The Punjabis () also spelt Panjabis, are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group associated with the Punjab region, comprising areas of northwestern India and eastern Pakistan, who generally speak any of the several Punjabi dialects.
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. Historically, the Punjabi people were a heterogeneous group and were subdivided into a number of clans called biradari (literally "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. Integration and assimilation are important parts of Punjabi culture, since Punjabi identity is not based solely on tribal connections.
Punjabi people follow one of several religions, mainly Islam, Sikhism, Hinduism or Christianity. A majority of them adheres to Islam, with the rest mainly practising Sikhism and Hinduism and a smaller minority following Christianity. Regionally, Punjabi Muslims mainly live in Punjab, Pakistan with Punjabi Hindus and Sikhs primarily inhabiting Punjab, India; Punjabi Christians live on the both sides.
Etymology and background The ethnonym Punjabi comes from the toponym Punjab, literally the 'five rivers': Beas, Chenab, Jhelum, Ravi, and Sutlej, which are the tributaries of Indus."Punjab." Pp. 107 in Encyclopædia Britannica (9th ed.), vol. 20. The toponym gained currency for the region at the turn of the 2nd millennium CE; it was earlier known by a variety of other names. The name is of Persian origin, with its two parts ( and ) being calque of the Sanskrit and , of the same meaning.
An early use of the present name for the region can be found in the writings of the 14th-century governor of Multan, Ayn al-Mulk Mahru (d. 1362), who denoted it as the wilayat of Panjāb (),For the original Persian text, see as well as in the travelogue of Ibn Battuta. Much earlier, the region was known as Sapta Sindhu in the Rigveda and Hapta Hendu in the Avesta, both meaning "The Land of Seven Rivers"; the additional two being Indus and Kabul. In the Karṇaparvan section of Mahabharata the region is also named as Pañcanada and Āraṭṭa.
Geographic distribution
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. 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 fluid and focus on historical accounts, with its geographical definition changing over time. In the 16th century Mughal Empire, it referred to a relatively smaller area between the Indus and the Sutlej rivers.
Pakistan While the total population of Punjab is 110 million as noted in the 2017 Pakistan census, Punjabi people comprise approximately 44.7% of the national population. With an estimated national population of 252 million in 2024, ethnic Punjabis thus number approximately 112.8 million in Pakistan; this makes Punjabis the largest ethnic group in Pakistan by population.
Religious homogeneity remains elusive as a predominant Sunni population with Shia, Ahmadiyya and Christian minorities.
India The Punjabi-speaking people make up 2.74% of India's population as of 2011. 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%. Ethnic Punjabis are believed to account for at least 40% of Delhi's total population and are predominantly Hindi-speaking Punjabi Hindus. 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.
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. However, a small community still exists today, mainly in Qadian, and Malerkotla.
Punjabi diaspora
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, Toronto, and Calgary) 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, Indonesia, Singapore and Hong Kong. Of recent times many Punjabis have also moved to Italy.
Demographics Castes and tribes
Among the major castes and tribes of West Punjab (Pakistan) are the Jats, Rajputs, Arains, Gujjars and Awans.h Prior to the partition in 1947, major communities of West Punjab also included the Khatris, Aroras and Brahmins.
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 and are traditionally linked to leather-related occupations.
Religions in Punjab
Proto-Hinduism is the oldest of the religions practised by the Punjabi people. 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. The bulk of the Rigveda was composed in the Punjab region between circa 1500 and 1200 BC, 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.
Later, the spread of Buddhisim and Jainism in the Indian subcontinent saw the growth of Buddhism and Jainism in the Punjab. Islam was introduced via southern Punjab in the 8th century, becoming the majority by the 16th century, via local conversion. 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. The region became predominantly Muslim due to missionary Sufi saints whose dargahs dot the landscape of the Punjab region.
The rise of Sikhism in the 1700s saw some Punjabis, both Hindu and Muslim, accepting the new Sikh faith. 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.
Modern era Due to religious tensions, emigration between Punjabi people started far before the partition and dependable records.Jones. (2006). Socio-religious reform movements in British India (The New Cambridge History of India). Cambridge University PressJones, R. (2007). The great uprising in India, 1857–58: Untold stories, Indian and British (worlds of the east India company). Boydell Press. 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.
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.South Asia: British India Partitioned Avari, B. (2007). India: The ancient past. 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.
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.
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.
Forming the majority of the Punjabi ethnicity in the greater Punjab region, Punjabi Muslims write the Punjabi language under the Perso-Arabic script known as Shahmukhi. With a population of more than 80 million, they are the largest ethnic group in Pakistan and the world's third-largest Islam-adhering ethnicity after ArabsMargaret Kleffner Nydell Understanding Arabs: A Guide For Modern Times, Intercultural Press, 2005, , page xxiii, 14 and Bengalis.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. 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
Punjabi Hindus in India use Nāgarī script to write the Hindi and Punjabi languages. 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.
During the 1947 partition, millions of Punjabi Hindus (including Hindkowan Hindus and Saraiki Hindus) 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; based on 2011 official census counts, this amounts to between 4,029,106 and 5,875,779 people.