Portal:Punjab

Human settlements in Punjab developed along its five rivers as early as the ancient Indus Valley civilization, dating back to 3000 BCE, 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 British Raj until 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, NWFP 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 Hinduism, Christianity, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, and Ravidassia. (Full article...)

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The Insurgency in Punjab was an armed campaign by the separatists of the Khalistan movement from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s. Economic and social pressures driven by the Green Revolution prompted calls for Sikh autonomy and separatism. This movement was initially peaceful, but foreign involvement and political pressures drove a heavy handed response from Indian authorities. The demand for a separate Sikh state gained momentum after the Indian Army's Operation Blue Star in 1984 aimed to flush out militants residing in the Golden Temple in Amritsar, a holy site for Sikhs. Terrorism, police brutality and corruption of the authorities greatly exacerbated a tense situation. By the mid-1980s, the movement had evolved into a militant secessionist crisis due to the perceived indifference of the Indian state in regards to mutual negotiations. Eventually, more effective police and military operations, combined with a policy of rapprochement by the Indian government and the election loss of separatist sympathizers in the 1992 Punjab Legislative Assembly election, largely quelled the rebellion by the mid-1990s.

The Sikh separatist leader Jagjit Singh Chohan said that during his talks with Pakistani prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto affirmed his support to the Khalistan cause as revenge for Pakistan's defeat in Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. The Green Revolution brought several social and economic changes which, along with factionalism of the politics in Punjab, increased tensions between rural Sikhs with the union Government of India. In 1973, Akali Dal put forward the Anandpur Sahib Resolution to demand more autonomic powers to the state of Punjab. The union government considered the resolution a secessionist document and rejected it. Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale then joined the Akali Dal to launch the Dharam Yudh Morcha in 1982, to implement Anandpur Sahib resolution. Bhindranwale had risen to prominence in the Sikh political circle with his policy of getting the Anandpur Resolution passed, which failed. He wanted to declare a semi-autonomous, federal region of Punjab as a homeland for Sikhs. (Full article...)

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General images

Image 1Maharaja Ranjit Singh holding court outside near the Golden Temple in Amritsar with everyone dressed in Basant (yellow) (from Sikh Empire)
Image 2Illustration of Ranjit Singh, founder of the Sikh Empire (from Punjab)
Image 3Arains in Lahore (1868) (from Punjab)
Image 4Contemporary painting of the Battle of Sobraon in 1846. (from Sikh Empire)
Image 5
The dominant mother tongue in each District of Pakistan, according to the 2017 Pakistan Census
(from Punjab)
Image 6A 17th-century painting by Charles Le Brundepicting the battle of King Porus against Alexander the Great. (from Punjab)
Image 7Jats in Delhi (1868) (from Punjab)
Image 8Gujjars in Delhi (c. 1859–1869) (from Punjab)
Image 9Tarkhans in Lahore (c. 1862–1872) (from Punjab)
Image 10Sikh warrior helmet with butted mail neckguard, 1820–1840, iron overlaid with gold with mail neckguard of iron and brass (from Sikh Empire)
Image 11Brahmin in Lahore (c. 1799–1849) (from Punjab)
Image 12The Indian subcontinent in 1805. (from Sikh Empire)
Image 13Sikh Empire (green) in northwest India in 1823 (from Punjab)
Image 14
Ranjit Singh listening to Guru Granth Sahib being recited near the Akal Takht and Golden Temple, Amritsar, Punjab, India.
(from Sikh Empire)
Image 15Rig Veda, the oldest known Hindu text, originated in the Punjab region. (from Punjab)
Image 16The Malot Temple, constructed by Odi Shahi dynasty in Gandhara-Nagara style in the 10th century CE (from Punjab)
Image 17Arora in Lahore (c. 1862–1872) (from Punjab)
Image 18Map of the Punjab Province (British India) (from Punjab)
Image 19Kumhars in Lahore (c. 1859–1869) (from Punjab)
Image 20Left to right: Gurkha, Brahmin, and Shudra (Chuhra-Chamar) in Shimla (1868) (from Punjab)
Image 21The charge of the British 16th Lancers at Aliwal on 28 January 1846, during the First Anglo-Sikh War (from Sikh Empire)
Image 22The expanding Sikh Empire in 1809. The Cis-Sutlej states are visible south of the Sutlej River (from Sikh Empire)
Image 23Taxila in Pakistan is a World Heritage Site. (from Punjab)
Image 24Ranjit Singh, c. 1830. (from Sikh Empire)
Image 25Two late 19th century drawings of Sikh troops in action against British forces during the Anglo-Sikh Wars (from Sikh Empire)
Image 26Detail from ‘Darbar (royal court) of Maharaja Ranjit Singh’, gouache, ca.1850 (from Sikh Empire)
Image 27A letter sent from the King of France, Louis-Philippe to Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Ranjit Singh is addressed as "Rendjit Sing Bahador – Padichah du Pendjab". 27 October 1835 (from Sikh Empire)
Image 28Nanakshahi coins of the Sikh Empire (from Sikh Empire)
Image 29Ranjit Singh holding court in 1838 (from Sikh Empire)
Image 30Maharaja Ranjit Singh seeking the sanctuary of Guru Nanak, c. 1830 (from Sikh Empire)
Image 31The snow-covered Himalayas (from Punjab)
Image 32The Samadhi of Ranjit Singh is located in Lahore, Pakistan, adjacent to the iconic Badshahi Mosque (from Sikh Empire)
Image 33Rajputs in Delhi (1868) (from Punjab)

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Singh in 1929

Bhagat Singh (27 September 1907 – 23 March 1931) was an Indian anti-colonial revolutionary who participated in the mistaken murder of a junior British police officer in December 1928 in what was intended to be retaliation for the death of an Indian nationalist. He later took part in a largely symbolic bombing of the Central Legislative Assembly in Delhi and a hunger strike in jail, which—on the back of sympathetic coverage in Indian-owned newspapers—turned him into a household name in the Punjab region, and, after his execution at age 23, a martyr and folk hero in Northern India. Borrowing ideas from Bolshevism and anarchism, the charismatic Bhagat Singh electrified a growing militancy in India in the 1930s and prompted urgent introspection within the Indian National Congress's nonviolent, and eventually successful, campaign for India's independence.

In December 1928, Bhagat Singh and an associate, Shivaram Rajguru, both members of a small revolutionary group, the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (also Army, or HSRA), shot dead a 21-year-old British police officer, John P. Saunders, in Lahore, Punjab, in what is today Pakistan, mistaking Saunders, who was still on probation, for the British senior police superintendent, James Scott, whom they had intended to assassinate. They held Scott responsible for the death of a popular Indian nationalist leader Lala Lajpat Rai for having ordered a lathi (baton) charge in which Rai was injured and two weeks thereafter died of a heart attack. As Saunders exited a police station on a motorcycle, he was felled by a single bullet fired from across the street by Rajguru, a marksman. As he lay injured, he was shot at close range several times by Singh, the postmortem report showing eight bullet wounds. Another associate of Singh, Chandra Shekhar Azad, shot dead an Indian police head constable, Channan Singh, who attempted to give chase as Singh and Rajguru fled. (Full article...)

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The Harmandir Sahib (The abode of God), known as the Golden Temple of Amritsar.
Credit: Oleg Yunakov

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WikiProject Punjab

WikiProject Punjab was formed to foster better articles on the region of Punjab with a spirit of cooperation. The project is a home base that provides a place for Wikipedians (editors) to discuss issues, while share information and resources regarding improvements to Punjabi related articles, which can be discussed at the project's talk page. To join WikiProject Punjab (anyone may join), simply list your username on the members page. Editors are also encouraged to participate in the more regional and/or topic specific WikiProject 's as listed below.

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