Punjab

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Punjab [Pers.,=five rivers], historic region in the NW of the Indian subcontinent. Since 1947 it has been separated into an Indian state and a Pakistani province bearing the same name. The Indus River bounds the region in part of the west and the Yamuna River in part of the east. The five rivers that give Punjab its name, the Jhelum, the Chenab, the Ravi, the Sutlej, and the Beas, merge to form the Panjnad, which flows into the Indus. Except in the north, where there are forested mountains yielding salt and coal, the Punjab is a level alluvial plain. Rainfall is scant and irregular, but extensive irrigation systems using the waters of the great rivers have made possible enormous agricultural productivity. Wheat (by far the leading crop), millet, barley, cotton, and sugarcane are grown, and there are extensive fruit orchards. The Punjab has a large textile industry and much flour milling. Communications (by road, by rail, and on the rivers) are excellent. More than 60% of the population of Punjab is Sikh (see Sikhism ).

History

The region, situated athwart the main approaches to the Indian subcontinent, formed one of the centers of the prehistoric Indus valley civilization , and after c.1500 BC it was the site of the earliest Aryan settlements. The Punjab was occupied by Alexander the Great and then by the Maurya empire. Muslims occupied W Punjab by the 8th cent. and firmly implanted Islam. Not until the late 12th cent. did they conquer E Punjab, which even afterward remained predominantly Hindu. Under the Mughal empire the Punjab reached its cultural height. When the empire declined in the late 18th cent., the Sikhs rose to dominance. By the early 19th cent. their territorial aggrandizement brought conflict with the British, who emerged victorious in the two Sikh Wars (1846, 1849) and in 1849 annexed most of the Punjab and made it a province, though some of the princely states were retained.

With the creation of Pakistan in 1947, the Punjab was partitioned approximately along the line between the main concentrations of the Muslim and the Hindu populations. The western portion became the Pakistan province of West Punjab (renamed simply Punjab in 1949; 1998 pop. 72,585,430; c.58,000 sq mi/150,220 sq km) with its capital at Lahore .

The Indian section (c.91,000 sq mi/235,690 sq km) of the Punjab was divided after partition into three areas. The numerous Punjab hill states were merged into the union territory of Himachal Pradesh (now a state), other princely states were formed into the Patiala and East Punjab States Union, and the remaining area became the Indian state of East Punjab. In 1956, however, the state of East Punjab and the union territory of Patiala and East Punjab States Union were merged to form the state of Punjab. In a further reorganization in 1966, Punjab was divided into two states: Hindi-speaking Haryana and Punjabi-speaking Punjab (2001 provisional pop. 24,289,296), 19,764 sq mi (51,189 sq km). The capital of Punjab is Chandigarh . Other important cities in Punjab are Amritsar , Jalandhar , and Ludhiana . A third portion of the former Punjab was added to Himachal Pradesh.

Sikh separatists have sought an independent Sikh state since 1947. The movement grew more militant in the face of attempts by India's central government to suppress the movement through military action, jailings, concessions to moderates, and internal subversion. Peace has now returned and Punjab is rapidly regaining its economic importance. Punjab is governed by a chief minister and cabinet responsible to a bicameral legislature with one elected house and by a governor appointed by the president of India.

Punjab An area divided between Pakistan and India. It became a Sikh kingdom in 1799, but was subjected to British rule after the Anglo-Sikh wars of 1846 and 1848. Towards the beginning of the twentieth century, it was already experiencing considerable communal tensions between the Muslim majority comprising around 50 per cent of the population, the Hindus forming around 38 per cent of the population, and the Sikhs, who made up around 12 per cent of the population. These tensions were underlined by different cultural and linguistic identities. Matters were complicated by the fact that the different religious communities were riven by tensions amongst themselves. As religious, economic, and cultural competition between the various groups intensified, sporadic unrest burst out into open rebellion (1913–15). It was suppressed by the British, but led ultimately to the Amritsar Massacre of 1919. Tensions continued, and inevitably flared up with the partition of India into a Muslim and a Hindu state, in the process of which the Punjab was also formally divided in 1947. Millions of Muslims moved west to Pakistan, while millions of Hindus moved east to the the Indian areas of the Punjab. In 1970, the Pakistan areas became a separate province, as Punjabis were increasingly influential in public life. In the Indian areas of Punjab, despite an administrative reform in 1966 whereby Punjab was divided into the Punjabi-speaking state of Punjab in the north, and the Hindi-speaking state of Haryana in the south, competition between Hindus and Sikhs demanding an autonomous state continued. A militant Sikh movement developed, which in 1984 assassinated the Indian Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi. The partition of Punjab has remained bitterly resented by both India and Pakistan, and was the main subject of the 1965 Indo-Pakistan War. It was also the scene of heavy fighting in the 1971 Indo-Pakistan War. The government of the Province was normally controlled by the Congress Party, but between 1997 and 2002 it was governed by a Hindu-Sikh nationalist alliance led by the Bharatyia Janata Party.

Punjab State in n India, bounded w and nw by Pakistan; the capital is Chandigarh. In the 18th century, Sikhs wrested part of the region from Mogul rule and established a kingdom. In 1849, it was annexed by the British. In 1947, the Punjab split between the new countries of India and Pakistan, the smaller, e part going to India. In 1966, this further reorganized into two states Haryana and Punjab, which is now the only Indian state with a Sikh majority. Apart from Chandigarh, other major cities include Amritsar and Jullundur. Punjab is mainly a flat plain. Much of the land is irrigated and agriculture is important. Industries: textiles, woollens, electrical goods, machine tools, fertilizers, cereals, cotton, sugar. Area: 50,376sq km (19,450sq mi). Pop. (2001) 24,289,296.

Punjab, India, Pakistan A state in India and a province in Pakistan. The name means ‘(Land of the) Five Rivers’ from the Hindi panch ‘five’ (originally Persian panj) and āb ‘water’. The rivers, tributaries of the Indus, are the Beas, Chenab, Jhelum, Ravi, and the Sutlej. Only the Beas and the Sutlej now lie within India's Punjab. On occasion the Sutlej has been excluded for the Indus. A powerful Sikh kingdom from 1800, the Punjab came under British rule between 1849 and 1947. It was split between India and Pakistan in 1947 with the Indian state being further split in 1966 into Punjab and Haryana, and the union territory of Chandigarh.

Punjab Province in ne Pakistan, bounded e and s by India; the capital is Lahore. It was subject to a succession of foreign conquerors, including Aryans, Greeks and the British. The province was formed in 1947, acquiring its present boundaries in 1970. The area lies on an alluvial plain and most of the land under cultivation is irrigated. Agriculture is the chief source of income, with wheat and cotton the major crops. Industries: textiles, machinery, electrical appliances. It is Pakistan's most heavily populated province. Area: 206,432sq km (79,703sq mi). Pop. (1998) 72,585,000.

Punjab a region of NW India and Pakistan, a wide, fertile plain traversed by the Indus and the five tributaries which gave the region its name (from Hindi panj ‘five’ + āb ‘waters’).

Punjab •barb, carb, garb, hijab, nawab, Punjab, sahib •rhubarb • mihrab