Punjab ( ; , ) is a geographical, ethnolinguistic, and historical region in South Asia, located in its northwestern part, comprising areas of modern-day Pakistan and northwestern India. Lahore is its largest city and historic capital, with other major cities including Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Multan, and Sialkot in Pakistan; alongside Ludhiana, Amritsar, Chandigarh, Jalandhar, and Patiala in India.
Human settlements in Punjab developed along its five rivers as early as the ancient Indus Valley civilization, dating back to , followed by migrations of the Indo-Aryan peoples. Agriculture has been the chief economic feature of the Punjab and is considered an important element of Punjabi culture. The Punjab emerged as an important agricultural region, especially following the Green Revolution during the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s, and has been described as the "breadbasket of both India and Pakistan."
The boundaries of the region are imprecisely defined and depend on historical and ethnographic definitions, and thus the geographical meaning of the term "Punjab" has changed over time. During the existence British India, from 1849 till 1901, the Punjab Province encompassed the present Indian states and union territories of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, and Delhi, and the Pakistani regions of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Islamabad Capital Territory. After the Partition of British India in 1947, it was divided into West and East Punjab; East Punjab was further divided into Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh in 1966 by India.
The predominant ethnolinguistic group of the Punjab region are the Punjabi people, who speak the Indo-Aryan Punjabi language of South Asia. Punjabi Muslims are the majority in Pakistani Punjab, while Punjabi Sikhs are the majority in Indian Punjab. Other religious groups include Punjabi Hindus, Punjabi Christians, Jains, Zoroastrians, Buddhists, and Ravidassias.
Etymology The name Punjab is derived from the Persian words panj (پنج), meaning “five”, and āb (آب), meaning “water”. cognates of the Sanskrit words ( and ). The word pañj-āb is thus calque of Indo-Aryan pañca-áp and means "The Land of Five Waters", The name refers to the five major rivers historically associated with the region: the Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Sutlej, and Beas."Punjab." p. 107 in Encyclopædia Britannica (9th ed.), vol. 20. The rivers and their tributaries have played an important role in shaping the geography, agriculture and settlement patterns of Punjab. All are tributaries of the Indus River, the Sutlej being the largest. References to a land of five rivers are found in the Mahabharata, in which one of the regions is named as Panchanada (). The ancient Greeks referred to the region as Pentapotamía ().Lassen, Christian. 1827. 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 ''Penjab'' 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 likely that the name Penjab, which is now found in all geographical books, is of more recent origin and can be attributed to the Muslim kings of India, among whom the Persian language was predominantly 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...." Earlier, Punjab was also known as Sapta Sindhu in the Rigveda and Hapta Hendu in the Avesta, translating into "The Land of Seven Rivers"; the other two being Indus and Kabul which are included in the greater Punjab region.
The 14th-century author Ayn al-Mulk Mahru mentioned the wilayat (state) of Punjab (ولایت وسیعۀ پنجاب) while describing the Mongol invasion of the region. For the original Persian text, see During the same period, the usage of name "Punjab" for the region is found in the travelogue of Ibn Battuta, and in the Tarikh-i-Wassaf of Ilkhanid historian Wassaf, albeit in a geographic sense. For example, Wassaf describes Punjab as the region irrigated by Sind (Indus), Jelum (Jhelum), Lohawar (Lahore, now known as Ravi), Satlut (Satluj) and Biyaha (Beas) rivers. The current name gained currency during the Mughal Empire.Canfield, Robert L. (1991). Persia in Historical Perspective. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. p. 1 ("Origins"). .
History
Ancient period The Punjab region is noted as the site of one of the earliest urban societies, the Indus Valley Civilization which flourished from about and declined rapidly 1,000 years later, following the Indo-Aryan migrations that overran the region in waves between and . Frequent intertribal wars stimulated the growth of larger groupings ruled by chieftains and kings, who ruled local kingdoms known as Mahajanapadas. The rise of kingdoms and dynasties in the Punjab is chronicled in the ancient Hindu epics, particularly the Mahabharata. The epic battles described in the Mahabharata are chronicled as being fought in what is now the state of Haryana and historic Punjab. The Gandharas, Kambojas, Trigartas, Andhra, Pauravas, Bahlikas (Bactrian settlers of the Punjab), Yaudheyas, and others sided with the Kauravas in the great battle fought at Kurukshetra.Buddha Parkash, Evolution of Heroic Tradition in Ancient Panjab, p 36. According to Fauja Singh and L.M. Joshi: "There is no doubt that the Kambojas, Daradas, Kaikayas, Andhra, Pauravas, Yaudheyas, Malavas, Saindhavas, and Kurus had jointly contributed to the heroic tradition and composite culture of ancient Punjab."Joshi, L. M., and Fauja Singh. History of Panjab, Vol I. p. 4.
Invasion of Alexander the Great
In the 4th century BCE Punjab was invaded by Alexander the Great. Omphis, the king of Taxila accepted his suzerainty while Porus refused it. His kingdom spanned between rivers Hydaspes (Jhelum) and Acesines (Chenab); Strabo had held the territory to contain almost 300 cities. He (alongside Abisares) had a hostile relationship with the kingdom of Taxila which was ruled by his extended family. When the armies of Alexander crossed the Indus in its eastward migration, probably in Udabhandapura, he was greeted by the Omphis. Omphis had hoped to force both Porus and Abisares into submission leveraging the might of Alexander's forces and diplomatic missions were mounted, but while Abisares accepted the submission, Porus refused. This led Alexander to seek for a face-off with Porus. Thus began the Battle of the Hydaspes in 326 BCE; the exact site remains unknown. The battle is thought to be resulted in a decisive Greek victory; however, A. B. Bosworth warns against an uncritical reading of Greek sources that were exaggerated.
Alexander later founded two cities—Nicaea at the site of victory and Bucephalous at the battle-ground, in memory of his horse, who died soon after the battle. Later, tetradrachms would be minted depicting Alexander on horseback, armed with a sarissa and attacking a pair of Indians on an elephant. Porus refused to surrender and wandered about atop an elephant, until he was wounded and his force routed. When asked by Alexander how he wished to be treated, Porus replied "Treat me as a king would treat another king".Rogers, p.200 Despite the apparently one-sided results, Alexander was impressed by Porus and chose to not depose him. Not only was his territory reinstated but also expanded with Alexander's forces annexing the territories of Glausaes, who ruled to the northeast of Porus' kingdom.
After Alexander's death in , Perdiccas became the regent of his empire, and after Perdiccas's murder in , Antipater became the new regent. According to Diodorus, Antipater recognized Porus's authority over the territories along the Indus River. However, Eudemus, who had served as Alexander's satrap in the Punjab region, treacherously killed Porus.
Mauryan Empire
Chandragupta Maurya had established his empire around . The early life of Chandragupta Maurya is not clear. Per legendary accounts Kautilya, the purported author of the Arthashastra, enrolled the young Chandragupta in the university at Taxila to educate him in the arts, sciences, logic, mathematics, warfare, and administration. Megasthenes' account, as it has survived in Greek texts that quote him, states that Alexander the Great and Chandragupta met, which if true would mean his rule started earlier than . As Alexander never crossed the Beas River, so his territory probably lay in the Punjab region. With the help of the small Janapadas of Punjab, he had gone on to conquer much of the Indian subcontinent. He then defeated the Nanda rulers in Pataliputra to capture the throne. Chandragupta Maurya fought Alexander's successor in the east, Seleucus when the latter invaded. In a peace treaty, Seleucus ceded all territories west of the Indus and offered a marriage, including a portion of Bactria, while Chandragupta gifted Seleucus 500 elephants. The chief of the Mauryan military was also always a Yaudheyan warrior according to the Bijaygadh Pillar inscription, which states that the Yaudheyas elected their own chief who also served as the general for the Mauryans. The Mauryan military was also made up vastly of men from the Punjab Janapadas.
Chandragupta's rule was very well organised. The Mauryans had an autocratic and centralised administration system, aided by a council of ministers, and also a well-established espionage system. Much of the Mauryan rule had a strong bureaucracy that had regulated tax collection, trade and commerce, industrial activities, mining, statistics and data, maintenance of public places, and upkeep of temples.
Medieval period
Hindu Shahis (c. 820–1022 CE)
In the 9th century, the Odi Shahi dynasty originating from Gandhara replaced the Takka kingdom, ruling western Punjab along with Kabulistan. The tribe of Gakhars formed a large part of the Hindu Shahi army according to the Persian historian Firishta. The most notable rulers of the empire were Lalliya, Bhimadeva and Jayapala who were accredited for military victories.
Lalliya had reclaimed the territory at and around Kabul between 879 and 901 CE after it had been lost under his predecessor to the Saffarid dynasty. He was described as a fearsome Shahi. Two of his ministers reconstructed by Rahman as Toramana and Asata are said to of have taken advantage of Amr al-Layth's preoccupation with rebellions in Khorasan, by successfully raiding Ghazna around 900 CE.
After a defeat in Zabulistan suffered by the Shahi ally Lawik, Bhimadeva mounted a combined attack around 963 CE. Abu Ishaq Ibrahim was expelled from Ghazna and Shahi-Lawik strongholds were restored in Kabul and adjacent areas. This victory appears to have been commemorated in the Hund Slab Inscription (HSI).
Ghaznavids and Ghuruds The Ghaznavids in the tenth century overthrew the Hindu Shahis and consequently ruled for 157 years in western Punjab, gradually declining as a power until the Ghurid conquest of Lahore by Muhammad of Ghor in 1186, deposing the last Ghaznavid ruler Khusrau Malik. Following the death of Muhammad of Ghor in 1206 by Khokhar or Isma'ili assassins near the Jhelum river, the Ghurid state fragmented and was replaced in northern India by the Delhi Sultanate.
Delhi Sultanate