|Lassen, Christian]]. 1827. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=XbBCAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA3 Commentatio Geographica atque Historica de Pentapotamia Indica]'' [''A Geographical and Historical Commentary on Indian Pentapotamia'']. Weber. p. 4: "That part of India which today we call by the Persian name <nowiki>''</nowiki>Penjab<nowiki>''</nowiki> is named ''Panchanada'' in the sacred language of the Indians; either of which names may be rendered in Greek by Πενταποταμια. The Persian origin of the former name is not at all in doubt, although the words of which it is composed are both Indian and Persian.... But, in truth, that final word is never, to my knowledge, used by the Indians in proper names compounded in this way; on the other hand, there exist multiple Persian names which end with that word, e.g., ''Doab'' and ''Nilab''. Therefore, it is probable that the name Penjab, which is today found in all geographical books, is of more recent origin and is to be attributed to the Muslim kings of India, among whom the Persian language was mostly in use. That the Indian name Panchanada is ancient and genuine is evident from the fact that it is already seen in the ''Ramayana'' and ''Mahabharata'', the most ancient Indian poems, and that no other exists in addition to it among the Indians; for ''Panchála'', which English translations of the ''Ramayana'' render with Penjab...is the name of another region, entirely distinct from Pentapotamia...."{{whose translation|reason=has several mistakes - looks like Google translation|date=August 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author1-last=Latif |author1-first=Syad Muhammad |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RzBAAQAAMAAJ&pg=PR1 |title=History of the Panjáb from the Remotest Antiquity to the Present Time |publisher=[[Calcultta Central Press Company]] |year=1891 |page=1 |quote=The Panjáb, the Pentapotamia of the Greek historians, the north-western region of the empire of Hindostán, derives its name from two Persian words, ''panj'' (five), an ''áb'' (water, having reference to the five rivers which confer on the country its distinguishing features."}}</ref><ref name="Khalid">{{cite journal |year=2015 |title=Lahore of Pre Historic Era |url=http://pu.edu.pk/images/journal/history/PDF-FILES/7.%20Kanwal%20Khalid_v52_2_15.pdf |journal=Journal of the Research Society of Pakistan |volume=52 |issue=2 |page=73 |quote=The earliest mention of five rivers in the collective sense was found in Yajurveda and a word Panchananda was used, which is a Sanskrit word to describe a land where five rivers meet. [...] In the later period the word ''Pentapotamia'' was used by the Greeks to identify this land. (''Penta'' means 5 and potamia, water ___ the land of five rivers) Muslim Historians implied the word "Punjab " for this region. Again it was not a new word because in Persian-speaking areas, there are references of this name given to any particular place where five rivers or lakes meet. |author1-last=Khalid |author1-first=Kanwal}}</ref> which has the same meaning as the Persian word.


==Geographic distribution==
The '''Punjabi people''' ({{lang-pa|{{Nastaliq|پنجابی}}}} <small>([[Shahmukhi]])</small>, ਪੰਜਾਬੀ <small>([[Gurmukhi]]))</small>, also '''Panjabi people''' and people from the '''land of five-rivers''' (Persian: panj-āb; "five waters") [[Punjab_region|Punjab]] (also known as beard basket of [[India]]<ref>http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/01/30/india-election-punjab-idINDEE80S02520120130</ref><ref>http://water.columbia.edu/2012/03/07/columbia-water-center-released-new-whitepaper-restoring-groundwater-in-punjab-indias-breadbasket/</ref> and [[Pakistan]]) , are a distinct ethnic group primarily of North Indian Origin among other North Indian ethnic groups which in modern day constitutes some parts of [[Kashmir]], [[Punjab, India| Indian Punjab]], ,majority regions of [[Punjab, Pakistan|Pakistani Punjab]], [[Rajasthan]] and some other North Indian states. Punjabis mostly live in the [[Punjab region]], which has been the location of some of the oldest civilizations in the world like [[Indus Valley Civilization|the Indus Valley Civilization]]. Punjabis have very strong cultural background. Traditionally, Punjabi identity was primarily cultural and linguistic, with Punjabis being those for whom the [[Punjabi language]] was their first language.<ref>http://www.krysstal.com/langfams_indoeuro.html</ref> However, in recent times, the definition has been broadened to include emigrants from other regions who maintain Punjabi cultural traditions, even when they no longer speak the language.
{{Main articles|Punjab region}}
Punjab is a geopolitical, cultural, and [[historical region]] in [[South Asia]], specifically in the northern part of the [[Indian subcontinent]], comprising areas of eastern [[Pakistan]] and northwestern [[India]]. The boundaries of the region are ill-defined and focus on historical accounts. The geographical definition of the term "Punjab" has changed over time. In the 16th century [[Mughal Empire]] it referred to a relatively smaller area between the [[Indus River|Indus]] and the [[Sutlej River|Sutlej]] rivers.<ref name="JS_Grewal_1998">{{cite book |author=J. S. Grewal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2_nryFANsoYC |title=The Sikhs of the Punjab |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-521-63764-0 |edition=Revised |series=The New Cambridge History of India |page=1}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Yoga |first=Project of History of Indian Science, Philosophy, and Culture Sub Project: Consciousness, Science, Society, Value, and |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9x5FX2RROZgC&pg=PA202 |title=Different Types of History |date=2009 |publisher=Pearson Education India |isbn=978-81-317-1818-6 |language=en}}</ref>
[[File:Punjab map (topographic) with cities.png|thumb|The [[Punjab region]], with its rivers.]]


=== Pakistan ===
The recent definition of Punjabi after the creation of Pakistan in Punjab Pakistan is not based on [[Race (classification of humans)|racial classification]], [[Common descent|common ansectory]] or [[Endogamy|endogamy]]<ref>http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~anthrop/tutor/marriage/endogamy.html</ref> and even unique language but based on geographical and cultural basis and thus makes it a unique definition. So anyone living in Punjab and maintaining the Punjabi cultures and traditions is considered a Punjabi. In Pakistani Punjab the emphasis on language is not given and Pakistani Punjabis speak many distinct [[Punjabi dialects|dialects]]<ref>http://grammar.about.com/od/d/g/dialectterm.htm</ref> <ref>http://www.lmp.ucla.edu/Profile.aspx?LangID=95&menu=004</ref>and according to some linguists languages which include [[Hindko]], [[Seraiki]], [[Potwari language|Potohari or Pahari]] and many other [[Punjabi dialects]] but still they identify themselves as Punjabis. This unique definition of Punjabi in recent times have led to the [[Social integration|social]] and [[Racial integration|racial]] integration in Punjab and led to the [[Cultural assimilation|cultural assimilation]] that led to the more vibrant Punjabi society. People from almost all provinces of [[Pakistan]] and even from neighboring [[Afghanistan]] have made Punjab their home in recent times and now their consecutive generations identify themselves as Punjabis. The largest community to assimilate in Punjabi culture and now identify themselves as Punjabis are [[Kashmiri people|Kashmiris]] which include noted personalities like [[Nawaz Sharif]], [[Shaikh Rasheed Ahmad|Sheikh Rasheed]], [[Hamid Mir]] and the most noted poet [[Muhammad Iqbal]] to name a few. The second largest community after Kashmiris are people of North West Pakistan and Afghanistan and know identify themselves as Punjabis or sometimes as [[Pathans of Punjab|Punjabi Pathans]]. The other communities to assimilate in Punjabis include [[Baloch people|Baloch]] who can be found throughout Punjab, [[Balti people|Baltis]] and many other ethnic groups. The welcoming nature of Punjab have led to successful integration of almost all ethnic groups in Punjab over time. The Urdu and other language speakers migrants who arrived in Punjab in 1947<ref>http://bintphotobooks.blogspot.de/2011/04/great-migration-india-pakistan-1947.html</ref><ref>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gn9ZwI9zqu4</ref> are now assimilated and their second and third generations identify themselves as Punjabis even tough it is not the same in [[Sindh]] Pakistan where they form distinct ethnic group.
While the total population of [[Punjab]] is 110 million as noted in the 2017 Pakistan census,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://pwd.punjab.gov.pk/population_profile|title=Population Profile Punjab &#124; Population Welfare Department|website=Pwd.punjab.gov.pk}}</ref> [[ethnic Punjabis]] comprise approximately 44.7% of the national population.<ref name="cia.gov"/><ref name="WorldAtlas"/> With an estimated national population of 252 million in 2024,<ref name="cia.gov"/> ethnic Punjabis thus number approximately 112.8 million in Pakistan;{{efn|name="PakistanPunjabiPopulation"}}<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/pakistan-population/|title=Pakistan Population (2019) |website=Worldometers.info|access-date=29 July 2019}}</ref> this makes Punjabis the [[Ethnic groups of Pakistan|largest ethnic group in Pakistan]] by population.<ref name="cia.gov"/><ref name="WorldAtlas"/>


Religious homogeneity remains elusive as a predominant [[Sunni]] population with [[Shia]], [[Ahmadiyya]] and [[Christianity|Christian]] minorities.<ref>{{cite web |title=Population by Religion |url=http://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files/tables/POPULATION%20BY%20RELIGION.pdf |website=pbs.gov.pk |publisher=[[Pakistan Bureau of Statistics]]}}</ref>
Punjabis are primarily found in the Punjab region of India and Pakistan, which forms the present Indian state of [[Punjab (India)|Punjab]] and Pakistan province of [[Punjab (Pakistan)|Punjab]]. Following independence from [[British Empire|Britain]], the Punjab region was divided between the two nations. In Pakistan, Punjabis are the largest ethnic group, comprising roughly 40% of the total population of the country. They reside predominantly in the province of Punjab and [[Pakistan-administered Kashmir]]. In India, Punjabis represent about 2.5% of the population. The majority of Punjabi-speaking people in India can be found in the Indian states of [[Punjab (India)|Punjab]], [[Haryana]], [[Himachal Pradesh]], as well as in [[Delhi]] and the [[Union Territory]] of [[Chandigarh]]. Large communities of Punjabis are also found in the [[Jammu]] region of [[Jammu and Kashmir]] and the states of [[Rajasthan]], [[Uttarakhand]] and [[Uttar Pradesh]].


=== India ===
Punjabi with its many [[Punjabi dialects|dialects]] is the dominant language in Pakistan, and fourth most common language in India. According to the [[Ethnologue]] 2005 estimate,<ref name="ReferenceA">Ethnologue. 15th edition (2005).</ref> there are 88 million native speakers of the Punjabi language, which makes it the twelfth most widely spoken language in the world. According to the 2008 Census of Pakistan,<ref>According to [http://www.statpak.gov.pk/depts/pco/statistics/other_tables/pop_by_mother_tongue.pdf statpak.gov.pk] 44.15% of the Pakistani people are native Punjabi speakers. This gives an approximate number of 76,335,300 Punjabi speakers in Pakistan.</ref> there are approximately 76,335,300 native speakers of Punjabi in Pakistan, and according to the [[Demographics of India#Linguistic demographic2001|Census of India]], there are over 29,102,477 Punjabi speakers in India.<ref>[[Census of India]], 2001</ref> Punjabi is also spoken as a [[minority language]] in several other countries where Punjabis have emigrated in large numbers, such as the United Kingdom (where it is the second most commonly used language<ref>[http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199900/cmhansrd/vo000307/halltext/00307h02.htm "Punjabi Community".] The United Kingdom Parliament.</ref>) and Canada, in which Punjabi has now become the fourth most spoken language after English, French and Chinese, due to the rapid growth of immigrants from Pakistan and India.<ref>[http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Punjabi_is_Canadas_4th_most_top_language/articleshow/2782138.cms "Punjabi is 4th most spoken language in Canada"] ''The Times of India''</ref> There are also sizable communities in the United States, [[Kenya]], [[Tanzania]], [[Uganda]], [[Persian Gulf]] countries, Hong Kong, [[Malaysia]], [[Singapore]], Australia and New Zealand.
The Punjabi-speaking people make up 2.74% of India's population as of 2011.<ref>{{cite web |title=SCHEDULED LANGUAGES IN DESCENDING ORDER OF SPEAKERS' STRENGTH - 2011 |url=http://censusindia.gov.in/2011Census/Language-2011/Statement-4.pdf |website=censusindia.gov.in |access-date=2 April 2020}}</ref> 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, India|Punjab]] forming 57.7% of the population with [[Hindus]] forming 38.5%.<ref name=":0">{{cite news |last1=Mohan |first1=Vibhor |title=Census 2011: %age of Sikhs drops in Punjab; migration to blame? |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/Census-2011-age-of-Sikhs-drops-in-Punjab-migration-to-blame/articleshow/48689317.cms |access-date=10 September 2023 |work=The Times of India |date=27 August 2015}}</ref> Ethnic Punjabis are believed to account for at least 40% of Delhi's total population and are predominantly [[Hindi]]-speaking [[Punjabi Hindus]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://m.indiatvnews.com/politics/national/delhi-assembly-elections-2015-important-facts-and-stakeholders-25298.html|title=Delhi Assembly Elections 2015: Important Facts And Major Stakeholders Mobile Site|date=6 February 2015|work=India TV News|access-date=7 September 2015|archive-date=30 December 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151230215251/http://m.indiatvnews.com/politics/national/delhi-assembly-elections-2015-important-facts-and-stakeholders-25298.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/mobi/news/sunday-special/perspective/why-punjabis-are-central-to-delhi-election/36387.html|title=Why Punjabis are central to Delhi election|author=Jupinderjit Singh|date=February 2015|work=tribuneindia.com/news/sunday-special/perspective/why-punjabis-are-central-to-delhi-election/36387.html|access-date=7 September 2015}}</ref><ref name="Sanjay2008">{{cite book |author=Sanjay Yadav |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CTBBL1q5C_EC&pg=PA10 |title=The Invasion of Delhi |publisher=Worldwide Books |year=2008 |isbn=978-81-88054-00-8}}</ref> The Indian censuses record the native languages, but not the descent of the citizens. Thus, there is no concrete official data on the [[Ethnic groups in Delhi|ethnic makeup of Delhi]] and other Indian states.<ref name="Sanjay2008" />{{rp|8–10}}


Indian Punjab is also home to small groups of Muslims and Christians. Most of the [[East Punjab]]'s Muslims left for West Punjab in 1947.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Sikhs of the Punjab |date=1991 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-26884-4 |pages=181–204 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/sikhs-of-the-punjab/towards-the-punjabi-province-19471966/BFF4661DA2FA85A954DC95F97F03E0B4 |chapter=Towards the ‘Punjabi Province’ (1947–1966)|series=The New Cambridge History of India |doi=10.1017/CHOL9780521268844.011 }}</ref> However, a small community still exists today, mainly in [[Qadian]], and [[Malerkotla]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Dikshit |first1=V. |title=Punjab Polls: The mood in Malerkotla and Qadian |url=https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/news/punjab-polls-the-mood-in-malerkotla-and-qadian-minority-vote-muslims-root-for-candidates-not-parties |access-date=10 September 2023 |work=National Herald |date=3 February 2017 |language=en}}</ref>
Punjabis are linguistically and culturally related to the other Indo-Aryan peoples of South Asia. There are an estimated 120 million Punjabis around the world. If regarded as an ethnic group, they are among the [[List of ethnic groups by population|worlds' largest]]. In South Asia, they are the [[South Asian ethnic groups|second largest ethnic group]] after the Bengali People.


===Punjabi diaspora===
==History==
{{Main|Punjabi diaspora}}
[[File:Streetcars passing at the 400 Block of Granville Street, Vancouver, in 1908.jpg|thumb|right|225px|Punjabis in Vancouver, 1908]]
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]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=CMACA&Code1=933&Geo2=PR&Code2=59&SearchText=vancouver&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01&B1=Language&TABID=1&type=0 |title=Census Profile, 2016 Census Vancouver [Census metropolitan area], British Columbia and British Columbia [Province] |date=8 February 2017 |publisher=Statistics Canada |access-date=31 August 2021 }}</ref> [[Toronto]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=CMACA&Code1=535&Geo2=PR&Code2=35&SearchText=toronto&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01&B1=Language&TABID=1&type=0 |title=Census Profile, 2016 Census Toronto [Census metropolitan area], Ontario and Ontario [Province] |date=8 February 2017 |publisher=Statistics Canada |access-date=31 August 2021 }}</ref> and [[Calgary]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=CMACA&Code1=825&Geo2=PR&Code2=48&SearchText=calgary&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01&B1=Language&TABID=1&type=0 |title=Census Profile, 2016 Census Calgary [Census metropolitan area], Alberta and Alberta [Province] |date=8 February 2017 |publisher=Statistics Canada |access-date=31 August 2021 }}</ref>) and the United States, (specifically California's [[Central Valley (California)|Central Valley]] as well as the New York and New Jersey region). In the 1970s, a large wave of emigration of Punjabis (predominately from Pakistan) began to the Middle East, in places such as the [[United Arab Emirates|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]], [[Philippines]], [[Thailand]], Singapore and Hong Kong. Of recent times many Punjabis have also moved to Italy.{{citation needed|date=July 2022}}
[[File:Gurdwara Guru Ravidass, Nasinu, Fiji.jpg|thumb|Gurdwara [[Guru Ravidass]], Nasinu, Fiji Established in 1939]]
[[File:Gurdwara Guru Ravidass Bhavan, Birmingham.jpg|thumb|Gurdwara Guru Ravidass Bhavan, Birmingham]]
[[File:Gurdwara Guru Ravidass Sabha,Southall .jpg|thumb|[[Gurdwara Guru Ravidass Sabha]], Southall]]


== Demography ==
{{Main|History of Punjab}}
=== Castes and tribes ===
{{Main|List of Punjabi tribes}}
{{See also|Punjab#Tribes}}
Among the major castes and tribes of [[Punjab, Pakistan|West Punjab]] (Pakistan) are the [[Jat people|Jats]], [[Rajput]]s, [[Arain]]s, [[Gurjar|Gujjars]] and [[Awan (tribe)|Awans]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Punjab Province, Pakistan |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |id=483579 |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Punjab-province-Pakistan |access-date=22 March 2022}}h</ref> Prior to [[Partition of India|the partition in 1947]], major communities of West Punjab also included the [[Khatri]]s, [[Arora]]s and [[Brahmin]]s.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Tyagi|first=Dr Madhu|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YMpJDwAAQBAJ&dq=khatris+multan+thevenot&pg=PA18|title=THEORY OF INDIAN DIASPORA: DYNAMICS OF GLOBAL MIGRATION|date=1 January 2017|publisher=Horizon Books (A Division of Ignited Minds Edutech P Ltd)|isbn=978-93-86369-37-6|pages=18|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":202">{{Cite book|last=Puri|first=Baij Nath|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7ytuAAAAMAAJ&q=khatris+a+socio+cultural+study|title=The Khatris, a Socio-cultural Study|date=1988|publisher=M.N. Publishers and Distributors|pages=19–20|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":1822">{{Cite book|last=Oonk|first=Gijsbert|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BkwsMTyShi8C&dq=they+are+the+only+hindus+known+in+central+asia+khatris&pg=PA44|title=Global Indian Diasporas: Exploring Trajectories of Migration and Theory|date=2007|publisher=Amsterdam University Press|isbn=978-90-5356-035-8|pages=43–45|language=en}}</ref>


While in [[Punjab, India|East Punjab]] (India), Jats are almost 20 per cent of East Punjab's population. The Scheduled Castes constitute almost 32 per cent of its total population and 4.3 per cent of the SCs nationally, official data show. Of more than 35 designated Scheduled Castes in the state, the Mazhabis, the Ravidasias/Ramdasias, the Ad Dharmis, the Valmikis, and the Bazigars together make up around 87 per cent of East Punjab's total Scheduled Caste population. The Ravidasia Hindus/Ad-Dharmi and the Ramdasia Sikhs together constitute 34.93 per cent of East Punjab's total Scheduled Caste population and 11.15 per cent of [[Punjab, India| Punjab]] Population. [[Ramdasia]], [[Ad-Dharmi]] and [[Ravidassias]] are subgroups of the Chamar<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chander |first=Rajesh K. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8TvnDwAAQBAJ&dq=ramdasia+caste+in+jammu&pg=PA64 |title=Combating Social Exclusion: Inter-sectionalities of Caste, Gender, Class and Regions |date=1 July 2019 |publisher=Studera Press |isbn=978-93-85883-58-3 |language=en}}</ref> and are traditionally linked to leather-related occupations.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Singh |first1=Harmeet Shah |date=Feb 18, 2022 |title=Understanding the Dalit demography of Punjab, caste by caste |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/elections/punjab-assembly-polls-2022/story/understanding-dalit-demography-of-punjab-scheduled-caste-channi-ravidasias-ad-dharmis-valmikis-1914965-2022-02-18 |work=India Today |access-date=Dec 22, 2024}}</ref>


===Brief Ancient history===
=== Religions in Punjab ===
{{Main|Religion in the Punjab}}
[[File:1500-1200 BCE Rigveda, manuscript page sample i, Mandala 1, Hymn 1 (Sukta 1), Adhyaya 1, lines 1.1.1 to 1.1.9, Sanskrit, Devanagari.jpg|thumb|[[Rig Veda]]&nbsp;is the oldest Hindu text that originated in the Punjab region.]]
Proto-[[Hinduism]] is the oldest of the religions practised by the Punjabi people.<ref name="Nayar1"/> The [[historical Vedic religion]] constituted the religious ideas and practices in the Punjab during the [[Vedic period]] (1500–500 BCE), centered primarily in the worship of [[Indra]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wheeler |first=James Talboys |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xSFGIqjWG14C&q=punjab |title=The History of India from the Earliest Ages: Hindu Buddhist Brahmanical revival |date=1874 |publisher=N. Trübner |pages=330 |language=en |quote=The Punjab, to say the least, was less Brahmanical. It was an ancient centre of the worship of Indra, who was always regarded as an enemy by the Bráhmans; and it was also a stronghold of Buddhism.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Hunter |first=W. W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vdv7AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA80 |title=The Indian Empire: Its People, History and Products |date=5 November 2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-38301-4 |pages=80 |language=en |quote=In the settlements of the Punjab, Indra thus advanced to the first place among the Vedic divinities.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Virdee |first=Pippa |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WYJIDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA24 |title=From the Ashes of 1947 |date=February 2018 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-42811-8 |pages=24 |language=en |quote=The Rig Veda and the Upanishads, which belonged to the Vedic religion, were a precursor of Hinduism, both of which were composed in Punjab.}}</ref>{{refn|{{harvtxt|Michaels|2004|p=38}}: "The legacy of the Vedic religion in Hinduism is generally overestimated. The influence of the mythology is indeed great, but the religious terminology changed considerably: all the key terms of Hinduism either do not exist in Vedic or have a completely different meaning. The religion of the Veda does not know the ethicised migration of the soul with retribution for acts (''karma''), the cyclical destruction of the world, or the idea of salvation during one's lifetime (''jivanmukti; moksa; nirvana''); the idea of the world as illusion (''maya'') must have gone against the grain of ancient India, and an omnipotent creator god emerges only in the late hymns of the rgveda. Nor did the Vedic religion know a caste system, the burning of widows, the ban on remarriage, images of gods and temples, Puja worship, Yoga, pilgrimages, vegetarianism, the holiness of cows, the doctrine of stages of life (''asrama''), or knew them only at their inception. Thus, it is justified to see a turning point between the Vedic religion and Hindu religions."<br/>{{cite web |first1=Stephanie |last1=Jamison |first2=Michael |last2=Witzel |year=1992 |url=http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/vedica.pdf |title=Vedic Hinduism |publisher=Harvard University |pages=3}}: "... to call this period Vedic Hinduism is a contradictio in terminis since Vedic religion is very different from what we generally call Hindu religion – at least as much as Old Hebrew religion is from medieval and modern Christian religion. However, Vedic religion is treatable as a predecessor of Hinduism."<br/>See also {{harvnb|Halbfass|1991|pp=1–2}}|name="Michaels-legacy"|group=note}} The bulk of the [[Rigveda]] was composed in the Punjab region between circa 1500 and 1200 BC,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Flood|first=Gavin|url=https://archive.org/details/anintroductiontohinduismgavinfloodd.oupseeotherbooks_355_z/page/37/mode/2up|title=An Introduction to Hinduism|date=13 July 1996|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-43878-0}}</ref> while later Vedic scriptures were composed more eastwards, between the [[Yamuna]] and [[Ganges]] rivers. An ancient Indian law book called the [[Manusmriti]], developed by Brahmin Hindu priests, shaped Punjabi religious life from 200 BC onward.<ref name="Nayar">{{Cite book |last=Nayar |first=Kamala Elizabeth |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q7pO-IZY218C&pg=PA7 |title=The Punjabis in British Columbia: Location, Labour, First Nations, and Multiculturalism |date=2012 |publisher=McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP |isbn=978-0-7735-4070-5 |language=en |pages=7–8}}</ref>


Later, the [[History of Buddhism in India|spread of Buddhisim]] and Jainism in the Indian subcontinent saw the growth of [[Buddhism]] and [[Jainism]] in the Punjab.<ref>{{Cite web |date=3 May 2019 |title=In ancient Punjab, religion was fluid, not watertight, says Romila Thapar |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/in-ancient-punjab-religion-was-fluid-not-watertight-says-romila-thapar-5709145/ |access-date= |website=The Indian Express |language=en |quote=Thapar said Buddhism was very popular in Punjab during the Mauryan and post-Mauryan period. Bookended between Gandhara in Taxila on the one side where Buddhism was practised on a large scale and Mathura on another side where Buddhism, Jainism and Puranic religions were practised, this religion flourished in the state. But after the Gupta period, Buddhism began to decline.}}</ref> [[Islam]] was introduced via southern Punjab in the 8th century, becoming the majority by the 16th century, via local conversion.<ref name="oxford2">{{Cite book |last1=Rambo |first1=Lewis R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U03gAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA490 |title=The Oxford Handbook of Religious Conversion |last2=Farhadian |first2=Charles E. |date=6 March 2014 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-971354-7 |pages=489–491 |language=en |quote=First, Islam was introduced into the southern Punjab in the opening decades of the eighth century. By the sixteenth century, Muslims were the '''majority''' in the region and an elaborate network of mosques and mausoleums marked the landscape. Local converts constituted the majority of this Muslim community, and as far for the mechanisms of conversion, the sources of the period emphasize the recitation of the Islamic confession of faith (shahada), the performance of the circumsicion (indri vaddani), and the ingestion of cow-meat (bhas khana).}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Chhabra |first=G. S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vF9DAAAAYAAJ |title=Advanced History of the Punjab: Guru and post-Guru period upto Ranjit Singh |date=1968 |publisher=New Academic Publishing Company |page=37 |language=en}}</ref> There was a small Jain community left in Punjab by the 16th century, while the Buddhist community had largely disappeared by the turn of the 10th century.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Rambo |first1=Lewis R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U03gAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA490 |title=The Oxford Handbook of Religious Conversion |last2=Farhadian |first2=Charles E. |date=6 March 2014 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-971354-7 |pages=490 |language=en |quote=While Punjabi Hindu society was relatively well established, there was also a small but vibrant Jain community in the Punjab. Buddhist communities, however, had largely disappeared by the turn of the tenth century.}}</ref> The region became predominantly [[Muslim]] due to missionary [[Sufi]] saints whose [[dargah]]s dot the landscape of the Punjab region.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Nicholls |first1=Ruth J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gdz0DwAAQBAJ&q=islam+punjab+sufi |title=Insights into Sufism: Voices from the Heart |last2=Riddell |first2=Peter G. |date=31 July 2020 |publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing |isbn=978-1-5275-5748-2 |language=en |quote=With the Muslim conquest of Punjab there was a flow of Sufis and other preachers who came to spread Islam. Much of the advance of Islam was due to these preachers.}}</ref>


The rise of [[Sikhism]] in the 1700s saw some Punjabis, both Hindu and Muslim, accepting the new Sikh faith.<ref name="Nayar" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Singh |first=Pritam |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lQpswqcdDLIC&pg=PA25 |title=Federalism, Nationalism and Development: India and the Punjab Economy |date=19 February 2008 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-04946-2 |language=en}}</ref> A number of Punjabis during the [[colonial India|colonial period of India]] became Christians, with all of these religions characterising the religious diversity now found in the Punjab region.<ref name="Nayar" />
Punjabi identity until the 11th century when Punjab literature made its unique identity was more associated with the North Indian identity. The remains of ancient city [[Taxila]] and many ornaments have been found in this region dating back to 4-5 BC and even beyond strongly suggested that this region was inhabited with indigenous people with a devloped civilization of that time.<ref>http://www.orientalarchitecture.com/pakistan/taxila/index.php</ref>. The ancient [[Indus Valley Civilization]] centered at [[Harappa]] in [[Punjab]] became a center of early civilization from around 3300 BC. According to Historians this region was ruled by many small kingdoms and tribes around 4th and 5th BC. The earliest known notable local king of this region was known as '''[[Porus]]'''<ref>http://www.livius.org/pn-po/porus/porus.htm</ref> <ref>http://www.padfield.com/1993/alex.html</ref>and he fought famous [[Battle of the Hydaspes]]<ref>http://www.theartofbattle.com/battle-of-hydaspes-river-326-bc.htm</ref><ref>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maFGa8JBIOs&feature=related</ref><ref>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMuwlGHlKiM</ref><ref>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNCxicYYMGY</ref><ref>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aovrSylBKeI&feature=relmfu</ref> against Alexander but later surrender. His kingdom known as '''[[Pauravas]]''' was situated between Hydaspes (modern [[Jhelum]] and Acesines (modern day [[Chenab]])<ref>http://www.livius.org/pn-po/porus/porus.htm</ref>. These kings fought local battles to gain more ground.[[Taxiles]] or '''[[Taxiles|Omphis]]''' another local North Indian king was ruling and he wanted to defeat his eastern adversary [[Porus]] in a turf war and he invited Alexander the great to defeat Porus and this marks the intrusion of [[West]] in Indian subcontinent and North India in general. But such was the valor of Porus and his kingdom forces in Punjab that despite being defeated was appreciated by [[Alexander the Great]] for his skill and valor and he was granted further territories in North<ref>http://www.historyofmacedonia.org/AncientMacedonia/AlexandertheGreat.html</ref>. The other Indian kings did not like that Porus is now an ally of Western forces and the relative of Porus also later named as Porus became the king of [[Pauravas]] continue fighting with Macedonian forces and then in less than ten years another Indian king '''[[Chandragupta_Maurya]]'''<ref>http://wildfiregames.com/0ad/page.php?p=8542</ref> defeated the forces and conquered regions upto Kabul river. Despite the Greek rule in Northwest India, no trace of either the M170 or the M35 genetic markers associated with Greeks and Macedonians have been found in [[Punjab]] and this region show strong peculiar characteristics of North Indians and the reason is that Alexander mostly ruled this land with the help of local allies like [[Porus]].<ref name="Kivisild et al. 2003">{{Harvcoltxt|Kivisild et al.|2003}}</ref>. Later own this region was ruled by local Indian kings and then North Indian region and [[Afghanistan]] were ruled by [[Ghaznavids]] and later on by [[Mughals]]. The [[Mughals]] were assimilated in local cultures and embrace Islam and all of them married local women. When the Mughals were weakened then under the command of [[Nader Shah]] of Persia the regions of North India and Punjab were annexed into the [[Durrani Empire]] in 1747. But this rule was challenged by locals and later on all Punjabi Muslims who became the allies of [[Ahmad Shah Durrani]] were defected because of his atrocities as he slaughtered thousands of Non-Muslims especially Sikhs and also subjugated Punjabi Muslis as well and as a result Durrani empire was ended in 1772 in less than 40 years.Later on Great warrior of Punjab also known as '''Lion of Punjab''' known as [[Ranjit Singh]] was born in [[Gujranwala]]<ref>http://www.sikhiwiki.org/index.php/Maharaja_Ranjit_Singh</ref> he
started conquests to reclaim the Punjabi lands from invaders and he recruited local Punjabis and established a formidable army<ref>http://www.thesikhencyclopedia.com/the-sikh-empire-1799-1839/army-of-maharaja-ranjit-singh</ref> and under his command not only Sikhs but Punjabi Muslims were united and he started a conquest of Reclaiming the lands of Punjab and also as a retribution of Afghan Empire he attacked Peshawar<ref>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Nowshera</ref> and defeated all Pukhtoon tribes upto Khyber Pass and formed the secular [[Sikh Empire]] and later as a result of Wars between Sikh Empire and British out of which the most famous were [[First Anglo-Sikh War]]<ref>http://www.thefirstanglosikhwar.com/</ref> and the [[Second Anglo-Sikh War]]<ref>http://www.sikh-heritage.co.uk/postgurus/Sikh%20Wars/sikhwars.htm</ref>the Sikh Empire came to an end but until the Britishers came no Pukhtoon tribe was able to recapture Peshawar from Sikh Punjabi forces. The famous '''[[Jamrud Fort]]'''<ref>http://www.softserv-intl.com/oldPakistan/photos/photo6.html</ref> at the entry of [[Khyber Pass]] was built by [[Ranjit Singh]] and his forces were never defeated there. The Ranjit Singh reign was the most high time of Punjab and Punjabi prowess was proved during that time and led to the rule of Punjabis in this region.


=== Modern era ===
Due to religious tensions, emigration between Punjabi people started far before the partition and dependable records.<ref>Jones. (2006). Socio-religious reform movements in British India ([[The New Cambridge History of India]]). Cambridge University Press</ref><ref>Jones, R. (2007). The great uprising in India, 1857–58: Untold stories, Indian and British (worlds of the east India company). Boydell Press.</ref> Shortly prior to the [[Partition of India]], [[Punjab Province (British India)]] had a slight majority [[Muslim]] population at about 53.2% in 1941, which was an increase from the previous years.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.global.ucsb.edu/punjab/journal_11_1/6_krishan.pdf|title=Journal of Punjab Studies – Center for Sikh and Punjab Studies – UC Santa Barbara|website=Global.ucsb.edu|access-date=20 April 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924022818/http://www.global.ucsb.edu/punjab/journal_11_1/6_krishan.pdf|archive-date=24 September 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>
[[File:Map of Vedic India.png|thumb|right|250px|Map of early Iron Age Vedic India. Realms or tribes are labelled black, Foreign tribes mentioned in early Vedic texts purple, Vedic [[shakha]]s in green. Rivers are labelled blue. The [[Thar desert]] is marked orange.]]


Due to the [[Partition of India|partition of 1947]], a rapid shift towards religious homogeneity occurred in all districts across the Punjab region owing to the new international border that cut through the province. This rapid demographic shift was primarily due to [[mass migration]] and [[population exchange]] but also caused by large-scale [[Religious persecution#Religious cleansing|religious cleansing]] riots that occurred across the region at the time.<ref>[http://www.cet.edu/earthinfo/sasia/SAhis.html South Asia: British India Partitioned] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071102060502/http://www.cet.edu/earthinfo/sasia/SAhis.html |date=2 November 2007 }}</ref><ref>Avari, B. (2007). India: The ancient past. {{ISBN|978-0-415-35616-9}}</ref> According to historical demographer [[Tim Dyson]], in the eastern regions of Punjab that ultimately became [[Punjab, India|Indian Punjab]] following independence, districts that were 66% Hindu in 1941 became 80% Hindu in 1951; those that were 20% Sikh became 50% Sikh in 1951. Conversely, in the western regions of Punjab that ultimately became [[Punjab, Pakistan|Pakistani Punjab]], all districts became almost exclusively Muslim by 1951.{{sfn|Dyson|2018|pp=188–189}}
===New Demographics of Punjab===
The original [[Punjab region]] is now divided into several units: [[West Punjab]] (now in Pakistan) including the Gandhara region, the Indian states of [[Punjab (India)|Punjab]], [[Haryana]] and [[Himachal Pradesh]] and the Indian Union territory of [[Chandigarh]]. The regions of [[Azad Kashmir]] and [[Jammu]] have also been historically associated with the Punjab.


As a result of the population exchanges during partition, both parts of Punjab are now relatively homogeneous, as far as religion is concerned. 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 [[Sikh]]s or [[Hindu]]s with a [[Muslim]] minority. Punjab is also the birthplace of [[Sikhism]] and the movement [[Ahmadiyya]].<ref name="alislam.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.alislam.org/ |title=Ahmadiyya – Ahmadiyya Community – Al Islam Online – Official Website |website=Alislam.org }}</ref>
Punjab is a Persian term meaning the land of the 5 rivers, the names of these rivers are as follows:


====Punjabi Muslims====
# ([[Jhelum River|Jhelum]])
{{See also|Punjabi Muslims}}
# ([[Chenab]]),
Punjabi Muslims are found almost exclusively in Pakistan with 97% of Punjabis who live in Pakistan following Islam, in contrast to Punjabi Sikhs and Punjabi Hindus who predominantly live in India.<ref name="Harrison2007p132" />
# ([[Ravi River|Ravi]]),
# ([[Sutlej]]),
# ([[Beas River|Beas]]),


Forming the majority of the Punjabi ethnicity in the greater [[Punjab|Punjab region]],<ref name="Gandhi 2013 1">{{cite book |last=Gandhi |first=Rajmohan |title=Punjab: A History from Aurangzeb to Mountbatten |publisher=Aleph Book Company |year=2013 |isbn=978-93-83064-41-0 |location=New Delhi, India, Urbana, [[Illinois]] |page=1}}</ref> Punjabi Muslims write the [[Punjabi language]] under the [[Arabic script|Perso-Arabic script]] known as [[Shahmukhi alphabet|Shahmukhi]]. With a population of more than 80 million,<ref name="Gandhi 2013 1"/><ref>{{Cite web |title=Pakistan Census 2017 |url=https://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files//population_census/census_2017_tables/pakistan/Table11n.pdf |website=[[PBS]]}}</ref> they are the largest [[Ethnic groups in Pakistan|ethnic group in Pakistan]] and the world's [[List of contemporary ethnic groups|third-largest Islam-adhering ethnicity]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Gandhi |first=Rajmohan |title=Punjab: A History from Aurangzeb to Mountbatten |publisher=Aleph Book Company |year=2013 |isbn=978-93-83064-41-0 |location=New Delhi, India, Urbana, [[Illinois]] |page=2}}</ref> after [[Arab Muslims|Arabs]]<ref>Margaret Kleffner Nydell [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZNoiieefqAcC Understanding Arabs: A Guide For Modern Times], Intercultural Press, 2005, {{ISBN|1931930252}}, page xxiii, 14</ref> and [[Bengali Muslims|Bengalis]].<ref>roughly 152 million Bengali Muslims in [[Bangladesh]] and 36.4 million Bengali Muslims in the [[Republic of India]] ([[CIA Factbook]] 2014 estimates, numbers subject to rapid population growth); about 10 million [[Bangladeshis in the Middle East]], 1 million [[Bengalis in Pakistan]], 5 million [[British Bangladeshi]].</ref> The majority of Punjabi Muslims are adherents of [[Sunni Islam]], while a minority adhere to [[Shia Islam]] and other [[sect]]s, including the [[Ahmadiyya]] community which originated in [[Punjab Province (British India)|Punjab]] during the [[British Raj]].
The modern name of the Vipasa,'Beas' is thought to be a corruption of [[Veda Vyasa]], the author of the [[Mahabharata]].


<gallery>
The region came to be known as ''Punjab'' only in the [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] period. It was one of the cradles of [[Indian subcontinent|Indian]] civilization and [[Hinduism]].
File:Rajah Ali Gour, a Gukkur chief.jpg|A Punjabi Muslim of the [[Ghakkar]] tribe
File:Tanolis.jpg|alt=Punjabi Muslim of the Tanoli tribe
File:Portret van een onbekende man van de Kharal-stam uit Multan Kharal. Soonnee Mahomedan. Googaira. Mooltan (titel op object), RP-F-2001-7-1122E-40.jpg|Punjabi Muslim of [[Kharal]] tribe from Multan
File:"Potowaree Rawul Pindee & Bunneah Tonk" – Painting from 19th century Punjab 46.webp|Pothwari Muslim
File:Punjabi Muslim Dogar tribe.jpg|Punjabi Muslim, Firuzpur
</gallery>


====Punjabi Hindus====
Among the classic books that wholly or partly composed in this region are the following.
{{See also|Punjabi Hindus}}
* [[Rigveda]]
In the Indian state of [[Punjab, India|Punjab]], [[Punjabi Hindus]] make up approximately 38.5% of the state's population; numbering 10.7 million and are a majority in the [[Doaba]] region. Punjabi Hindus form a majority in five districts of Punjab, namely, [[Pathankot district|Pathankot]], [[Jalandhar district|Jalandhar]], [[Hoshiarpur district|Hoshiarpur]], [[Fazilka district|Fazilka]] and [[Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar district|Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar]] districts.<ref>{{cite web |title=Religion by districts - Punjab |url=http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011census/C-01/DDW03C-01%20MDDS.XLS |website=census.gov.in|access-date=20 September 2021}}</ref>
* Grammar of [[Sakatayana]]
* [[Ashtadhyayi]] of [[Pāṇini]]
* [[Nirukta]] of Yaska
* [[Charaka Samhita]]
* Mahabharata along with the [[Bhagavad Gita]]
* [[Brihatkatha]] of Gunadya
* The [[Bakhshali Manuscript]]


Punjabi Hindus also form around 8-10 percent of Indian state [[Haryana]]'s population and are very much influential in the state politics.<ref>{{cite web |title=Punjabi Hindus in Haryana |url=https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/haryana/punjabi-leaders-in-cong-seek-due-representation-489628Based on 2011 official census counts out of a total population of 25.4 million, this amounts to 8.1 million people.}}</ref>
The world's oldest university [[Takshashila]] flourished here, even before the [[Gautama Buddha|Buddha]]'s birth.{{Citation needed|date=March 2012}}


During the 1947 partition, millions of Punjabi Hindus (including [[Hindkowans|Hindkowan]] Hindus and [[Saraiki people|Saraiki]] Hindus<ref name="The Tribune - Derawal Nagar">{{cite web|url = http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20030319/ncr1.htm| title = Colonies, posh and model in name only!|publisher = NCR Tribune|quote=Started in 1978, Derawal Nagar was a colony of those who had migrated from Dera Ismile Khan in Northwest Frontier provinces.|access-date = 5 March 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Nagpal|first=Vinod Kumar|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zCPtDwAAQBAJ&dq=derawali+saraiki&pg=PT90|title=Lessons Unlearned|date=25 June 2020|publisher=Notion Press|isbn=978-1-64869-984-9|language=en}}</ref>) [[Mass migration|migrated]] from [[Punjab, Pakistan|West Punjab]] and [[North-West Frontier Province]], of which many ultimately settled in Delhi. Determined from 1991 and 2015 estimates, Punjabi Hindus form approximately 24 to 35 per cent of Delhi's population;{{efn|"The most important section among settlers is the Punjabis who are estimated to constitute around 35 per cent of the population."<ref name="Singh2015">{{cite news |last1=Singh |first1=Raj |title=Delhi Assembly elections 2015: Important facts and major stakeholders |url=https://www.indiatvnews.com/politics/national/delhi-assembly-elections-2015-important-facts-and-stakeholders-25298.html |accessdate=8 September 2021 |work=[[India TV]] |date=6 February 2015}}</ref>}}{{efn|"Though Punjabis constitute a mere twenty-four per cent of so of the capital city's population, on average they hold fifty-three per cent of the available managerial positions."<ref name="Sanjay2008"/>}} based on 2011 official census counts, this amounts to between 4,029,106 and 5,875,779 people.<ref name="delhi2011">{{cite web|url=https://www.citypopulation.de/India-Delhi.html?cityid=2925|title=Delhi (India): Union Territory, Major Agglomerations & Towns – Population Statistics in Maps and Charts|work=City Population|access-date=28 February 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170302112054/https://www.citypopulation.de/India-Delhi.html?cityid=2925|archive-date=2 March 2017}}</ref>


Following the large scale exodus that took place during the 1947 partition, there remains a small Punjabi Hindu community in Pakistan today. According to the [[2017 Census of Pakistan|2017 Census]], there are about 200,000 Hindus in Punjab province, forming approximately 0.2% of the total population.<ref name="2017 Census">{{cite news|url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1410447|access-date=26 April 2020|title=CCI defers approval of census results until elections|work=Dawn}}</ref> Much of the community resides in the primarily rural South Punjab districts of [[Rahim Yar Khan District|Rahim Yar Khan]] and [[Bahawalpur District|Bahawalpur]] where they form 3.12% and 1.12% of the population respectively,<ref name="Districtwise">{{cite web |title=District wise census |url=https://www.pbs.gov.pk/content/district-wise-census-2017-results |access-date=20 September 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |author=Dharmindar Balach |date=17 August 2017 |title=Pakistani Hindus celebrate Janmashtami with fervour |newspaper=Daily Times |url=https://dailytimes.com.pk/120531/pakistani-hindus-celebrate-janmashtami-with-fervour/ |access-date=20 September 2021}}</ref> while the rest are concentrated in urban centres such as [[Lahore]].<ref>{{cite news |date=8 November 2018 |title=Hindu community celebrates Diwali across Punjab |work=The Express Tribune |url=https://tribune.com.pk/story/1842865/1-hindu-community-celebrates-diwali-across-punjab |access-date=18 December 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=23 October 2015 |title=Dussehra celebrated at Krishna Mandir |work=The Express Tribune |url=https://tribune.com.pk/story/978422/victory-over-evil-dussehra-celebrated-at-krishna-mandir |access-date=18 December 2020}}</ref> Punjabi Hindus in India use [[Nāgarī script]] to write the Hindi and Punjabi languages.<ref name="Bright1996p395">{{cite book |author1=Peter T. Daniels |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ospMAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA395 |title=The World's Writing Systems |author2=William Bright |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-19-507993-7 |page=395}}</ref>
===Classic cities of the Punjab region===
* [[Multan]] (Mulasthan), Punjab (Pakistan): The first major poet of the punjabi language also known as father of Punjabi language literature [[Fariduddin Ganjshakar|Baba Farid]] was born in Multan more than 1000 years ago and he pioneered [[Shahmukhī script]] for generalized Punjabi language.
* [[Rawalpindi]], Punjab (Pakistan): A city in Northern Punjab named after the Rawal [[Jogis]]
* [[Sialkot]], Punjab (Pakistan): city founded by Sul ([[Shalya]]), emperor of Madradesa and brother of [[Madri]], second wife of emperor [[Pandu]] and mother to [[Nakul]] and [[Sahadeva]]
* [[Kasur]], Punjab (Pakistan): city founded by [[Kusha (Ramayana)|Kusha]], son of Sri Rama according to the [[Bichitra Natak]] written by [[Guru Gobind Singh]].
* [[Lahore]],Punjab (Pakistan): city founded by [[Lava (Ramayana)|Lava]]([[Loh (Ramayana)|Loh]]), son of Sri Rama according to the Bichitra Natak. Lahore is associated with many prominenet personalities. [[Shah Hussain]] and legendary Punjabi Poet [[Ustad Daman]] were also born here.
* [[Dipalpur]], Punjab (Pakistan): The original name of this city was Siri Puria or Siri Nagar after the elder brother of Raja Salvahan of Sialkot (who was the explorer of Sialkot) Raja Depa Chand renamed Depalpur after his beloved son Raja Depa.
* [[Jhang]], Punjab (Pakistan): city where lovely [[Chenab]] and [[Jhelum]] rivers meet founded in era of [[Sri Rama]] then remodeled by [[Sial]] chief. Famous Punjabi love stories of [[Heer Ranjha]] and [[Mirza Sahiba]] belong to the soil of this particular city. That is why city is also referred to as "Land of Love" and "City of [[Bhangra]]". Jhang is the birthplace of famous revolutionary of Punjab known as [[Dulla Bhatti]].
* [[Faisalabad]], Punjab (Pakistan): Faisalabad is the birthplace of famous Indian revolutionary [[Bhagat Singh]].
* [[Gujranwala]], Punjab (Pakistan): Known as City of Wrestlers or [[Pehlwani|Pehelwans]]. Famous warrior [[Ranjit Singh]] was born in Gujranwala as well. Gujranwala is also a birthplace of renowned women Punjabi poet [[Amrita Pritam]].
* [[Hasan Abdal]], Punjab (Pakistan): Hasan Abdal is famous for Gurdwara Sri Panja Sahib, one of the most sacred places of Sikhism.
* [[Gujrat]], Punjab (Pakistan): Founded by Raja Bachhan Pal Gurjar in 460 BC.The two famous battles in Punjab the Battle of Chillianwala and the Battle of Gujrat were fought here.
* [[Bahawalpur]]: located near two important cities of [[Indus Valley Civilization]]. Bahawalpur was an autonomous princely state and still people pride themselves in princely state of Bahawalpur.
* [[Amritsar]], Punjab (India): Founded by the fourth Sikh guru Ram Das ji in 1574, it has two of the holiest places of worship for Sikhs, the Akal Takht Sahib and the Shri Harmandir Sahib.
* [[Jalandhar]], Punjab (India): A historic city mentioned in the Puranas.
* [[Phagwara]],Punjab (India): City of Hearts.
* [[Chandigarh]],Punjab (India): The City beautiful.
* [[Kaithal]], Haryana, (India): Historically, it was known as Kapisthal, meaning "Abode of ''Kapi''", another name of Lord [[Hanuman]], and it is said to have been founded by the [[Pandava]] Emperor, [[Yudhisthira]] of [[Mahabharata]]. It is traditionally connected with Hanuman, and has a temple dedicated to [[Anjani]], the mother of Hanuman.
* [[Kurukshetra]], Haryana, (India): The site of the [[Mahabharata]] war.
* [[Karnal]], Haryana, (India): city founded by [[Karna]].
* [[Katasraj temple]], Punjab (Pakistan): Classic temple complex in the [[Chakwal]] district, site of the 'enchanted pool' episode in the Mahabharata, where [[Yudhishtira]] is tested by his father Lord [[Yama (Hinduism)|Yama]]/[[Dharma]].


<gallery>
The historic [[Vedic religion]] had a great impact on the regions religions followed by modern Hinduism and Buddhism which influenced the entire region including modern day Afghanistan,Usbekistan,Tajikistan and the Balochistan region in Iran and Pakistan. Islam reached the region following [[Muhammad bin Qasim|the arrival of Arabs]] in 711 AD and [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]] tribes in the 11th century during this period of Islamic invasions some Hindu's clans converted to Islam.
File:Portret van een onbekende handelaar uit Hazara Khutree. Hindoo trader. Hazara (titel op object), RP-F-2001-7-1122E-20.jpg|A Hindu [[Khatri]] Trader of [[Hazara region|Hazara]], ca. 1868-1872
File:Portrait of three unidentified Lahore carpenters (likely Tarkhan) with tools, ca.1862–72.png|Hindu [[Tarkhan (Punjab)|Tarkhan]] Carpenters of Lahore, ca.1862-72
File:Portrait of two unidentified men of the Kamboj (or Kamboh) tribe of Multan, ca.1862–72.png|Hindu [[Kamboj]] of Multan, ca.1862-72
File:Portrait of an unidentified Arora Storekeeper from Lahore with coins in hand and in front of him, ca.1862–72.png|A Hindu [[Arora]] Trader of Lahore, ca.1862-72
File:Portrait of a Lahore distiller and vendor of liquor (Kalwar, Kullal, Kalal, or Kalar), ca.1862–72.png|A Hindu [[Kalal]] of Lahore, ca.1862-72
</gallery>


====Punjabi Sikhs====
[[File:Mohenjo-daro Priesterkönig.jpeg|thumb|upright|[[Mature Harappan]] "Priest King" statue, [[Mohenjo-daro]], wearing Sindhi [[Ajrak]], late Mature Harappan period, National Museum, Karachi, Pakistan]]The tribes present in the NWFP of Pakistan and Afghanistan are most probably descended from Huna, Kushans etc. They could be the modern day [[Hazaras]], [[Pashtuns]], [[Tajiks]], [[Uzbeks]] and [[Nuristani people|Nuristani]] and many more. The other theory is that, after the Islamic invasion of Sindh, all the tribes there broke off and came down lower into India and established their kingdoms; hence the name ''Rajput'' (son of a king). The Huna were defeated in 528 AD by [[Yasodharman]] and in 532 a coalition of Hindu kings drove the Huna out of Northern India.<ref>http://www.worldhistorymaps.info/History/CentralAsia.html</ref> Genetic analysis of Rajput clans found a close connection with the Punjabi [[Khatri]]/[[Arora]] clans, indicating that the Rajputs are not outsiders as most tend to believe.<ref>{{cite journal|pmid=6242530}}</ref>
{{See also|Punjabi Sikhs}}
[[File:Photograph of Sikh girls enrolled in a school run by the Church Missionary School, Amritsar, 1875.jpg|thumb|Photograph of Sikh girls enrolled in a school run by the Church Missionary School, Amritsar, 1875]]
[[Sikhism]] from ''Sikh'', meaning a "disciple", or a "learner", is a monotheistic religion originated in the [[Punjab (region)|Punjab region]] of the Indian subcontinent during the 15th century.<ref name="Cole">{{cite book |title=Sikhism and Christianity: A Comparative Study (Themes in Comparative Religion) | publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |author1=W.Owen Cole |author2=Piara Singh Sambhi | year=1993 | location=Wallingford, United Kingdom |page=117 | isbn=978-0-333-54107-4}}</ref><ref name="Partridge2013">{{cite book|author=Christopher Partridge|title=Introduction to World Religions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z3AjAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA429|date=1 November 2013|publisher=Fortress Press|isbn=978-0-8006-9970-3|pages=429–}}</ref> The fundamental beliefs of Sikhism, articulated in the sacred scripture [[Guru Granth Sahib]], include faith and meditation on the name of the one creator, unity and equality of all humankind, engaging in [[selfless service]], striving for social justice for the [[Sarbat da bhala|benefit and prosperity of all]], and honest conduct and livelihood while living a householder's life.<ref name="Kalsi_Chelsea">{{cite book |title=Sikhism | publisher=Chelsea House, Philadelphia| author = Sewa Singh Kalsi | pages=41–50}}</ref><ref name="Cole_Sambhi">{{cite book |title=The Sikhs: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices | publisher=Sussex Academic Press |author1=William Owen Cole |author2=Piara Singh Sambhi | year=1995|page=200}}</ref><ref name="Teece 2004 4">{{cite book|last=Teece|first=Geoff|year=2004|title=Sikhism:Religion in focus|publisher=Black Rabbit Books|isbn=978-1-58340-469-0|page=4}}</ref> Being one of the youngest amongst the major world religions, with 25-28 million adherents worldwide, [[Sikhism]] is [[Major religious groups#Religious demographics|the fifth- largest religion in the world]].


The Sikhs form a majority of close to 58% in the modern day [[Punjab, India]].
Following the independence of Pakistan and the subsequent [[Partition of India|partition of British India]], a process of population exchange took place in 1947 as Muslims left [[East Punjab]] and headed to the newly created Pakistan, and Hindus and Sikhs left [[West Punjab]]<ref>.[http://www.cet.edu/earthinfo/sasia/SAhis.html South Asia: British India Partitioned]</ref> for the newly created state of India. As a result of these population exchanges, both parts are now relatively homogeneous, where religion is concerned.
[[File:Taxila Pakistan juillet 2004.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Taxila Pakistan is a [[World Heritage Site]]]]


[[Gurmukhi alphabet|Gurmukhi]] is the writing script used by Sikhs and for scriptures of [[Sikhism]]. It is used in official documents in parts of [[India]] and elsewhere.<ref name="Bright1996p395" /> The tenth Guru of Sikhs, [[Guru Gobind Singh]] (1666 – 1708) established the Khalsa Brotherhood, and set for them a code of conduct.<ref name="colesambhip37">{{cite book | last=Cole | first=W. Owen | author2=Sambhi, Piara Singh | year=1978 | title=The Sikhs: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices | publisher=Routledge | isbn=978-0-7100-8842-0 | page=[https://archive.org/details/sikhs00cole/page/37 37] | url=https://archive.org/details/sikhs00cole/page/37 }}</ref><ref name="johnkoller313">{{cite book|author=John M Koller|title=The Indian Way: An Introduction to the Philosophies & Religions of India| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lgg3DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA313 |year=2016 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-315-50740-8 |pages=312–313 }}</ref>
The main site of the [[Indus Valley Civilization]] in Punjab was the city of [[Harrapa]]. The arrival of the Indo-Aryans led to the flourishing of the [[Vedic Civilization]] along the length of the [[Indus River]]. This civilization shaped subsequent cultures in South Asia and [[Afghanistan]]. Although the archaeological site at Harappa was partially damaged in 1857 when engineers constructing the Lahore-Multan railroad used stone from the Harappa ruins for track ballast, an abundance of artifacts have nevertheless been found. Punjab was part of the great ancient empires including the [[Gandhara]] [[Mahajanapadas]], [[Mauryas]], [[Kushans]] and [[Hindu Shahi]]. Agriculture flourished and trading cities (such as Multan and Lahore) grew in wealth.


===Influence===
====Punjabi Christians====
{{See also|Punjabi Christians}}
Due to its location, the Punjab region came under constant attack and influence from the east and the west. Invaded by the [[Mauryan Empire]], [[Persian Empire|Persians]], [[Greeks]], [[Kushans]], [[Scythians]], [[Turkic peoples|Turks]], and Afghans. Its legacy is a unique culture that combines Hindu, Buddhist, Greek, Persian, Islamic, and Sikhs, and lastly British elements were also adopted during colonial rule. The city of Taxila was founded by the son of Taksh, who was the son of Bharat and who, in turn, was the brother of Ram. It was reputed to house the oldest university in the world, [[Takshashila University]]; one of the teachers was the great [[Vedic period|Vedic]] thinker and politician [[Chanakya]]. Taxila was a great centre of learning and intellectual discussion during the [[Maurya Empire]]. It is a UN [[World Heritage site]], and revered for its archaeological and religious history. A legend based on oral traditions holds that Lahore, known in ancient times as Lavapuri (City of Lava in Sanskrit), was founded by Prince Lava, the son of Rama, while Kasur was founded by his twin brother Prince Kusha. To this day, Lahore Fort has a vacant temple dedicated to Lava (also pronounced Loh, hence Loh-awar or "The Fort of Loh").
Most of the modern Punjabi Christians are descended from converts during British rule; initially, conversions to Christianity came from the "upper levels of Punjab society, from the privileged and prestigious", including "high caste" Hindu families, as well as Muslim families.<ref name="Jones1976">{{cite book|last=Jones|first=Kenneth W.|title=Arya Dharm: Hindu Consciousness in 19th-century Punjab|year=1976|publisher=[[University of California Press]]|language=en|isbn=978-0-520-02920-0|page=[https://archive.org/details/americocastromea0000unse/page/12 12]|quote=Christian conversion followed patterns of previous religious inroads, striking at the two sections of the social structure. Initial conversions came from the upper levels of Punjab society, from the privileged and prestigious. Few in number and won individually, high caste converts accounted for far more public attention and reaction to Christian conversion than the numerically superior successes among the depressed. Repeatedly, conversion or the threat of conversion among students at mission schools, or members of the literate castes, produced a public uproar.|url=https://archive.org/details/americocastromea0000unse/page/12}}</ref><ref name="Day2015">{{cite book|last=Day|first=Abby|title=Contemporary Issues in the Worldwide Anglican Communion: Powers and Pieties|date=28 December 2015|publisher=[[Ashgate Publishing]]|language=en|isbn=978-1-4724-4415-8|page=220|quote=The Anglican mission work in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent was primarily carried out by CMS and USPG in the Punjab Province (Gabriel 2007, 10), which covered most parts of the present state of Pakistan, particularly Lahore, Peshawar and Karachi (Gibbs 1984, 178-203). A native subcontinental church began to take shape with people from humbler backgrounds, while converts from high social caste preferred to attend the worship with the English (Gibbs 1984, 284).}}</ref><ref name="Moghal1997">{{cite book|last=Moghal|first=Dominic|title=Human person in Punjabi society: a tension between religion and culture|year=1997|publisher=Christian Study Centre|language=en|quote=Those Christians who were converted from the "high caste" families both Hindus and Muslims look down upon those Christians who were converted from the low caste, specially from the untouchables.}}</ref> However, other modern Punjabi Christians have converted from the [[Chuhra]] group. The [[Chuhra|Churas]] were largely converted to Christianity in [[North India]] during the [[British Raj]]. The vast majority were converted from the [[Chuhra|Hindu Chura]] communities of Punjab, and to a lesser extent [[Mazhabi Sikh]]s; under the influence of enthusiastic [[British Indian Army|army]] officers and Christian missionaries. Large numbers of [[Mazhabi|Mazhabi Sikhs]] were also converted in the [[Moradabad district]] and the [[Bijnor district]]<ref>Alter, J.P and J. Alter (1986) In the Doab and [[Rohilkhand]]: north Indian Christianity, 1815–1915. I.S.P.C.K publishing p183</ref> of [[Uttar Pradesh]]. [[Rohilkhand]] saw a mass conversion of its entire population of 4500 Mazhabi Sikhs into the [[Methodist Church]].<ref>Alter, J.P and J. Alter (1986) In the Doab and Rohilkhand: north Indian Christianity, 1815–1915. I.S.P.C.K publishing p196</ref> Sikh organisations became alarmed at the rate of conversions among high caste Sikh families, and as a result, they responded by immediately dispatching Sikh missionaries to counteract the conversions.<ref name="Chadha2005">{{cite book|last=Chadha|first=Vivek|title=Low Intensity Conflicts in India: An Analysis|date=23 March 2005|publisher=[[SAGE Publications]]|language=en|isbn=978-0-7619-3325-0|page=174|quote='In 1881 there were 3,976 Christians in the Punjab. By 1891 their number had increased to 19,547, by 1901 to 37,980, by 1911 to 163,994 and by 1921 to 315,931 persons' (see Figure 8.1). However, the Sikhs were more alarmed when some of the high caste families starting converting.}}</ref>


==History==
[[File:PazyrikHorseman.JPG|thumb|upright|A Scythian ([[Saka]]) horseman from [[Pazyryk culture|Pazyryk]] in Central Asia, c. 300 BC.]]
{{Main|History of Punjab}}
Unique to central and western regions of Punjab (which form Pakistan's Punjab province) was that this area was incorporated into various central Asian, Greek and Persian empires; the area witnessed invasions by [[Alexander the Great]], [[Mahmud of Ghazni]] and [[Tamerlane]], to name a few. These were periods of contact between this region of Pakistan, the Persian Empire, and for a time this extended all the way to Greece. In later centuries, when Persian was the language of the Mughal government by force, Mughal architecture, poetry, art and music were an integral part of the region's culture. The official language of Punjab remained [[Persian language|Persian]] until the arrival of the British in the mid 19th century, where it was finally abolished and the administrative language was changed to Urdu written in the [[Perso-Arabic script]], which was only adopted by the Muslims as Hindus retained their [[Devanagari]] script and the Sikhs [[Gurmukhi]]; both are members of the [[Brahmi]] script and native to India.<ref>http://www.panthic.org/news/135/ARTICLE/2701/2006-08-30.html</ref><ref>[http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=cCo2Ray4B7kC&pg=PT1&lpg=PT1&dq=Language+and+literacy+in+social+practice+By+Janet+Maybin,+Open+University&source=bl&ots=93PVqCKhrd&sig=gF0z6avAMBHHQcH2mdfckm_L_a4&hl=en&ei=Gg1_SpPgC4msjAezr-nwAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1#v=onepage&q=urdu%2Fperso&f=false Language and literacy in social practice] By Janet Maybin, Open University, page 102</ref>
{{See also|Punjabi Muslims#History|Sikhs#History|Punjabi Hindus#History}}


===Punjabi Hindus===
== Culture ==
{{Main|Punjabi culture|Punjabi Culture Day}}
Punjabi Hindus are a group of people that follow the Hindu religion and have their roots in the erstwhile joint Punjab of greater Panjab (West Punjab/East Punjab).
[[File:Photograph of a group of Punjabi women, 1905.png|thumb|Photograph of a group of Punjabi women, 1905]]
Punjabi culture 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 civilisation]], dating back to 3000 BCE.<ref name="Nayar1"/> [[Agriculture]] has been the major economic feature of the Punjab and has therefore formed the foundation of Punjabi culture, with one's social status being determined by landownership.<ref name="Nayar1"/> The Punjab emerged as an important agricultural region, especially following the [[Green Revolution]] during the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s, has been described as the "breadbasket of both India and Pakistan".<ref name="Nayar1"/> Besides being known for agriculture and trade, the Punjab is also a region that over the centuries has experienced many foreign invasions and consequently has a long-standing history of warfare, as the Punjab is situated on the principal route of invasions through the northwestern frontier of the Indian subcontinent, which promoted to adopt a lifestyle that entailed engaging in warfare to protect the land.<ref name="Nayar1"/> Warrior culture typically elevates the value of the community's honour ([[Izzat (honour)|izzat]]), which is highly esteemed by Punjabis.<ref name="Nayar1"/>


===Language===
In India, most Punjabi Hindus are concentrated in the Indian states of Punjab, Haryana and Delhi. Some Punjabis can also be found in the surrounding areas as well as the recent cosmopolitan migrants in big cities like Mumbai. There has also been continuous migration of Punjabi Hindus to western world countries like USA, Canada and UK.
{{Main|Punjabi language}}Punjabi, sometimes spelled Panjabi,{{efn|''Punjabi'' is the [[British English]] spelling, and ''Pañjābī'' is the [[ISO 15919|romanised]] spelling from the native script(s).}} is an [[Indo-Aryan languages|Indo-Aryan language]] natively spoken by the Punjabi people.


Punjabi is the most popular first language in Pakistan, with 80.5 million native speakers as per the [[2017 Census of Pakistan|2017 census]], and the 11th most popular in India, with 31.1 million native speakers, as per the [[2011 Census of India|2011 census]].
Punjabi Hindus have their unique culture which resembles in some ways very closely the culture of Sikhs, differing in lot of other ways. Punjabi Hindus usually have a relatively liberal lifestyle and are famous for their lavish wedding parties. Like other Hindus they are also divided into castes. The most common are Scheduled Castes such [[Chamar]] (12% of Punjab population) & [[Balmiki]] (10% of Punjab population) and other SC's (11% of Punjab population), Khatris, Sainis, Rajputs, Brahmans, Baniyas etc. Tyipical Punjabi Hindu surnames include Saini, Kapoor, Anand, Bhasin, Dhawan, Khanna, Khurana, Dutta, Bali, Arora, Sethi etc. Punjabi Hindus go to Hindu temples for worship but will also visit Sikh Gurudwara. In many Punjabi Hindu families, the eldest born is raised as a Sikh.{{Citation needed|date=March 2012}} Marriages between Hindus and Sikhs is possible and is normal in Punjab, if both boy and girl are from same caste. For example, a Saini Hindu can easily marry to a Saini Sikh, a Khatri Hindu can easily marry to Khatri Sikh. Therefore within one family both Hindus and Sikhs can be found in Punjabis.


The language is spoken among a [[Punjabi diaspora|significant overseas diaspora]], particularly in [[Canada]], the United States, and the [[United Kingdom]].
===Arrival of Islam - Punjabi Muslims===
[[File:BullehShah.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Bulleh Shah]] the Sufi Muslim Scholar, Poet]]
The Punjabis were mainly Hindus with Buddhist and [[Zoroastrian]] minorities when the [[Umayyad]] Muslim Arab army led by [[Muhammad bin Qasim]] conquered the Punjab and Sindh in 711. Bin Qasim recorded that he so was overwhelmed by the gold in the [[Aditya]] Temple in the thriving trading city of Multan (known as ''Mulasthana'' then), that he recovered the expenses for his entire invasion.


In Pakistan, Punjabi is written using the [[Shahmukhi alphabet]], based on the [[Persian alphabet|Perso-Arabic script]]; in India, it is written using the [[Gurmukhi|Gurmukhi alphabet]], based on the [[Brahmic scripts|Indic scripts]]. Punjabi is unusual among the Indo-Aryan languages and the broader [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European language family]] in its usage of [[Tone (linguistics)|lexical tone]].<ref>{{cite book |author-last=Bhatia |author-first=Tej |title=Lexical Anaphors and Pronouns in Selected South Asian Languages |date=1999 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-014388-1 |editor1-last=Lust |editor1-first=Barbara |page=637 |chapter=Lexican Anaphors and Pronouns in Punjabi |editor2-last=Gair |editor2-first=James}} Other tonal Indo-Aryan languages include [[Hindko]], [[Dogri language|Dogri]], [[Western Pahari]], [[Sylheti language|Sylheti]] and some [[Dardic languages]].</ref>
During the reign of [[Mahmud of Ghazni]], non-Muslims were ordered to pay the [[jaziya]] tax under Islamic law.<ref name=Esposito>[[John Esposito|John Louis Esposito]], ''Islam the Straight Path'', Oxford University Press, Jan 15, 1998, p. 34.</ref><ref>Lewis (1984), pp. 10, 20</ref><ref>Ali, Abdullah Yusuf (1991). The Holy Quran. Medina: King Fahd Holy Qur-an Printing Complex, pg. 507</ref> The province became an important centre and Lahore was made into a second capital of the Turk [[Ghaznavid Empire]] based out of [[Ghazni]].


Punjabi developed from [[Prakrit]] languages and later {{IAST|Apabhraṃśa}} ({{Langx|sa|अपभ्रंश}}, 'deviated' or 'non-grammatical speech')<ref>{{cite book |last1=Singha |first1=H. S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gqIbJz7vMn0C&dq=punjabi+prakrit+language&pg=PA166 |title=The Encyclopedia of Sikhism (over 1000 Entries) |date=2000 |publisher=Hemkunt Press |isbn=978-81-7010-301-1 |page=166 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170121195057/https://books.google.com/books?id=gqIbJz7vMn0C |archive-date=21 January 2017}}</ref> From 600&nbsp;BCE, Sanskrit was advocated as official language and Prakrit gave birth to many regional languages in different parts of India. All these languages are called Prakrit (Sanskrit: {{Langx|sa|प्राकृत|translit=prākṛta|label=none}}) collectively. [[Paishachi]], [[Shauraseni Prakrit|Shauraseni]] and [[Gandhari language|Gandhari]] were Prakrit languages, which were spoken in north and north-western India and Punjabi developed from one of these Prakrits. Later in northern India, these Prakrits gave rise to their own
===Mughals===
[[Apabhraṃśa]], a descendant of Prakrit.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Singh |first1=Sikander |title=The Origin Theories of Punjabi Language: A Context of Historiography of Punjabi Language |journal=International Journal of Sikh Studies |date=April 2019 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/353680383}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=G S Sidhu |url=http://archive.org/details/panjabandpanjabi_202003 |title=Panjab And Panjabi |date=2004}}</ref> Punjabi emerged as an [[Apabhraṃśa]], a degenerated form of Prakrit, in the 7th century CE and became stable by the 10th century. The earliest writings in Punjabi belong to [[Nath|Nath Yogi]] era from 9th to 14th century CE.<ref name="Hoiberg 2000">{{Cite book |last=Hoiberg |first=Dale |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ISFBJarYX7YC&q=Punjabi+language+Nath+Saints&pg=PA214 |title=Students' Britannica India |date=2000 |publisher=Popular Prakashan |isbn=978-0-85229-760-5 |language=en}}</ref> The language of these compositions is morphologically closer to [[Shauraseni Prakrit|Shauraseni Apbhramsa]], though vocabulary and rhythm is surcharged with extreme colloquialism and folklore.<ref name="Hoiberg 2000" /> The Arabic and modern Persian influence in the historical Punjab region began with the late first millennium [[Muslim conquests on the Indian subcontinent]].<ref name="google">{{cite book |author=Brard, G.S.S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UUdYFH9skIkC&pg=PA81 |title=East of Indus: My Memories of Old Punjab |date=2007 |publisher=Hemkunt Publishers |isbn=9788170103608 |page=81 |access-date=13 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180209045039/https://books.google.com/books?id=UUdYFH9skIkC&pg=PA81 |archive-date=9 February 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> Many [[Persian language|Persian]] and [[Arabic]] words were incorporated in Punjabi.<ref name="google2">{{cite book |author=Mir, F. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EUPc5pDWKikC&pg=PA35 |title=The Social Space of Language: Vernacular Culture in British Colonial Punjab |date=2010 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=9780520262690 |page=35 |access-date=13 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180209045039/https://books.google.com/books?id=EUPc5pDWKikC&pg=PA35 |archive-date=9 February 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="google3">{{cite book |author=Schiffman, H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=52aicl9l7rwC&pg=PA314 |title=Language Policy and Language Conflict in Afghanistan and Its Neighbors: The Changing Politics of Language Choice |date=2011 |publisher=Brill |isbn=9789004201453 |page=314 |access-date=13 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180209045040/https://books.google.com/books?id=52aicl9l7rwC&pg=PA314 |archive-date=9 February 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> So Punjabi relies heavily on Persian and Arabic words which are used with a liberal approach to language. After the fall of the Sikh empire, Urdu was made the official language of Punjab (in Pakistani Punjab, it is still the primary official language), and influenced the language as well.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Schiffman |first=Harold |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=52aicl9l7rwC&q=urdu+words+in+punjabi&pg=PA314 |title=Language Policy and Language Conflict in Afghanistan and Its Neighbors: The Changing Politics of Language Choice |date=9 December 2011 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-20145-3 |language=en}}</ref>
[[File:Badshahi Mosque July 1 2005 pic32 by Ali Imran (1).jpg|thumb|upright|Badshahi Masjid - The largest mosque of the Mughal Empire built by emperor [[Aurangzeb]].]]
The [[Mughals]] controlled the region from 1524 until 1739 and would also lavish the province with building projects such as the [[Shalimar Gardens (Lahore)|Shalimar Gardens]] and the [[Badshahi Mosque]], both situated in Lahore. Muslim soldiers, traders, architects, theologians and Sufis flocked from the rest of the Muslim world to the Islamic [[Sultanate]] in South Asia and some may have settled in the Punjab. Following the decline of the Mughals, the [[Afsharid dynasty|Shah of Iran]] and founder of the Afsharid dynasty in [[Persia]], [[Nader Shah]] crossed the [[Indus]] and sacked the province in 1739. Later, the Afghan conqueror [[Ahmad Shah Durrani]], incidentally born in Punjab, in the city of [[Multan]] made the Punjab a part of his [[Durrani Empire]] lasting until 1762.


Punjabis also speak several languages and dialects related to Punjabi, such as the [[Pahari-Pothwari|Pothwari]] spoken in the [[Pothohar Plateau|Pothohar]] region of Northern Pakistani Punjab<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fred A |first=Robertson |title=Gazetteer of Rawalpindi District |publisher=Punjab Government |year=1895 |edition=2nd}}</ref>


===Traditional dress===
{{Main|Punjabi clothing}} '''Kaintha'''


The Kaintha, a traditional necklace which is usually made out of gold or steel, is an integral element of Punjabi clothing. It is adorned with a pendant that stands out from the rest of the necklace, which is accompanied by matching color schemes as well as yarn in the back to hold the piece together. It is worn with the Shalwar Kameez alongside a shawl, chunni, or vest. Men and women alike traditionally wear the Kaintha to the [[Mayian]] and Jaggo ceremonies. It is also commonly worn while performing the traditional [[Bhangra (dance)|Bhangra]] and [[Giddha]] dances
===Creation of Sikh religion - Punjabi Sikhs===
[[File:Ranjitsingh.gif|right||thumb|upright|Portrait of Maharaja Ranjit Singh]]


{{Main|Punjabi clothing}}'''Phulkari'''
At the beginning of the fifteenth century, the religion of [[Sikhism]] was born, and during the Mughal period its [[Misl]]s gradually emerged as a formidable military force until assimilated under the expanding [[Sikh Empire]]. After fighting [[Ahmad Shah Durrani]], the Sikhs wrested control of the Punjab from his descendants and ruled in a [[Confederation|confederacy]], which later became the Sikh Empire of the Punjab under [[Ranjit Singh|Maharaja Ranjit Singh]]. A denizen of the city of [[Gujranwala]], the capital of Ranjit Singh's empire was Lahore.<ref>[http://www.heritage.gov.pk/html_Pages/sikh.htm Sikh Period - Government of Pakistan]</ref> The Sikhs made architectural contributions to the city and the [[Lahore Fort]]. The Sikh empire was the first local power to rule the region since [[Muhammad of Ghor|Muhammed Ghori's]] defeat of [[Prithviraj III|Prithvi Raj Chauhan]] in 1192.


A traditional element of Punjabi clothing has been the [[Phulkari]]. The phulkari is folk embroidery that was typically inclusive of work in floral patterns but has taken on a larger aspect of including geometrical shapes, symbols and motifs relevant to the culture. This pattern has been worn by women for hundreds of years in very vibrant colours. The pattern is typically stitched with woven silk and colourful thread. The phulkari pattern is adorned onto dupattas/chunis, better known as a decorative scarf. Over time the phulkari pattern has taken onto embellishments onto suits, dresses, accessories and more. You will see women wearing phulkari during important religious and cultural folk celebrations (i.e.: Vaisakhi, Lohri) and then in wedding celebrations such as the Jago.
===British===
[[File:Raja Lal Singh, of First Anglo-Sikh War, 1846.jpg|right|thumb|[[Raja Lal Singh]], who led Sikh forces against the British during the [[First Anglo-Sikh War]], 1846]]
The Maharaja's death in the summer of 1839 brought political chaos and the subsequent battles of succession and the bloody infighting between the factions at court weakened the state. Relationships with neighbouring British territories then broke down, starting the [[First Anglo-Sikh War]]; this led to a British official being resident in Lahore and the annexation of territory south of the Satluj to British India.


Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (2024, February 21). Punjab. Encyclopædia Britannica.
===Independence and its aftermath===
In 1947 the Punjab province of British India was divided along religious lines into [[West Punjab]] and [[East Punjab]]. The western Punjabis voted to join the new country of Pakistan while the easterners joined India. This led to massive rioting as both sides committed atrocities against fleeing refugees.


<nowiki>https://www.britannica.com/place/Punjab-state-India</nowiki>
The undivided Punjab, of which Punjab (Pakistan) forms a major region today, was home to a large minority population of Punjabi Sikhs and Hindus unto 1947 apart from the Muslim majority.<ref>''The Punjab in 1920s – A Case study of Muslims'', Zarina Salamat, Royal Book Company, [[Karachi]], 1997. table 45, pp. 136. ISBN 969-407-230-1</ref>


Malhotra, A., & Mir, F. (2012). Punjab Reconsidered: History, culture, and Practice. Oxford University Press.
==Geographic distribution==
===Pakistani Punjabis===
Punjabis make up almost 40% of the population of Pakistan. The Punjabis found in Pakistan belong to groups known as biradaris, which descend from a common male ancestor. 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. Zamindars are further divided into qoups such as the [[Punjabi Rajput|Rajput]], [[Aheer]]s, [[Haral]]s, [[Ghosi (tribe)]], [[Muslim Jat of Punjab|Jat]], [[Punjabi Shaikh|Shaikhs]] or (Muslim [[Khatri]]), [[Kamboh]]s, [[Gujjar]]s, [[Dogar]]s and [[Labana|Rahmani]] (Muslim Labana). Zamindar groups claiming Central Asian or Middle Eastern ancestry include the [[Gakhars]], [[Khattar]], [[Awan Pakistan|Awan]], [[Mughal (tribe)|Mughal]] and [[Arain]], comprising the main tribes in the north of the province, while [[Khagga]], [[Bodla]], [[Jhandir]], [[Daudpota]], [[Gardezi]], [[Syed]] and [[Quraishi]] are found in the south, all of whom claim [[Arab]] ancestry. Immigrants from neighbouring regions, such as the [[Kashmiri Muslims|Kashmiri]], [[Punjabi Pathan|Pashtun]] and [[Punjabi Baloch|Baluch]], also form important element in the Punjabi population. Pashtun tribes like the [[Niazi]]s and the [[Khogyani (tribe)|Khakwanis]], are integrated into Punjabi village life. Especially the members of the Niazi tribe, who see themselves as Punjabis first. They have big communities in [[Mianwali]], [[Bakkar]], [[Lahore]], [[Faisalabad]], [[Sahiwal]] and [[Toba Tek Singh]]. Major Moeen groups include the [[Lohar]], [[Khateek]], [[Rawal]], [[Chhimba Darzi]], [[Muslim Teli|Teli]], [[Malik (Julaha)|Julaha]], [[Mallaah]], [[Mirasi]], who are associated with a particular crafts or occupation.<ref>''Muslim peoples : a world ethnographic survey'' Richard V. Weekes, editor-in-chief Greenwood Press 1978</ref>


Snehi, Y. (2013). Book review: Punjab reconsidered: History, culture and practice. Studies in History, 29(1), 155–
Punjabis have traditionally and historically been farmers and soldiers, which has transferred into modern times with their dominance of agriculture and military fields in Pakistan. In addition, Punjabis in Pakistan have been quite prominent politically, having had many elected Members of Parliament. As the most ardent supporters of a Pakistani state, the Punjabis in Pakistan have shown a strong predilection towards the adoption of the Urdu language but nearly all speak Punjabi, and still identify themselves as ethnic Punjabis for the most part. Religious homogeneity remains elusive as a predominant Islamic [[Sunni Islam|Sunni]]-[[Shi'a Islam|Shia]] population and a Christian minority have not completely wiped out diversity since the partition of British India. 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 [[Sindhi people|Sindhis]]) and Punjabi Pathans (which publications like ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' consider a transitional group between Punjabis and [[Pashtun people|Pathans]].


158. <nowiki>https://doi.org/10.1177/0257643013496694</nowiki>
{{See also|Languages of Pakistan}}


Szivak, J. (2022). The changing landscape of Punjab in Bollywood film songs. South Asia: Journal of South Asian
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Rank || State || Punjabi speakers || Percentage
|-
| — || '''Pakistan''' || '''76,335,300''' || '''44.15'''
|-
| 1 || [[Punjab (Pakistan)|Punjab]] || 70,671,704 || 75.23
|-
| 2 || [[Sindh]] || 3,592,261 || 6.99
|-
| 3 || [[Islamabad]] || 1,343,625 || 71.66
|-
| 4 || [[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa|NWFP]] || 396,085 || 0.97
|-
| 5 || [[Balochistan (Pakistan)|Balochistan]] || 318,745 || 2.52
|-
| 6 || [[Federally Administered Tribal Areas|Fata]] || 12,880 || 0.23
|}


Studies, 45(6), 1112–1127. <nowiki>https://doi.org/10.1080/00856401.2022.2114061</nowiki>
===Indian Punjabis===
;Dastar
[[File:Punjabi sardar.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Indian Punjabi farmer.]]
{{Main|Dastar}}
[[File:Pind 50.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Indian Punjabi Woman in Kitchen]]
The population of [[Punjab (India)|Indian Punjab]] is divided into two major religious groups, the Sikhs and Hindus. It is further sub-divided into various [[tribal|tribal groups]], [[social groups|social groups (caste)]] and economic groups. Major sub-groups in India include the [[Khatris]], Kalals/[[Ahluwalia]]s, [[Punjabi Banias|Bania]], [[Saini]] [[Sikh]]s, [[Saini]] [[Hindu]]s, [[Punjabi Brahmins|Brahmin]], [[Chamar]], [[Chhimba]], [[Chura]], [[Jatt Sikh]]s, [[Kamboj]], [[Khatri]], [[Labana]]s, [[Lohar]], [[Mahtam]], [[Mazhabi]], [[Nai (caste)|Nais]], [[Punjabi Rajput|Rajput]], [[Ramgarhia]], [[Ramdasia]], [[Sood]]s and [[Tarkhan]]s etc. All these subgroups are hardworking and well educated and living with unity, peace and harmony with each other.


A [[Dastar]] is an item of headgear associated with [[Sikhism]] and is an important part of the Punjabi and Sikh culture. Among the Sikhs, the ''dastār'' is an article of faith that represents equality, honour, self-respect, courage, spirituality, and piety. The [[Khalsa]] Sikh men and women, who keep the [[The Five Ks|Five Ks]], wear the turban to cover their long, uncut hair (''[[Kesh (Sikhism)|kesh]]''). The Sikhs regard the ''dastār'' as an important part of the unique Sikh identity. After the ninth Sikh Guru, [[Guru Tegh Bahadur|Tegh Bahadur]], was sentenced to death by the [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] emperor [[Aurangzeb]], [[Guru Gobind Singh]], the tenth Sikh Guru created the [[Khalsa]] and gave five articles of faith, one of which is unshorn hair, which the ''dastār'' covers.<ref name="turban">[http://www.earlytimes.in/newsdet.aspx?q=233794 “Importance of turban in Sikhism”], earlytimes.in. 29 May 2018.</ref> Prior to [[Sikhism|Sikhi]], only kings, royalty, and those of high stature wore turbans, but Sikh Gurus adopted the practice to assert equality and sovereignty among people.<ref name="Turban">{{cite web|title=Sikh Theology Why Sikhs Wear A Turban|url=http://www.sikhcoalition.org/sikh-theology-why-sikhs-wear-a-turban|website=The Sikh Coalition|access-date=13 November 2016}}</ref>
Like Punjabi Muslim society, these various [[caste system in India|caste]]s are associated with particular occupations or crafts. Communities such as the Jatt Sikh, Kamboj Sikh and Saini Sikh are essentially farmers, while the Arora, [[Punjabi Bania|Bania]], Bhatia and Khatri are associated to trade. Other groups are associated with particular crafts, include Lohar who were historically ironsmiths, while Tarkhans were carpenters and the Nai were barbers.<ref>''The Punjabis : The People, Their History, Culture and Enterprise''</ref>
;Punjabi suit

{{Main|Shalwar kameez}}
Indian Punjab is also home to small groups of Muslims and Christian. 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 [[Malerkotla]] which was spared during partition, 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, India|Faridkot]], [[Kapurthala]] and [[Kalsia]].
[[File:Punjabi Traditional Fashion - Cultural Night - Wiki Conference India - CGC - Mohali 2016-08-05 7370.JPG|thumb|Punjabi traditional dress in India]]A Punjabi suit that features two items - a ''qameez'' (top), ''salwar'' (bottom) is the traditional attire of the Punjabi people.<ref name="DSOF">{{cite book|last1=Dominique|first1=Grele|last2=Raimbault|first2=Lydie|title=Discover Singapore on Foot|date=1 March 2007|publisher=Select Publishing|location=Singapore|isbn=978-981-4022-33-0|page=35|edition=2}}</ref><ref name="BlanesMapril2013">{{cite book |last=Fraile |first=Sandra Santos |title=Sites and Politics of Religious Diversity in Southern Europe: The Best of All Gods |date=11 July 2013 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-25524-1 |editor=Blanes, Ruy |page=263 |chapter=Sikhs in Barcelona |quote=The shalwar kamiz was worn traditionally by Muslim women and gradually adopted by many Hindu women following the Muslim conquest of northern India. Eventually, it became the regional style for parts of northern India, as in Punjab where it has been worn for centuries. |mode=cs2 |editor2=Mapril, José |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8accAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA263}}</ref><ref name="Khandelwal2002">{{cite book |last=Khandelwal |first=Madhulika Shankar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jZsZKj0FrBgC&pg=PA43 |title=Becoming American, Being Indian: An Immigrant Community in New York City |publisher=Cornell University Press |year=2002 |isbn=0-8014-8807-9 |page=43 |quote=Even highly educated women pursuing careers continue to wear traditional dress in urban India, although men of similar status long ago adopted Western attire. The forms of dress most popular with urban Indian women are the sari, the long wrapped and draped dress-like garment, worn throughout India, and the salwar-kameez or kurta-pyjama, a two-piece suit garment, sometimes also called Punjabi because of its region of origin. Whereas the sari can be considered the national dress of Indian women, the salwar-kameez, though originally from the north, has been adopted all over India as more comfortable attire than the sari. |mode=cs2}}</ref> ''Shalwars'' are [[trousers]] which are atypically wide at the waist but which narrow to a cuffed bottom. They are held up by a drawstring or elastic belt, which causes them to become pleated around the waist.<ref name="StevensonWaite2011">{{cite book |last1=Stevenson |first1=Angus |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4XycAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA1272 |title=Concise Oxford English Dictionary: Book & CD-ROM Set |last2=Waite |first2=Maurice |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-19-960110-3 |page=1272 |quote=Salwar/Shalwar: A pair of light, loose, pleated trousers, usually tapering to a tight fit around the ankles, worn by women from South Asia typically with a kameez (the two together being a salwar kameez). Origin From Persian and Urdu šalwār. |mode=cs2}}</ref> The trousers can be wide and baggy, or they can be cut quite narrow, on the [[Grain (textile)#Bias|bias]]. The ''kameez'' is a long shirt or tunic.<ref name="StevensonWaite2011-b">{{cite book |last1=Stevenson |first1=Angus |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4XycAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA774 |title=Concise Oxford English Dictionary: Book & CD-ROM Set |last2=Waite |first2=Maurice |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-19-960110-3 |page=774 |quote=Kameez: A long tunic worn by many people from South Asia, typically with a salwar or churidars. Origin: From Arabic qamīṣ, perhaps from late Latin camisia (see chemise). |mode=cs2}}</ref> The side seams are left open below the waist-line (the opening known as the ''chaak''{{refn|''A Dictionary of Urdu, Classical Hindi, and English'': ''chāk'' derives from the Persian "چاك ćāk, Fissure, cleft, rent, slit, a narrow opening (intentionally left in clothes)."<ref>{{cite book|url=https://dsalsrv04.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/app/platts_query.py?page=418|last=Platts|first=John Thompson|title=A dictionary of Urdu, classical Hindi, and English|location=London|page=418|publisher=W. H. Allen & Co.|orig-date=1884|edition=online|date=February 2015|mode=cs2|access-date=1 August 2022|archive-date=24 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224204345/https://dsalsrv04.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/app/platts_query.py?page=418|url-status=dead}}</ref>|group=note}}), which gives the wearer greater freedom of movement. The kameez is usually cut straight and flat; older kameez use traditional cuts; modern kameez are more likely to have European-inspired [[Sleeve#Types of sleeves|set-in sleeves]]. The combination garment is sometimes called ''salwar kurta'', ''salwar suit'', or ''Punjabi suit''.<ref name="Shukla2015-sawar-kurta">{{cite book |last=Shukla |first=Pravina |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MlObCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA75 |title=The Grace of Four Moons: Dress, Adornment, and the Art of the Body in Modern India |publisher=Indiana University Press |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-253-02121-2 |page=75 |quote=You can buy an entire three-piece ''salwar suit'', or a two-piece suit that consists of either a readymade ''kurta'' or a ''kurta'' cloth piece, each with a matching ''dupatta''. For these, you must have the salwar pants stitched from cloth you buy separately. A third option would be to buy a two-piece ensemble, consisting of the top and pants, leaving you the task of buying an appropriate ''dupatta'', or using one you already own, or buying a strip of cloth and having it dyed to your desire. The end result will always be a three-piece ensemble, but a customer may start with one piece (only the ''kurta'') or two pieces (''kurta'' and pants, or ''kurta'' and ''dupatta''), and exercise her creativity and fashion sense to end up with the complete ''salwar kurta'' outfit.}}</ref><ref name="Mooney2011">{{cite book |last=Mooney |first=Nicola |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k1B2vdLBizIC&pg=PA260 |title=Rural Nostalgias and Transnational Dreams: Identity and Modernity Among Jat Sikhs |publisher=University of Toronto Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-8020-9257-1 |page=260 |quote=The salwar-kameez is a form of dress that has been adopted widely in Punjab and is now known in English as the Punjabi suit; J. P. S. Uberoi suggests that the salwar-kameez is an Afghani import to Punjab (1998 personal communication). Punjabi forms of dress are therefore constructs or inventions of tradition rather than having historical veracity. |mode=cs2}}</ref> The shalwar-kameez is a widely-worn,<ref name="Marsden2005">{{cite book |last=Marsden |first=Magnus |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7q9lLQ8QqM8C&pg=PA37 |title=Living Islam: Muslim Religious Experience in Pakistan's North-West Frontier |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-139-44837-6 |page=37 |quote=The village's men and boys largely dress in sombre colours in the loose trousers and long shirt (shalwar kameez) worn across Pakistan. Older men often wear woollen Chitrali caps (pakol), waistcoats and long coats (chugha), made by Chitrali tailors (darzi) who skills are renowned across Pakistan.}}</ref><ref name="Haines2013">{{cite book |last=Haines |first=Chad |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ueTGBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT162 |title=Nation, Territory, and Globalization in Pakistan: Traversing the Margins |publisher=Routledge |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-136-44997-0 |page=162 |quote=the shalwar kameez happens to be worn by just about everyone in Pakistan, including in all of Gilgit-Baltistan. |mode=cs2}}</ref> and [[national dress]],<ref name="Ozyegin2016">{{cite book |last=Ozyegin |first=Gul |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Aq21CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA222 |title=Gender and Sexuality in Muslim Cultures |publisher=Routledge |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-317-13051-2 |page=222 |quote=What is common in all the cases is the wearing of shalwar, kameez, and dupatta, the national dress of Pakistan.}}</ref> of Pakistan. When women wear the shalwar-kameez in some regions, they usually wear a long scarf or shawl called a [[dupatta]] around the head or neck.<ref name="SWIE">{{cite book|last1=Rait|first1=Satwant Kaur|title=Sikh Women In England: Religious, Social and Cultural Beliefs|date=14 April 2005|publisher=Trentham Book|location=Trent and Sterling|isbn=978-1-85856-353-4|page=68}}</ref> The dupatta is also employed as a form of modesty—although it is made of delicate material, it obscures the upper body's contours by passing over the shoulders. For Muslim women, the dupatta is a less stringent alternative to the [[chador]] or [[burqa]] (see [[hijab]] and [[purdah]]); for Sikh and Hindu women, the dupatta is useful when the head must be covered, as in a temple or the presence of elders.<ref name="Shukla2015">{{cite book |last=Shukla |first=Pravina |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MlObCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA72 |title=The Grace of Four Moons: Dress, Adornment, and the Art of the Body in Modern India |publisher=Indiana University Press |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-253-02121-2 |page=72 |quote=Muslim and Punjabi women—whether Muslim, Sikh, or Hindu—often wear the dupatta over the head to create a modest look while framing the face with color. When entering a temple, Hindu women might comparably use their dupattas to cover their heads. Though the dupatta is often made of flimsy cloth and does not actually cover the body, its presence implies modesty, like many of the outer garments worn by Muslim women that do not cover much but do provide a symbolic extra layer,&nbsp;... |mode=cs2}}</ref> Everywhere in South Asia, modern versions of the attire have evolved; the shalwars are worn lower down on the waist, the kameez have shorter length, with higher splits, lower necklines and backlines, and with cropped sleeves or without sleeves.<ref name="Koerner2016">{{cite book |last=Koerner |first=Stephanie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nwioDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT405 |title=Unquiet Pasts: Risk Society, Lived Cultural Heritage, Re-designing Reflexivity |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-351-87667-4 |page=405 |quote=The Pakistani National dress worn by women is Shalwar Kameez. This consists of a long tunic (Kameez) teamed with a wide legged trouser (Shalwar) that skims in at the bottom accompanied by a duppata, which is a less stringent alternative to the burqa. Modern versions of this National dress have evolved into less modest versions. Shalwar have become more low cut so that the hips are visible and are worn with a shorter length of Kameez which has high splits and may have a lowcut neckline and backline as well as being sleeveless or having cropped sleeves. |mode=cs2}}</ref>

The Punjab region within India maintains a strong influence on the perceived culture of India towards the rest of the world. Numerous Bollywood film productions use the Punjabi language in their songs and dialogue as well as traditional dances such as [[bhangra]]. Bollywood has been dominated by Punjabi artists including [[Raj Kapoor]], [[Dev Anand]], [[Vinod Khanna]], [[Dharmendra]], [[Shammi Kappoor]], [[Rishi Kapoor]], [[Lara Dutta]], [[Akshay Kumar]] and [[Kareena Kapoor]]. Prime Ministers of India including [[Gulzarilal Nanda]] and [[Inder Kumar Gujral]] in the past, and Dr. [[Manmohan Singh]] at present, are Punjabis, as are numerous players in the Indian cricket team both past and present including [[Bishen Singh Bedi]], [[Kapil Dev]], [[Mohinder Amarnath]], [[Navjot Sidhu]], [[Harbhajan Singh]], [[Yuvraj Singh]], [[Yograj Singh]].

==The Punjabi diaspora==
{{Main|Punjabi diaspora}}
[[File:Punjabi Speaking World.png|thumb|right|380px|Punjabis around the world]]
The Punjabi people have emigrated in large numbers to many parts of the world. The United Kingdom has a significant number of Punjabis from both Pakistan and India as does Canada (specifically Vancouver and Toronto) and the United States, (specifically California's [[Central Valley (California)|Central Valley]]). The Middle East has a large immigrant community of Punjabis, in places such as the [[United Arab Emirates|UAE]] and [[Kuwait]]. There are 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]].

===Punjabis by country===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Rank !! Country !! First language
|-
|1|| {{flag|Pakistan}} || 76,335,300
|-
|2|| {{flag|India}} || 29,109,672
|-
|3|| {{flag|United Kingdom}} || 2,300,000
|-
|4|| {{flag|Canada}} || 800,000
|-
|5|| {{flag|United Arab Emirates}} || 720,000
|-
|6|| {{flag|United States}} || 640,000
|-
|7|| {{flag|Saudi Arabia}} || 620,000
|-
|8|| {{flag|Hong Kong}} || 260,000
|-
|9|| {{flag|Malaysia}} || 185,000
|-
|10|| {{flag|South Africa}} || 140,000
|-
|11|| {{flag|Burma}} || 120,000
|-
|12|| {{flag|France}} || 90,000
|-
|13|| {{flag|Italy}} || 80,000
|-
|14|| {{flag|Thailand}} || 75,000
|-
|15|| {{flag|Japan}} || 75,000 {{Citation needed|date=September 2010}}
|-
|16|| {{flag|Mauritius}} || 70,000
|-
|17|| {{flag|Singapore}} || 70,000
|-
|18|| {{flag|Oman}} || 68,000
|-
|19|| {{flag|Libya}} || 65,000
|-
|20|| {{flag|Bahrain}} || 60,000
|-
|21|| {{flag|Kenya}} || 55,000
|-
|22|| {{flag|Australia}} || 50,000
|-
|23|| {{flag|Tanzania}} || 45,000
|-
|24|| {{flag|Kuwait}} || 40,000
|-
|25|| {{flag|Norway}} || 25,000
|-
|26|| {{flag|Denmark}} || 15,000

|}

==Diversity==
The Punjab region is diverse, due to its location near Central Asia. It has been prone to numerous [[Human migration|migrations]] and the resulting settlers have left imprints upon the local Punjabi population that remain present in the numerous sub-groups. The Punjabi people are a [[heterogeneous]] group and can be subdivided into a number of ethnic clan groups in both the East and West Punjab called ''[[biradri]]'' (literally meaning a tribe), each having their own subtle differences.

==Genetics==
The majority of Punjabi population share similar genes with other northern Indian populations, but also show a significant relationship with west Eurasian groups. In a 2004 Stanford study conducted with a wide sampling from India, including 112 Punjabis, and selected other countries, displayed the following:

:Results show that Indian tribal and caste populations derive largely from the same genetic heritage of [[Pleistocene]] southern and western Asians and have received limited gene flow from external regions since the [[Holocene]].<ref>[http://hpgl.stanford.edu/publications/AJHG_2003_v72_p313-332.pdf The Genetic Heritage of the Earliest Settlers Persists Both in Indian Tribal and Caste Populations]</ref>

This study also found that roughly 42% of genetic markers in the Punjab were of West Asian origin, the highest amongst the sampled group of South Asians.{{Dubious|date=July 2009}}{{citation needed|date=August 2011}} Another study also showed that there has been limited gene flow in and out of north India, but the highest amount of genetic inflow from the west showed up in the Punjab region:

:Broadly, the average proportion of mtDNAs from West Eurasia among Indian caste populations is 17% (Table 2). In the northern States of India their share is greater, reaching over 30% in [[Kashmir]] and [[Gujarat]], nearly 43% in [[Indian Punjab]].<ref>http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=516768</ref><ref>[http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2156/5/26 Most of the extant mtDNA boundaries in South and Southwest Asia were likely shaped during the initial settlement of Eurasia by anatomically modern humans]</ref>

Some preliminary conclusions from these varying tests support a largely north Indian genetic base for most Punjabis accompanied by some of the highest degrees of west Asian admixture found in north India.
The issue of Genetics is irrelevant in modern Punjabi definition and rather there is a need for more cohesive traditional and cultural binding.

==Culture and society==
{{Main|Punjabi culture}}
[[File:International border at Wagah - evening flag lowering ceremony.jpg|thumb|250px|right| The evening flag lowering ceremony at the India-Pakistan International Border near Wagah in Punjab.]]
[[File:Pind 39.jpg|thumb|right|Punjabi Sikh Farmer preparing [[Cattle feeding|Cattle Feed]]]]
Punjabi culture is the culture of the [[Punjab region]]. It is one of the oldest and richest cultures in world history, dating from ancient antiquity to the modern era. The Punjabi culture is the culture of the Punjabi people who are now distributed throughout the world. The scope, history, sophistication and complexity of the culture are vast. Some of the main areas include Punjabi Philosophy, poetry, spirituality, education, artistry, dance, music, cuisine, science, technology, military warfare, architecture, traditions, values and history.

===Religion===

Punjab is one of the most tolerant and diverse in terms of reglion in South Asia. Also many prominent scholars in the past have made inroads in Punjabi population who not only stressed the need of organized religion like [[Islam]] and [[Sikhism]] but also talked about wisdom, knowledge and science and other [[Theism|Theists]] ideologies at the same time. For this reason Punjabis are diverse in their religious thoughts and many religious and philosophical movements initiated here in the past.The majority of Punjabis in Pakistan are Muslims and majority of Indian Punjabis are Hindus. Punjab is the birthplace of [[Sikhism]] which have its adherents in [[India]], [[Pakistan]] and in many parts of the world. The [[Ahmadiyya| Ahmediyya Community]] which is the most persecuted community in the Muslim world was also founded in Punjab and their founder was born here. In Pakistani Punjab more than 3 percent of the population are Christians and churches could be found in almost every city. Also Punjabis follow [[Sufism]], [[Ahmadiyya|Ahmeddiyat]], [[Quranism]] and some do follow [[Deism]] and a small minority is Atheist and Agnostic as well.

===Language===

{{Main|Punjabi language}}

The main language of the Punjabi people is [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]] and its associated dialects, which differ depending on the region of Punjab the speaker is from; there are notable differences in the [[Lahnda languages]], spoken in the Pakistani Punjab. In the Pakistani Punjab Urdu is spoken by many, but nearly all speak Punjabi. In the Indian Punjab, most people speak Punjabi. English is sometimes used, and people may also speak [[Hindi]] and older people who lived in the undivided Punjab may be able to speak and write in [[Urdu]]. There is a significant [[Persian language|Persian]] influence found in certain Punjabi dialects; this is more pronounced in the Pakistani Punjab region, due to the region's proximity to the [[Iranian plateau]]. The Punjabi languages have absorbed numerous loanwords from surrounding areas and provinces (and from English).

===Cuisine===

{{Main|Punjabi cuisine}}

Punjabi cuisine has an immense range of dishes and has become world-leader in the field; so much so that many entrepreneurs that have invested in the sector have built large personal fortunes due to the popularity of Punjabi cuisine throughout the world.


===Music===
===Music===
{{main|Music of Punjab|Folk music of Punjab}}
[[Bhangra (music)|Bhangra]] describes dance-oriented popular music with Punjabi rhythms, developed since the 1980s. [[Sufi music]] and [[Qawali]], commonly practised in [[Punjab, Pakistan]]; are other important genres in the Punjab region.<ref>{{cite book|last=Pande|first=Alka|title=Folk music & musical instruments of Punjab : from mustard fields to disco lights|year=1999|publisher=Mapin Pub.|location=Ahmedabad [India]|isbn=978-18-902-0615-4|url=https://archive.org/details/folkmusicmusical00pand}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Thinda|first=Karanaila Siṅgha|title=Pañjāba dā loka wirasā|year=1996|publisher=Pabalikeshana Biūro, Pañjābī Yūniwarasiṭī|location=Paṭiālā|isbn=978-81-7380-223-2|edition=New rev.}}</ref>


===Dance===
{{Main|Music of Punjab}}
[[File:Dhol players.jpg|thumb|[[Bhangra]] tournament concert]]
Bhangra is one of the many Punjabi musical art forms that is increasingly being listened to in the west and is making inroad in mainstream music scene. Punjabi music is being used by western musicians, in many ways, such as mixing it with other compositions to produce award-winning music. In addition, Punjabi classical music is increasingly becoming popular in the west due to the popular admiration of sounds of the Punjabi language and its composition. The most common local instruments used in both India and Pakistan Punjab are [[Dhol]], [[Dhadd]], [[Alghoza]], Dafli, Damru, Rubab, [[Sarangi]], Ghalar, Supp<ref>http://www.punjabonline.com/servlet/entertain.entertain?Action=Instruments</ref>.,[[Harmonium]], [[Sitar]], [[Bulbul_tarang]] and [[Chimta]].Along with local musical instrument Bhangra music is played with almost every music system imaginable weather it is classical or electronic music.

===Punjabi dances===

{{Main|Punjabi dance}}
{{Main|Punjabi dance}}
Punjabi dances are performed either by men or by women. The dances range from solo to group dances and also sometimes dances are done along with traditional musical instruments. Bhangra is one of the most famous dances originating in the Punjab by farmers during the harvesting season. It was mainly performed while farmers did agricultural chores. As they did each farming activity they would perform bhangra moves on the spot.<ref name=":4">{{cite web |last1=Pandher |first1=Gurdeep |title=Bhangra History |url=https://gurdeep.ca/bhangra/bhangra-history/ |access-date=28 November 2019}}</ref> This allowed them to finish their job in a pleasurable way. For many years, farmers performed bhangra to showcase a sense of accomplishment and to welcome the new harvesting season.<ref name=":5">{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=_nmZjCerzi4C&q=bhangra+gurdaspur&pg=PA85|title=Land of Five Rivers|first=Khushwant|last=Singh|date=23 May 2017 |publisher=Orient Paperbacks|via=Google Books|isbn=9788122201079}}</ref> Traditional bhangra is performed in a circle<ref>{{cite book |last=Bedell |first=J. M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gRNTUme_a-4C&q=bhangra+pakistan+harvest&pg=PT38 |title=Teens in Pakistan |date=23 May 2017 |publisher=Capstone |isbn=9780756540432 |via=Google Books}}</ref> and is performed using traditional dance steps. Traditional bhangra is now also performed on occasions other than during the harvest season.<ref>{{cite book |last=Black |first=Carolyn |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J3adRL3lQwMC&q=bhangra+festivals++pakistan&pg=PA26 |title=Pakistan: The culture |date=2003 |publisher=Crabtree Publishing Company |isbn=9780778793489}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=23 May 2017 |title=Pakistan Almanac |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rRYZAQAAIAAJ&q=bhangra+pakistan+harvest |publisher=Royal Book Company |via=Google Books}}</ref>
[[File:Kikli.jpg|thumb|left|[[Kikkli|Punjabi Girls performing Kikli Folk Dance]]]]
Owing to the long history of the [[Punjabi culture]] and of the Punjabi people, there are a large number of dances normally performed at times of celebration,the time of festivals known as Melas and the most prominent dances are at Punjabi weddings, where the elation is usually particularly intense. Punjabi dances are performed either by men or by women. The dances range from solo to group dances and also sometimes dances are done along with musical instruments like [[Dhol]], [[Flute]], Supp, Dhumri, Chimta etc.


===Marriage===
===Folk tales===
{{Main|Punjabi folklore}}
The folk tales of Punjab include [[Heer Ranjha]], [[Mirza Sahiban]], [[Sohni Mahiwal]].<ref>[http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/steel/punjab/punjab.html Tales of the Punjab]. Digital.library.upenn.edu.</ref><ref>[http://hrisouthasian.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=35%3Apeelu-the-first-narrator-of-the-legend-of-mirza-sahiban&catid=6%3Alovelegend&Itemid=13 Peelu: The First Narrator of the Legend of Mirza-SahibaN]. Hrisouthasian.org.</ref>


===Festivals===
{{Main|Punjabi wedding traditions}}
{{Main|Punjabi festivals|Festivals in Lahore}}The Punjabi Muslims typically observe the [[Islamic holidays|Islamic festivals]].<ref name="Official Holidays 2016">[http://www.schools.punjab.gov.pk/system/files/Notification_2.pdf Official Holidays 2016], Government of Punjab – Pakistan (2016)</ref><ref name="kmc.gos.pk">[http://www.kmc.gos.pk/Contents.aspx?id=48 Official Holidays 2016] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180901090935/http://kmc.gos.pk/Contents.aspx?id=48|date=1 September 2018}}, Karachi Metropolitan, Sindh, Pakistan</ref> The Punjabi Sikhs and Hindus typically do not observe these, and instead observe [[Lohri]], [[Basant (festival)|Basant]] and [[Vaisakhi]] as seasonal festivals.<ref name="autogenerated5">[https://books.google.com/books?id=1O0eAQAAMAAJ&q=makara Census of India, 1961: Punjab. Manage of Publications]</ref> The Punjabi Muslim festivals are set according to the lunar [[Islamic calendar]] (Hijri), and the date falls earlier by 10 to 13 days from year to year.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Jacqueline Suthren Hirst |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bBOpAgAAQBAJ |title=Religious Traditions in Modern South Asia |author2=John Zavos |publisher=Routledge |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-136-62668-5 |page=274}};


[https://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/india/eid-ul-fitar Eid ul-Fitar], Ramzan Id/Eid-ul-Fitar in India, Festival Dates</ref> The Hindu and Sikh Punjabi seasonal festivals are set on specific dates of the luni-solar [[Bikrami calendar]] or [[Punjabi calendar]] and the date of the festival also typically varies in the [[Gregorian calendar]] but stays within the same two Gregorian months.<ref>{{cite book |author=Tej Bhatia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nTKBAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA209 |title=Punjabi |publisher=Routledge |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-136-89460-2 |pages=209–212}}</ref>
Punjabi wedding traditions and ceremonies are traditionally conducted in Punjabi and are a strong reflection of Punjabi culture. While the actual religious marriage ceremony among Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, and Jains may be conducted in Arabic, Punjabi, Sanskrit, by the Kazi, Pandit or Granthi, there are commonalities in ritual, song, dance, food, and dress. The Punjabi wedding has many rituals and ceremonies that have evolved since traditional times. Punjabi receptions of all sorts are known to be very energetic, filled with loud Bhangra music, people dancing, and a wide variety of Punjabi food.


Some Punjabi Muslims participate in the traditional, seasonal festivals of the Punjab region: Baisakhi, Basant and to a minor scale Lohri, but this is controversial. Islamic clerics and some politicians have attempted to ban this participation because of the religious basis of the Punjabi festivals,<ref>[https://www.dawn.com/news/1315376 The ban on fun], IRFAN HUSAIN, Dawn, 18 February 2017</ref> and they being declared [[haram]] (forbidden in Islam).<ref>[http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/sunday-special/columns/the-barricaded-muslim-mind/286436.html The barricaded Muslim mind], Saba Naqvi (28 August 2016), Quote: "Earlier, Muslim villagers would participate in Hindu festivals; now they think that would be haraam, so stay away. Visiting dargahs is also haraam"</ref>


=== Punjabi State ===
{{Main|Punjabi nationalism|Punjabiyat}}
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.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Eltringham|first1=Nigel|last2=Maclean|first2=Pam|title=Remembering Genocide|year= 2014| publisher=Routledge|location=New York|isbn=978-1-317-75421-3| page='No man's land'|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=6OfpAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT30|access-date=12 November 2016}}</ref> Since the mid-1980s, there has been a drive for Punjabi cultural revival, consolidation of Punjabi ethnicity and a virtual Punjabi nation.<ref name="Punjabi Identity">{{cite book|last1=Marshall|first1=Stewart|last2=Taylor|first2=Wal|last3=Yu|first3=Xinghuo|title=Encyclopedia of Developing Regional Communities With Information And Communication Technology|year=2005|publisher=Idea Group|isbn=978-1-59140-791-1 |page=409| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=eF-TFVrLUL0C&pg=PA409| access-date=12 November 2016}}</ref> According to Giorgio Shani, this is predominantly a Sikh ethno-nationalism movement led by some Sikh organisations, and a view that is not shared by Punjabi people organisations belonging to other religions.<ref>{{cite book|author=Giorgio Shani|title=Sikh Nationalism and Identity in a Global Age|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HKu66SixH6AC |year=2007| publisher=Routledge| isbn=978-1-134-10189-4|pages=1–8, 86–88}}</ref>


==Notable people==
{{Main|List of Punjabi people|List of Punjabi Muslims|List of Punjabi Hindus}}


===Sports===
==See also==
* [[Dialects of the Punjab]]
* [[Punjabi press]]
* [[Punjabi cuisine]]
* [[Punjabi diaspora]]


==Notes==
{{Main|Sports in Punjab}}
{{notelist}}


==References==
The people of Punjab are known to have keen interest in sports. A variety of indoor and outdoor sports are played in Punjab. The sports been played here include [[Cricket]], [[Hockey]], [[Kabaddi]], [[Boxing]],[[Basketball]] Horse racing, [[Gilli-danda]], [[Kho kho]], Naiza Baazi ([[Tent pegging]]), [[Greyhound racing]], Bandar Killa, Chuppan Chupai ([[Hide-and-seek]]), Stapu ([[Hopscotch]]), Bantay ([[ Marble_(toy)|Marbles]]), pugan pugai, [[French cricket]], [[Kings (card game)]], Yassu Panju, [[Snooker]], Pitho Garam, Baraf Paani ([[Tag (game)]], [[Dodgeball]], chiri uri kawa ura, [[Carrom]], [[Ludo (board game)]] and sometimes one form of martial arts known as [[Gatka]] is also taken as a form of sports.
{{Reflist}}


===Punjabi folk tales===
===Notes===
{{reflist|group=note}}
{{Reflist|group=upper-alpha}}


==Bibliography==
{{Main|Folk Tales in Punjab}}
* {{citation|last=Dyson|first=Tim|title=A Population History of India: From the First Modern People to the Present Day|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3TRtDwAAQBAJ|year=2018|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-882905-8}}
The folk tales of Punjab include many stories<ref>http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/steel/punjab/punjab.html</ref> which are passing through generations and includes folk stories like [[Heer Ranjha]], [[Mirza Sahiban]]<ref>http://hrisouthasian.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=35%3Apeelu-the-first-narrator-of-the-legend-of-mirza-sahiban&catid=6%3Alovelegend&Itemid=13</ref>, [[Sohni Mahiwal]] etc to name a few.


==Further reading==
===Village life in Punjab===
{{Refbegin|2}}
* Mohini Gupta, Encyclopaedia of Punjabi Culture & History – Vol. 1 (Window on Punjab) [Hardcover], {{ISBN|978-81-202-0507-9}}
* Iqbal Singh Dhillion, Folk Dances of Punjab {{ISBN|978-81-7116-220-8}}
* Punjabi Culture: Punjabi Language, Bhangra, Punjabi People, Karva Chauth, Kila Raipur Sports Festival, Lohri, Punjabi Dhabha, {{ISBN|978-1-157-61392-3}}
* Kamla C. Aryan, Cultural Heritage of Punjab {{ISBN|978-81-900002-9-1}}
* [[Shafi Aqeel]], Popular Folk Tales from the Punjab {{ISBN|978-0-19-547579-1}}
* Online Book of Punjabi Folk Tales
* Colloquial Panjabi: The Complete Course for Beginners (Colloquial Series) {{ISBN|978-0-415-10191-2}}
* Gilmartin, David. ''Empire and Islam: Punjab and the Making of Pakistan''. Univ of California Press (1988), {{ISBN|0-520-06249-3}}.
* Grewal, J.S. and Gordon Johnson. ''The Sikhs of the Punjab (The New Cambridge History of India)''. Cambridge University Press; Reprint edition (1998), {{ISBN|0-521-63764-3}}.
* Latif, Syed. ''History of the Panjab''. Kalyani (1997), {{ISBN|81-7096-245-5}}.
* Sekhon, Iqbal S. ''The Punjabis : The People, Their History, Culture and Enterprise''. Delhi, Cosmo, 2000, 3 Vols., {{ISBN|81-7755-051-9}}.
* Singh, Gurharpal. ''Ethnic Conflict in India : A Case-Study of Punjab''. Palgrave Macmillan (2000).
* Singh, Gurharpal (Editor) and Ian Talbot (Editor). ''Punjabi Identity: Continuity and Change''. South Asia Books (1996), {{ISBN|81-7304-117-2}}.
* Singh, Khushwant. ''A History of the Sikhs – Volume 1''.Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|0-19-562643-5}}
* [[Steel, Flora Annie]]. ''Tales of the Punjab : Told by the People (Oxford in Asia Historical Reprints)''. Oxford University Press, US; New Ed edition (2002), {{ISBN|0-19-579789-2}}.
* Tandon, Prakash and Maurice Zinkin. ''Punjabi Century 1857–1947'', University of California Press (1968), {{ISBN|0-520-01253-4}}.
* [http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2156/5/26 DNA boundaries in South and Southwest Asia, BMC Genetics 2004, 5:26]
* [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=pan Ethnologue Eastern Panjabi]
* [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=pnb Ethnologue Western Panjabi]
* {{cite journal | first1 = T| last2 = Rootsi| first2 = S| last3 = Metspalu| first3 = M| last4 = Mastana| first4 = S| last5 = Kaldma| first5 = K| last6 = Parik| first6 = J| last7 = Metspalu| first7 = E| last8 = Adojaan| first8 = M| last9 = Tolk| first9 = H. V| last10 = Stepanov| first10 = V| last11 = Gölge| first11 = M| last12 = Usanga| first12 = E| last13 = Papiha| first13 = S. S| last14 = Cinnioğlu| first14 = C| last15 = King| first15 = R| last16 = Cavalli-Sforza| first16 = L| last17 = Underhill| first17 = P. A| last18 = Villems| first18 = R| title = The Genetic Heritage of the Earliest Settlers Persists Both in Indian Tribal and Caste Populations | url = http://hpgl.stanford.edu/publications/AJHG_2003_v72_p313-332.pdf | journal = Am. J. Hum. Genet. | volume = 72 | issue = 2| pages = 313–332 | year = 2003 | doi = 10.1086/346068 | pmid = 12536373 | pmc = 379225 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060219054854/http://hpgl.stanford.edu/publications/AJHG_2003_v72_p313-332.pdf | archive-date = 19 February 2006 | df = dmy-all | last1 = Kivisild}}
* {{Cite book|last=Talib|first=Gurbachan|author-link=Gurbachan Singh Talib|title= Muslim League Attack on Sikhs and Hindus in the Punjab 1947|year=1950|publisher=[[Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee]]|location=India|title-link=Muslim League Attack on Sikhs and Hindus in the Punjab 1947}}[https://web.archive.org/web/20091231141247/http://www.bharatvani.org/books/mla/ Online 1] [https://books.google.com/books?id=9fQLAAAAIAAJ&q=Muslim+League+Attack+on+Sikhs+and+Hindus+in+the+Punjab+1947 Online 2] [https://web.archive.org/web/20030827045441/http://allaboutsikhs.com/books/gst/ Online 3] (A free copy of this book can be read from any 3 of the included "Online Sources" of this free "Online Book")
* The Legacy of The Punjab by R. M. Chopra, 1997, Punjabee Bradree, Calcutta.
* [http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/2891/11/11_chapter%204.pdf Glimpses of Punjabi society and everyday life in Punjab villages] shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in
{{Refend}}


==External links==
{{Main|Village life in Punjab}}
* {{Commons category-inline|Punjabi people}}
The village life of land of five rivers is as entrancing as any other thing of this region. The village life is simple and people usually live in small communities and they live in peace and harmony with each other<ref>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aAdVenXVXs</ref>.


{{Prone to spam|date=July 2013}}
===Festivals in Punjab===
<!-- {{No more links}}


Please be cautious adding more external links.
{{Main|Festivals in Punjab}}


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==Prominent Punjabis==
{{Main|List of Punjabis|List of Punjabi poets|List of Punjabi authors|List of Punjabi singers|List of Punjabi language poets}}


Excessive or inappropriate links will be removed.
==See also==
* [[Punjab region]]
* [[Punjabi culture]]
* [[Punjabi language]]
* [[Punjabi cuisine]]
* [[Music of Punjab]]
* [[Punjabi dance]]
* [[Punjabi folklore]]
* [[Punjabi press]]
* [[History of the Punjab]]


See [[Wikipedia:External links]] and [[Wikipedia:Spam]] for details.
==References==
{{Reflist|2}}


If there are already suitable links, propose additions or replacements on
==References and further reading==
the article's talk page, or submit your link to the relevant category at
* Mohini Gupta, Encyclopaedia of Punjabi Culture & History - Vol. 1 (Window on Punjab) [Hardcover], ISBN 978-8120205079
the Open Directory Project (dmoz.org) and link there using {{Dmoz}}.
* Iqbal Singh Dhillion, Folk Dances of Punjab ISBN 978-8171162208
* Punjabi Culture: Punjabi Language, Bhangra, Punjabi People, Karva Chauth, Kila Raipur Sports Festival, Lohri, Punjabi Dhabha, ISBN 978-1157613923
* Kamla C. Aryan , Cultural Heritage of Punjab ISBN 978-8190000291
* Shafi Aqeel, Popular Folk Tales from the Punjab ISBN 9780195475791
* Online Book of Punjabi Folk Tales, http://archive.org/stream/KamalKahanisaeedBhuttaABookOnPunjabiFolktales/KamalKahaniReviewByHassnainGhayoor#page/n0/mode/2up
* Punjabi Wedding Songs http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/boliyan-book/id464162568?mt=8
* Colloquial Panjabi: The Complete Course for Beginners (Colloquial Series) ISBN 978-0415101912
* Gilmartin, David. ''Empire and Islam: Punjab and the Making of Pakistan''. Univ of California Press (1988), ISBN 0-520-06249-3.
* Grewal, J.S. and Gordon Johnson. ''The Sikhs of the Punjab (The New Cambridge History of India)''. Cambridge University Press; Reprint edition (1998), ISBN 0-521-63764-3.
* Punjab Digital Library http://www.panjabdigilib.org
* [[Denzil Ibbetson]], ''Punjab Castes: Race, Castes and Tribes of the People of Punjab''. Cosmo Publications, ISBN 81-7020-458-5.
* Ibbetson, Denzil, (2002). ''Panjab castes''. Low Price Publications. ISBN 81-7536-290-1.
* Latif, Syed. ''History of the Panjab''. Kalyani (1997), ISBN 81-7096-245-5.
* Rose, H.A. Denzil Ibbetson, [[Edward Maclagan]] (reprint 1990). ''Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North West Frontier Province''. Asian Educational Services, India, ISBN 81-206-0505-5.
* Sekhon, Iqbal S. ''The Punjabis : The People, Their History, Culture and Enterprise''. Delhi, Cosmo, 2000, 3 Vols., ISBN 81-7755-051-9.
* Singh, Gurharpal. ''Ethnic Conflict in India : A Case-Study of Punjab''. Palgrave Macmillan (2000).
* Singh, Gurharpal (Editor) and Ian Talbot (Editor). ''Punjabi Identity: Continuity and Change''. South Asia Books (1996), ISBN 81-7304-117-2.
* Singh, Khushwant. ''A History of the Sikhs - Volume 1''.Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-562643-5
* Steel, Flora Annie. ''Tales of the Punjab : Told by the People (Oxford in Asia Historical Reprints)''. Oxford University Press, USA; New Ed edition (2002), ISBN 0-19-579789-2.
* Tandon, Prakash and Maurice Zinkin. ''Punjabi Century 1857-1947'', University of California Press (1968), ISBN 0-520-01253-4.
* {{loc}} [http://countrystudies.us/pakistan/32.htm Pakistan], [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/intoc.html India]
* [http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2156/5/26 DNA boundaries in South and Southwest Asia, BMC Genetics 2004, 5:26]
* [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=pan Ethnologue Eastern Panjabi]
* [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=pnb Ethnologue Western Panjabi]
* [http://www.censusindia.gov.in/ Indian Census]
* [http://www.statpak.gov.pk/depts/pco/statistics/other_tables/pop_by_mother_tongue.pdf Pakistan Census]
* [http://hpgl.stanford.edu/publications/AJHG_2003_v72_p313-332.pdf The Genetic Heritage of the Earliest Settlers Persists Both in Indian Tribal and Caste Populations, Am. J. Hum. Genet. 72:313–332, 2003]
* {{Cite book|last=Talib|first=Gurbachan|authorlink=Gurbachan Singh Talib|title= [[Muslim League Attack on Sikhs and Hindus in the Punjab 1947]]|year=1950|publisher=[[Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee]]|location=India}}[http://www.bharatvani.org/books/mla/ Online 1] [http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC03809888&id=9fQLAAAAIAAJ&q=Muslim+League+Attack+on+Sikhs+and+Hindus+in+the+Punjab+1947&dq=Muslim+League+Attack+on+Sikhs+and+Hindus+in+the+Punjab+1947&pgis=1 Online 2] [http://allaboutsikhs.com/books/gst/ Online 3] (A free copy of this book can be read from any 3 of the included "Online Sources" of this free “Online Book”)
* The Legacy of The Punjab by R. M. Chopra, 1997, Punjabee Bradree, Calcutta.
*http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/2891/11/11_chapter%204.pdf


-->
==External links==
{{Commons category}}
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* [http://asnic.utexas.edu/asnic/subject/peoplesandlanguages.html Peoples and Languages in Pre-Islamic Indus Valley]
* [http://asianbookcenter.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=25&products_id=524 Free Punjabi (Gurmukhi) Primer - Especially designed for those who know English]


{{Ethnic Groups of India|hide}}
{{Ethnic groups, Social groups (Caste) and tribes the Punjab}}
{{Ethnic groups, Social groups (Caste) and tribes the Punjab}}
{{Punjab, India}}
{{Ethnic groups in Pakistan}}
{{Punjab, Pakistan}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Punjabi People}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Punjabi People}}
[[Category:Punjab|*]]
[[Category:Punjabi people| ]]
[[Category:Punjabi people| ]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in India]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Pakistan]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Pakistan]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in India]]
[[Category:Punjabi tribes]]
[[Category:Punjabi tribes| ]]
[[Category:Punjabi culture]]
[[Category:Punjabi culture]]
[[Category:Muslim communities]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups divided by international borders]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in South Asia]]

[[Category:Indo-Aryan peoples]]
[[ar:بنجاب (عرق)]]
[[bn:পাঞ্জাবি জাতি]]
[[bg:Пенджабци]]
[[fa:مردم پنجابی]]
[[ko:펀자브인]]
[[hi:पंजाबी समुदाय]]
[[hr:Pandžapci]]
[[id:Punjabi]]
[[ka:პენჯაბელები]]
[[ja:パンジャーブ人]]
[[no:Punjabier]]
[[pa:ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਲੋਕ]]
[[pnb:پنجابی لوک]]
[[pl:Pendżabczycy]]
[[ru:Панджабцы]]
[[simple:Punjabi people]]
[[sr:Панџапци]]
[[sh:Pendžapci]]
[[ta:பஞ்சாபி மக்கள்]]
[[zh:旁遮普人]]

Latest revision as of 04:50, 31 December 2024

Punjabis
  • ਪੰਜਾਬੀ
  • پنجابی
Total population
c. 150 million[1][2][3][4]
Regions with significant populations
 Pakistan112,806,516 (2024)[a][6][7][8]
 India38,046,464 (2024)[b][3][c][10]
 Canada942,170 (2021)[11][d]
 United Kingdom700,000 (2006)[12]
 United States253,740[13]
 Australia132,496 (2017)[14]
 Malaysia56,400 (2019)[15]
 Philippines50,000 (2016)[16]
 New Zealand34,227 (2018)[17]
 Norway24,000 (2013)[18]
 Bangladesh23,700 (2019)[19]
 Germany18,000 (2020)[20]
   Nepal10,000 (2011)[21]
OthersSee Punjabi diaspora
Languages
L1: Punjabi and its dialects
L2: Urdu (in Pakistan) and Hindi and other Indian languages (in India)
Religion
Majority
Islam
Minority
Sikhism Hinduism (incl. Nanakpanthis) • Christianity Ravidassia[22]

Pakistani Punjab:
Majority
Islam (97%)
Minority
Christianity (2%) • Hinduism (0.2%) • Sikhism

Indian Punjab:
Majority
Sikhism (57.7%)
Minority
Hinduism (38.5%) • Islam (1.9%) • Christianity (1.3%)[23][24][25]
Related ethnic groups
Other Indo-Aryan peoples

The Punjabis (Punjabi: پنجابی (Shahmukhi); ਪੰਜਾਬੀ (Gurmukhi); romanised as Pañjābī)[26][27] are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group[28] associated with the Punjab region, comprising areas of northwestern India and eastern Pakistan.[29] They generally speak Standard Punjabi or various Punjabi dialects on both sides.[30]

Majority of the overall Punjabi population adheres to Islam with significant minorities practicing Sikhism and Hinduism and smaller minorities practicing Christianity. However, the religious demographics significantly vary when viewed from Pakistani and Indian sides, respectively, with over 95 percent of the Punjabi population from Pakistan being Muslim, with a small minority of Christians and Hindus and an even smaller minority of Sikhs. Over 57 percent of the population of the Indian state of Punjab is Sikh and over 38 percent Hindu with a small minority of Muslims and Christians.[23][24][31]

The ethnonym is derived from the term Punjab (Five rivers) in Persian to describe the geographic region of the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, where five rivers Beas, Chenab, Jhelum, Ravi, and Sutlej merge into the Indus River,[32][33][34] in addition of the now-vanished Ghaggar.[35]

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.[36][37][38] 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. With the passage of time, tribal structures became replaced with a more cohesive and holistic society, as community building and group cohesiveness form the new pillars of Punjabi society.[38][39]

Traditionally, the 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.[40] Integration and assimilation are important parts of Punjabi culture, since Punjabi identity is not based solely on tribal connections.[41] While Punjabis share a common territory, ethnicity and language, they are likely to be followers of one of several religions, most often Islam, Sikhism, Hinduism or Christianity.[42]

Etymology

The term "Punjab" came into currency during the reign of Akbar in the late sixteenth century.[43][33][34] Though the name Punjab is of Persian origin, its two parts (پنج, panj, 'five' and آب, āb, 'water') are cognates of the Sanskrit words, पञ्‍च, pañca, 'five' and अप्, áp, 'water', of the same meaning.[44][45] The word pañjāb thus means 'The Land of Five Waters', referring to the rivers Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Sutlej, and Beas.[46] All are tributaries of the Indus River, the Sutlej being the largest. References to a land of five rivers may be found in the Mahabharata, which calls one of the regions in ancient Bharat Panchanada (Sanskrit: पञ्चनद, romanizedpañca-nada, lit.'five rivers').[47][48] The ancient Greeks referred to the region as Pentapotamía (Greek: Πενταποταμία),[49][50][51] which has the same meaning as the Persian word.

Geographic distribution

Punjab is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of eastern Pakistan and northwestern India. The boundaries of the region are ill-defined and focus on historical accounts. The geographical definition of the term "Punjab" has changed over time. In the 16th century Mughal Empire it referred to a relatively smaller area between the Indus and the Sutlej rivers.[52][43]

The Punjab region, with its rivers.

Pakistan

While the total population of Punjab is 110 million as noted in the 2017 Pakistan census,[53] ethnic Punjabis comprise approximately 44.7% of the national population.[5][6] With an estimated national population of 252 million in 2024,[5] ethnic Punjabis thus number approximately 112.8 million in Pakistan;[a][54] this makes Punjabis the largest ethnic group in Pakistan by population.[5][6]

Religious homogeneity remains elusive as a predominant Sunni population with Shia, Ahmadiyya and Christian minorities.[55]

India

The Punjabi-speaking people make up 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] The Indian censuses record the native languages, but not the descent of the citizens. Thus, there is no concrete official data on the ethnic makeup of Delhi and other Indian states.[60]: 8–10 

Indian Punjab is also home to small groups of Muslims and Christians. Most of the East Punjab's Muslims left for West Punjab in 1947.[61] However, a small community still exists today, mainly in Qadian, and Malerkotla.[62]

Punjabi diaspora

Punjabis in Vancouver, 1908

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,[63] Toronto,[64] and Calgary[65]) and the United States, (specifically California's Central Valley as well as the New York and New Jersey region). 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, Philippines, Thailand, Singapore and Hong Kong. Of recent times many Punjabis have also moved to Italy.[citation needed]

Gurdwara Guru Ravidass, Nasinu, Fiji Established in 1939
Gurdwara Guru Ravidass Bhavan, Birmingham
Gurdwara Guru Ravidass Sabha, Southall

Demography

Castes and tribes

Among the major castes and tribes of West Punjab (Pakistan) are the Jats, Rajputs, Arains, Gujjars and Awans.[66] Prior to the partition in 1947, major communities of West Punjab also included the Khatris, Aroras and Brahmins.[67][68][69]

While in East Punjab (India), Jats are almost 20 per cent of East Punjab's population. The Scheduled Castes constitute almost 32 per cent of its total population and 4.3 per cent of the SCs nationally, official data show. Of more than 35 designated Scheduled Castes in the state, the Mazhabis, the Ravidasias/Ramdasias, the Ad Dharmis, the Valmikis, and the Bazigars together make up around 87 per cent of East Punjab's total Scheduled Caste population. The Ravidasia Hindus/Ad-Dharmi and the Ramdasia Sikhs together constitute 34.93 per cent of East Punjab's total Scheduled Caste population and 11.15 per cent of Punjab Population. Ramdasia, Ad-Dharmi and Ravidassias are subgroups of the Chamar[70] and are traditionally linked to leather-related occupations.[71]

Religions in Punjab

Rig Veda is the oldest Hindu text that originated in the Punjab region.

Proto-Hinduism is the oldest of the religions practised by the Punjabi people.[32] The historical Vedic religion constituted the religious ideas and practices in the Punjab during the Vedic period (1500–500 BCE), centered primarily in the worship of Indra.[72][73][74][note 1] The bulk of the Rigveda was composed in the Punjab region between circa 1500 and 1200 BC,[75] while later Vedic scriptures were composed more eastwards, between the Yamuna and Ganges rivers. An ancient Indian law book called the Manusmriti, developed by Brahmin Hindu priests, shaped Punjabi religious life from 200 BC onward.[76]

Later, the spread of Buddhisim and Jainism in the Indian subcontinent saw the growth of Buddhism and Jainism in the Punjab.[77] Islam was introduced via southern Punjab in the 8th century, becoming the majority by the 16th century, via local conversion.[78][79] There was a small Jain community left in Punjab by the 16th century, while the Buddhist community had largely disappeared by the turn of the 10th century.[80] The region became predominantly Muslim due to missionary Sufi saints whose dargahs dot the landscape of the Punjab region.[81]

The rise of Sikhism in the 1700s saw some Punjabis, both Hindu and Muslim, accepting the new Sikh faith.[76][82] A number of Punjabis during the colonial period of India became Christians, with all of these religions characterising the religious diversity now found in the Punjab region.[76]

Modern era

Due to religious tensions, emigration between Punjabi people started far before the partition and dependable records.[83][84] Shortly prior to the Partition of India, Punjab Province (British India) had a slight majority Muslim population at about 53.2% in 1941, which was an increase from the previous years.[85]

Due to the partition of 1947, a rapid shift towards religious homogeneity occurred in all districts across the Punjab region owing to the new international border that cut through the province. This rapid demographic shift was primarily due to mass migration and population exchange but also caused by large-scale religious cleansing riots that occurred across the region at the time.[86][87] According to historical demographer Tim Dyson, in the eastern regions of Punjab that ultimately became Indian Punjab following independence, districts that were 66% Hindu in 1941 became 80% Hindu in 1951; those that were 20% Sikh became 50% Sikh in 1951. Conversely, in the western regions of Punjab that ultimately became Pakistani Punjab, all districts became almost exclusively Muslim by 1951.[88]

As a result of the population exchanges during partition, both parts of Punjab are now relatively homogeneous, as far as religion is concerned. 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.[89]

Punjabi Muslims

Punjabi Muslims are found almost exclusively in Pakistan with 97% of Punjabis who live in Pakistan following Islam, in contrast to Punjabi Sikhs and Punjabi Hindus who predominantly live in India.[24]

Forming the majority of the Punjabi ethnicity in the greater Punjab region,[90] Punjabi Muslims write the Punjabi language under the Perso-Arabic script known as Shahmukhi. With a population of more than 80 million,[90][91] they are the largest ethnic group in Pakistan and the world's third-largest Islam-adhering ethnicity[92] after Arabs[93] and Bengalis.[94] The majority of Punjabi Muslims are adherents of Sunni Islam, while a minority adhere to Shia Islam and other sects, including the Ahmadiyya community which originated in Punjab during the British Raj.

Punjabi Hindus

In the Indian state of Punjab, Punjabi Hindus make up approximately 38.5% of the state's population; numbering 10.7 million and are a majority in the Doaba region. Punjabi Hindus form a majority in five districts of Punjab, namely, Pathankot, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Fazilka and Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar districts.[95]

Punjabi Hindus also form around 8-10 percent of Indian state Haryana's population and are very much influential in the state politics.[96]

During the 1947 partition, millions of Punjabi Hindus (including Hindkowan Hindus and Saraiki Hindus[97][98]) migrated from West Punjab and North-West Frontier Province, of which many ultimately settled in Delhi. Determined from 1991 and 2015 estimates, Punjabi Hindus form approximately 24 to 35 per cent of Delhi's population;[e][f] based on 2011 official census counts, this amounts to between 4,029,106 and 5,875,779 people.[100]

Following the large scale exodus that took place during the 1947 partition, there remains a small Punjabi Hindu community in Pakistan today. According to the 2017 Census, there are about 200,000 Hindus in Punjab province, forming approximately 0.2% of the total population.[101] Much of the community resides in the primarily rural South Punjab districts of Rahim Yar Khan and Bahawalpur where they form 3.12% and 1.12% of the population respectively,[102][103] while the rest are concentrated in urban centres such as Lahore.[104][105] Punjabi Hindus in India use Nāgarī script to write the Hindi and Punjabi languages.[106]

Punjabi Sikhs

Photograph of Sikh girls enrolled in a school run by the Church Missionary School, Amritsar, 1875

Sikhism from Sikh, meaning a "disciple", or a "learner", is a monotheistic religion originated in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent during the 15th century.[107][108] The fundamental beliefs of Sikhism, articulated in the sacred scripture Guru Granth Sahib, include faith and meditation on the name of the one creator, unity and equality of all humankind, engaging in selfless service, striving for social justice for the benefit and prosperity of all, and honest conduct and livelihood while living a householder's life.[109][110][111] Being one of the youngest amongst the major world religions, with 25-28 million adherents worldwide, Sikhism is the fifth- largest religion in the world.

The Sikhs form a majority of close to 58% in the modern day Punjab, India.

Gurmukhi is the writing script used by Sikhs and for scriptures of Sikhism. It is used in official documents in parts of India and elsewhere.[106] The tenth Guru of Sikhs, Guru Gobind Singh (1666 – 1708) established the Khalsa Brotherhood, and set for them a code of conduct.[112][113]

Punjabi Christians

Most of the modern Punjabi Christians are descended from converts during British rule; initially, conversions to Christianity came from the "upper levels of Punjab society, from the privileged and prestigious", including "high caste" Hindu families, as well as Muslim families.[114][115][116] However, other modern Punjabi Christians have converted from the Chuhra group. The Churas were largely converted to Christianity in North India during the British Raj. The vast majority were converted from the Hindu Chura communities of Punjab, and to a lesser extent Mazhabi Sikhs; under the influence of enthusiastic army officers and Christian missionaries. Large numbers of Mazhabi Sikhs were also converted in the Moradabad district and the Bijnor district[117] of Uttar Pradesh. Rohilkhand saw a mass conversion of its entire population of 4500 Mazhabi Sikhs into the Methodist Church.[118] Sikh organisations became alarmed at the rate of conversions among high caste Sikh families, and as a result, they responded by immediately dispatching Sikh missionaries to counteract the conversions.[119]

History

Culture

Photograph of a group of Punjabi women, 1905

Punjabi culture 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 civilisation, dating back to 3000 BCE.[32] Agriculture has been the major economic feature of the Punjab and has therefore formed the foundation of Punjabi culture, with one's social status being determined by landownership.[32] The Punjab emerged as an important agricultural region, especially following the Green Revolution during the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s, has been described as the "breadbasket of both India and Pakistan".[32] Besides being known for agriculture and trade, the Punjab is also a region that over the centuries has experienced many foreign invasions and consequently has a long-standing history of warfare, as the Punjab is situated on the principal route of invasions through the northwestern frontier of the Indian subcontinent, which promoted to adopt a lifestyle that entailed engaging in warfare to protect the land.[32] Warrior culture typically elevates the value of the community's honour (izzat), which is highly esteemed by Punjabis.[32]

Language

Punjabi, sometimes spelled Panjabi,[g] is an Indo-Aryan language natively spoken by the Punjabi people.

Punjabi is the most popular first language in Pakistan, with 80.5 million native speakers as per the 2017 census, and the 11th most popular in India, with 31.1 million native speakers, as per the 2011 census.

The language is spoken among a significant overseas diaspora, particularly in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom.

In Pakistan, Punjabi is written using the Shahmukhi alphabet, based on the Perso-Arabic script; in India, it is written using the Gurmukhi alphabet, based on the Indic scripts. Punjabi is unusual among the Indo-Aryan languages and the broader Indo-European language family in its usage of lexical tone.[120]

Punjabi developed from Prakrit languages and later Apabhraṃśa (Sanskrit: अपभ्रंश, 'deviated' or 'non-grammatical speech')[121] From 600 BCE, Sanskrit was advocated as official language and Prakrit gave birth to many regional languages in different parts of India. All these languages are called Prakrit (Sanskrit: प्राकृत, prākṛta) collectively. Paishachi, Shauraseni and Gandhari were Prakrit languages, which were spoken in north and north-western India and Punjabi developed from one of these Prakrits. Later in northern India, these Prakrits gave rise to their own Apabhraṃśa, a descendant of Prakrit.[122][123] Punjabi emerged as an Apabhraṃśa, a degenerated form of Prakrit, in the 7th century CE and became stable by the 10th century. The earliest writings in Punjabi belong to Nath Yogi era from 9th to 14th century CE.[124] The language of these compositions is morphologically closer to Shauraseni Apbhramsa, though vocabulary and rhythm is surcharged with extreme colloquialism and folklore.[124] The Arabic and modern Persian influence in the historical Punjab region began with the late first millennium Muslim conquests on the Indian subcontinent.[125] Many Persian and Arabic words were incorporated in Punjabi.[126][127] So Punjabi relies heavily on Persian and Arabic words which are used with a liberal approach to language. After the fall of the Sikh empire, Urdu was made the official language of Punjab (in Pakistani Punjab, it is still the primary official language), and influenced the language as well.[128]

Punjabis also speak several languages and dialects related to Punjabi, such as the Pothwari spoken in the Pothohar region of Northern Pakistani Punjab[129]

Traditional dress

Kaintha

The Kaintha, a traditional necklace which is usually made out of gold or steel, is an integral element of Punjabi clothing. It is adorned with a pendant that stands out from the rest of the necklace, which is accompanied by matching color schemes as well as yarn in the back to hold the piece together. It is worn with the Shalwar Kameez alongside a shawl, chunni, or vest. Men and women alike traditionally wear the Kaintha to the Mayian and Jaggo ceremonies. It is also commonly worn while performing the traditional Bhangra and Giddha dances

Phulkari

A traditional element of Punjabi clothing has been the Phulkari. The phulkari is folk embroidery that was typically inclusive of work in floral patterns but has taken on a larger aspect of including geometrical shapes, symbols and motifs relevant to the culture. This pattern has been worn by women for hundreds of years in very vibrant colours. The pattern is typically stitched with woven silk and colourful thread. The phulkari pattern is adorned onto dupattas/chunis, better known as a decorative scarf. Over time the phulkari pattern has taken onto embellishments onto suits, dresses, accessories and more. You will see women wearing phulkari during important religious and cultural folk celebrations (i.e.: Vaisakhi, Lohri) and then in wedding celebrations such as the Jago.

Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (2024, February 21). Punjab. Encyclopædia Britannica.

https://www.britannica.com/place/Punjab-state-India

Malhotra, A., & Mir, F. (2012). Punjab Reconsidered: History, culture, and Practice. Oxford University Press.

Snehi, Y. (2013). Book review: Punjab reconsidered: History, culture and practice. Studies in History, 29(1), 155–

158. https://doi.org/10.1177/0257643013496694

Szivak, J. (2022). The changing landscape of Punjab in Bollywood film songs. South Asia: Journal of South Asian

Studies, 45(6), 1112–1127. https://doi.org/10.1080/00856401.2022.2114061

Dastar

A Dastar is an item of headgear associated with Sikhism and is an important part of the Punjabi and Sikh culture. Among the Sikhs, the dastār is an article of faith that represents equality, honour, self-respect, courage, spirituality, and piety. The Khalsa Sikh men and women, who keep the Five Ks, wear the turban to cover their long, uncut hair (kesh). The Sikhs regard the dastār as an important part of the unique Sikh identity. After the ninth Sikh Guru, Tegh Bahadur, was sentenced to death by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh Guru created the Khalsa and gave five articles of faith, one of which is unshorn hair, which the dastār covers.[130] Prior to Sikhi, only kings, royalty, and those of high stature wore turbans, but Sikh Gurus adopted the practice to assert equality and sovereignty among people.[131]

Punjabi suit
Punjabi traditional dress in India

A Punjabi suit that features two items - a qameez (top), salwar (bottom) is the traditional attire of the Punjabi people.[132][133][134] Shalwars are trousers which are atypically wide at the waist but which narrow to a cuffed bottom. They are held up by a drawstring or elastic belt, which causes them to become pleated around the waist.[135] The trousers can be wide and baggy, or they can be cut quite narrow, on the bias. The kameez is a long shirt or tunic.[136] The side seams are left open below the waist-line (the opening known as the chaak[note 2]), which gives the wearer greater freedom of movement. The kameez is usually cut straight and flat; older kameez use traditional cuts; modern kameez are more likely to have European-inspired set-in sleeves. The combination garment is sometimes called salwar kurta, salwar suit, or Punjabi suit.[138][139] The shalwar-kameez is a widely-worn,[140][141] and national dress,[142] of Pakistan. When women wear the shalwar-kameez in some regions, they usually wear a long scarf or shawl called a dupatta around the head or neck.[143] The dupatta is also employed as a form of modesty—although it is made of delicate material, it obscures the upper body's contours by passing over the shoulders. For Muslim women, the dupatta is a less stringent alternative to the chador or burqa (see hijab and purdah); for Sikh and Hindu women, the dupatta is useful when the head must be covered, as in a temple or the presence of elders.[144] Everywhere in South Asia, modern versions of the attire have evolved; the shalwars are worn lower down on the waist, the kameez have shorter length, with higher splits, lower necklines and backlines, and with cropped sleeves or without sleeves.[145]

Music

Bhangra describes dance-oriented popular music with Punjabi rhythms, developed since the 1980s. Sufi music and Qawali, commonly practised in Punjab, Pakistan; are other important genres in the Punjab region.[146][147]

Dance

Punjabi dances are performed either by men or by women. The dances range from solo to group dances and also sometimes dances are done along with traditional musical instruments. Bhangra is one of the most famous dances originating in the Punjab by farmers during the harvesting season. It was mainly performed while farmers did agricultural chores. As they did each farming activity they would perform bhangra moves on the spot.[148] This allowed them to finish their job in a pleasurable way. For many years, farmers performed bhangra to showcase a sense of accomplishment and to welcome the new harvesting season.[149] Traditional bhangra is performed in a circle[150] and is performed using traditional dance steps. Traditional bhangra is now also performed on occasions other than during the harvest season.[151][152]

Folk tales

The folk tales of Punjab include Heer Ranjha, Mirza Sahiban, Sohni Mahiwal.[153][154]

Festivals

The Punjabi Muslims typically observe the Islamic festivals.[155][156] The Punjabi Sikhs and Hindus typically do not observe these, and instead observe Lohri, Basant and Vaisakhi as seasonal festivals.[157] The Punjabi Muslim festivals are set according to the lunar Islamic calendar (Hijri), and the date falls earlier by 10 to 13 days from year to year.[158] The Hindu and Sikh Punjabi seasonal festivals are set on specific dates of the luni-solar Bikrami calendar or Punjabi calendar and the date of the festival also typically varies in the Gregorian calendar but stays within the same two Gregorian months.[159]

Some Punjabi Muslims participate in the traditional, seasonal festivals of the Punjab region: Baisakhi, Basant and to a minor scale Lohri, but this is controversial. Islamic clerics and some politicians have attempted to ban this participation because of the religious basis of the Punjabi festivals,[160] and they being declared haram (forbidden in Islam).[161]

Punjabi State

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.[162] Since the mid-1980s, there has been a drive for Punjabi cultural revival, consolidation of Punjabi ethnicity and a virtual Punjabi nation.[163] According to Giorgio Shani, this is predominantly a Sikh ethno-nationalism movement led by some Sikh organisations, and a view that is not shared by Punjabi people organisations belonging to other religions.[164]

Notable people

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b Punjabis comprise 44.7% (112,806,516) of Pakistan's total population of 252,363,571 per 2024 estimate by the World Factbook.[5]
  2. ^ Punjabis comprise 2.7% (38,046,464) of India's total population of 1,409,128,296 per 2024 estimate by the World Factbook.[9]
  3. ^ This figure comprises speakers of the Punjabi language in India. Ethnic Punjabis who no longer speak the language are not included in this number.
  4. ^ Statistic includes all speakers of the Punjabi language, as many multi-generation individuals do not speak the language as a mother tongue, but instead as a second or third language.
  5. ^ "The most important section among settlers is the Punjabis who are estimated to constitute around 35 per cent of the population."[99]
  6. ^ "Though Punjabis constitute a mere twenty-four per cent of so of the capital city's population, on average they hold fifty-three per cent of the available managerial positions."[60]
  7. ^ Punjabi is the British English spelling, and Pañjābī is the romanised spelling from the native script(s).

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  114. ^ Jones, Kenneth W. (1976). Arya Dharm: Hindu Consciousness in 19th-century Punjab. University of California Press. p. 12. ISBN 978-0-520-02920-0. Christian conversion followed patterns of previous religious inroads, striking at the two sections of the social structure. Initial conversions came from the upper levels of Punjab society, from the privileged and prestigious. Few in number and won individually, high caste converts accounted for far more public attention and reaction to Christian conversion than the numerically superior successes among the depressed. Repeatedly, conversion or the threat of conversion among students at mission schools, or members of the literate castes, produced a public uproar.
  115. ^ Day, Abby (28 December 2015). Contemporary Issues in the Worldwide Anglican Communion: Powers and Pieties. Ashgate Publishing. p. 220. ISBN 978-1-4724-4415-8. The Anglican mission work in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent was primarily carried out by CMS and USPG in the Punjab Province (Gabriel 2007, 10), which covered most parts of the present state of Pakistan, particularly Lahore, Peshawar and Karachi (Gibbs 1984, 178-203). A native subcontinental church began to take shape with people from humbler backgrounds, while converts from high social caste preferred to attend the worship with the English (Gibbs 1984, 284).
  116. ^ Moghal, Dominic (1997). Human person in Punjabi society: a tension between religion and culture. Christian Study Centre. Those Christians who were converted from the "high caste" families both Hindus and Muslims look down upon those Christians who were converted from the low caste, specially from the untouchables.
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  119. ^ Chadha, Vivek (23 March 2005). Low Intensity Conflicts in India: An Analysis. SAGE Publications. p. 174. ISBN 978-0-7619-3325-0. 'In 1881 there were 3,976 Christians in the Punjab. By 1891 their number had increased to 19,547, by 1901 to 37,980, by 1911 to 163,994 and by 1921 to 315,931 persons' (see Figure 8.1). However, the Sikhs were more alarmed when some of the high caste families starting converting.
  120. ^ Bhatia, Tej (1999). "Lexican Anaphors and Pronouns in Punjabi". In Lust, Barbara; Gair, James (eds.). Lexical Anaphors and Pronouns in Selected South Asian Languages. Walter de Gruyter. p. 637. ISBN 978-3-11-014388-1. Other tonal Indo-Aryan languages include Hindko, Dogri, Western Pahari, Sylheti and some Dardic languages.
  121. ^ Singha, H. S. (2000). The Encyclopedia of Sikhism (over 1000 Entries). Hemkunt Press. p. 166. ISBN 978-81-7010-301-1. Archived from the original on 21 January 2017.
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  132. ^ Dominique, Grele; Raimbault, Lydie (1 March 2007). Discover Singapore on Foot (2 ed.). Singapore: Select Publishing. p. 35. ISBN 978-981-4022-33-0.
  133. ^ Fraile, Sandra Santos (11 July 2013), "Sikhs in Barcelona", in Blanes, Ruy; Mapril, José (eds.), Sites and Politics of Religious Diversity in Southern Europe: The Best of All Gods, BRILL, p. 263, ISBN 978-90-04-25524-1, The shalwar kamiz was worn traditionally by Muslim women and gradually adopted by many Hindu women following the Muslim conquest of northern India. Eventually, it became the regional style for parts of northern India, as in Punjab where it has been worn for centuries.
  134. ^ Khandelwal, Madhulika Shankar (2002), Becoming American, Being Indian: An Immigrant Community in New York City, Cornell University Press, p. 43, ISBN 0-8014-8807-9, Even highly educated women pursuing careers continue to wear traditional dress in urban India, although men of similar status long ago adopted Western attire. The forms of dress most popular with urban Indian women are the sari, the long wrapped and draped dress-like garment, worn throughout India, and the salwar-kameez or kurta-pyjama, a two-piece suit garment, sometimes also called Punjabi because of its region of origin. Whereas the sari can be considered the national dress of Indian women, the salwar-kameez, though originally from the north, has been adopted all over India as more comfortable attire than the sari.
  135. ^ Stevenson, Angus; Waite, Maurice (2011), Concise Oxford English Dictionary: Book & CD-ROM Set, Oxford University Press, p. 1272, ISBN 978-0-19-960110-3, Salwar/Shalwar: A pair of light, loose, pleated trousers, usually tapering to a tight fit around the ankles, worn by women from South Asia typically with a kameez (the two together being a salwar kameez). Origin From Persian and Urdu šalwār.
  136. ^ Stevenson, Angus; Waite, Maurice (2011), Concise Oxford English Dictionary: Book & CD-ROM Set, Oxford University Press, p. 774, ISBN 978-0-19-960110-3, Kameez: A long tunic worn by many people from South Asia, typically with a salwar or churidars. Origin: From Arabic qamīṣ, perhaps from late Latin camisia (see chemise).
  137. ^ Platts, John Thompson (February 2015) [1884], A dictionary of Urdu, classical Hindi, and English (online ed.), London: W. H. Allen & Co., p. 418, archived from the original on 24 February 2021, retrieved 1 August 2022
  138. ^ Shukla, Pravina (2015). The Grace of Four Moons: Dress, Adornment, and the Art of the Body in Modern India. Indiana University Press. p. 75. ISBN 978-0-253-02121-2. You can buy an entire three-piece salwar suit, or a two-piece suit that consists of either a readymade kurta or a kurta cloth piece, each with a matching dupatta. For these, you must have the salwar pants stitched from cloth you buy separately. A third option would be to buy a two-piece ensemble, consisting of the top and pants, leaving you the task of buying an appropriate dupatta, or using one you already own, or buying a strip of cloth and having it dyed to your desire. The end result will always be a three-piece ensemble, but a customer may start with one piece (only the kurta) or two pieces (kurta and pants, or kurta and dupatta), and exercise her creativity and fashion sense to end up with the complete salwar kurta outfit.
  139. ^ Mooney, Nicola (2011), Rural Nostalgias and Transnational Dreams: Identity and Modernity Among Jat Sikhs, University of Toronto Press, p. 260, ISBN 978-0-8020-9257-1, The salwar-kameez is a form of dress that has been adopted widely in Punjab and is now known in English as the Punjabi suit; J. P. S. Uberoi suggests that the salwar-kameez is an Afghani import to Punjab (1998 personal communication). Punjabi forms of dress are therefore constructs or inventions of tradition rather than having historical veracity.
  140. ^ Marsden, Magnus (2005). Living Islam: Muslim Religious Experience in Pakistan's North-West Frontier. Cambridge University Press. p. 37. ISBN 978-1-139-44837-6. The village's men and boys largely dress in sombre colours in the loose trousers and long shirt (shalwar kameez) worn across Pakistan. Older men often wear woollen Chitrali caps (pakol), waistcoats and long coats (chugha), made by Chitrali tailors (darzi) who skills are renowned across Pakistan.
  141. ^ Haines, Chad (2013), Nation, Territory, and Globalization in Pakistan: Traversing the Margins, Routledge, p. 162, ISBN 978-1-136-44997-0, the shalwar kameez happens to be worn by just about everyone in Pakistan, including in all of Gilgit-Baltistan.
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Notes

  1. ^ Michaels (2004, p. 38): "The legacy of the Vedic religion in Hinduism is generally overestimated. The influence of the mythology is indeed great, but the religious terminology changed considerably: all the key terms of Hinduism either do not exist in Vedic or have a completely different meaning. The religion of the Veda does not know the ethicised migration of the soul with retribution for acts (karma), the cyclical destruction of the world, or the idea of salvation during one's lifetime (jivanmukti; moksa; nirvana); the idea of the world as illusion (maya) must have gone against the grain of ancient India, and an omnipotent creator god emerges only in the late hymns of the rgveda. Nor did the Vedic religion know a caste system, the burning of widows, the ban on remarriage, images of gods and temples, Puja worship, Yoga, pilgrimages, vegetarianism, the holiness of cows, the doctrine of stages of life (asrama), or knew them only at their inception. Thus, it is justified to see a turning point between the Vedic religion and Hindu religions."
    Jamison, Stephanie; Witzel, Michael (1992). "Vedic Hinduism" (PDF). Harvard University. p. 3.: "... to call this period Vedic Hinduism is a contradictio in terminis since Vedic religion is very different from what we generally call Hindu religion – at least as much as Old Hebrew religion is from medieval and modern Christian religion. However, Vedic religion is treatable as a predecessor of Hinduism."
    See also Halbfass 1991, pp. 1–2
  2. ^ A Dictionary of Urdu, Classical Hindi, and English: chāk derives from the Persian "چاك ćāk, Fissure, cleft, rent, slit, a narrow opening (intentionally left in clothes)."[137]

Bibliography

Further reading