PUNJAB

constituent state of India, situated in the northwestern corner of the country. It is bounded on the north by the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, on the east by Himachal Pradesh and the union territory of Chandigarh, on the south by Haryana and Rajasthan, and on the west by Pakistan. The city of Chandigarh is the joint administrative capital of Punjab and Haryana. The word Punjab is a compound of two Persian words, panj (five) and ab (water), signifying historically the land of five waters, or rivers. Owing to territorial changes, however, only two of the rivers referred to (the Sutlej and the Beas) lie within the boundaries of India's Punjab. The historical foundations of Punjab may be said to have been laid by Banda Singh Bahadur, a hermit who became a military leader and, with his fighting band of Sikhs, temporarily liberated the eastern portion of Punjab from Mughal rule in 170910. The Sikhs later established their power over the area, building a powerful kingdom and adding more territory. The Punjab came under British rule in 1849. With Indian independence in 1947, the area was split between the new sovereign nations of India and Pakistan, the smaller eastern portion going to India. In 1966 India's Punjab was further divided into the two new states of Punjab (with a majority of Punjabi speakers) and Haryana (with a majority of Hindi speakers) and the union territory of Chandigarh, which includes the city of Chandigarh and the immediate surrounding region; Punjab's northernmost districts were transferred to Himachal Pradesh. A significant portion of Punjab is a flat plain, sloping gently from about 900 feet (275 m) in the northeast to about 550 feet (170 m) in the southwest. The region's physiography is divisible into the Shiwalik Hills in the northeast, about 900 to 3,000 feet (275 to 920 m) high; the narrow, undulating foothill zone dissected by closely spaced seasonal torrents; and the flat tract, with fertile alluvial soils on low-lying floodplains along rivers. Punjab has an inland subtropical location, and its climate is continental, semiarid to subhumid. Summers are very hot, the mean temperature in June being 93 F (34 C) and rising above 113 F (45 C) on exceptional days. Winters are cool, the January mean temperature being 55 F (13 C) and night temperatures sometimes touching the freezing mark. Annual rainfall varies from about 49 inches (1,250 mm) in the northeast to about 14 inches (360 mm) in the southwest. More than 70 percent of the annual precipitation is concentrated in the monsoon months of July to September. Punjab is the only Indian state with a majority of Sikhs (more than 60 percent). Hindus make up more than one-third of the population, and there are smaller minorities of Christians, Jains, and Muslims. The official and most widely spoken language is Punjabi, followed by Hindi. About one-third of the population lives in cities and towns. The state's economy is characterized by agriculture and small- and medium-scale industry. With about 70 percent of its people engaged in agriculture, Punjab accounts for as much as one-quarter of India's output of wheat. Other crops include corn (maize), rice, millet, barley, and edible seeds, together with cotton, sugarcane, potatoes, and oilseeds. Most of the land is irrigated through various river-valley projects. The area's great success in increasing agricultural production since the 1960s is largely attributable to the so-called Green Revolution, which has stressed the introduction of modern farming methods, new seeds and fertilizers, and irrigation. Punjab lacks mineral and fossil-fuel resources, and the state's industrial development has consequently been associated with agriculture and consumer goods. The principal industries produce cotton, woolen, and silk textiles; sugar; machine tools; fertilizers and agricultural implements; and such consumer goods as sewing machines, bicycles, sports equipment, automotive parts, and flour and milk products. Punjab has an extensive system of roads and railways. Air passenger service exists between Delhi and a number of Punjab cities, such as Amritsar, Ludhiana, and Bhatinda (Bathinda). Sikh folklore, ballads of love and war, fairs and festivals, dancing, music, and Punjabi literature are characteristic of the state's cultural life. The state's outstanding architectural monument is the Harimandir, or Golden Temple, at Amritsar, which is the chief temple of the Sikhs. There is also the Hindu Temple of Durgiana at Amritsar and an outstanding mosque at Kapurthala. The universities in Punjab include Punjabi University at Patiala, the Guru Nanak University at Amritsar, the Punjab Agricultural University at Ludhiana, and the Panjab University at Chandigarh. In addition, the state has the Visvesvaranda Vedic Research Institute (at Hoshiarpur) and numerous professional, medical, and engineering colleges. Area 19,445 square miles (50,362 square km). Pop. (1991 prelim.) 20,190,795. province of eastern Pakistan. It is bordered by the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir to the northeast, the Indian states of Punjab and Rajasthan to the east, Sindh province to the south, Balochistan and North-West Frontier provinces to the west, and Islamabad federal capital area and Azad Kashmir to the north. Punjab is Pakistan's second largest province, after Balochistan, and the most densely populated. The name Punjab means five waters, or five rivers, and signifies the land drained by the Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej rivers, which are tributaries of the Indus River. Urban civilization existed in the Indus River valley from about 2500 to 1500 BC, when, it is believed, Aryan incursions brought it to an end. The area entered recorded history with the annexation of Punjab and Sindh to the Persian Empire by Darius I (c. 518 BC). The founder of the Maurya dynasty, Candra Gupta, incorporated the region into his Indian empire about 322 BC. The first Muslims to penetrate northern India were the Arabs, who in AD 712 conquered the lower Punjab. The rest of the Punjab was conquered (100727) by Mahmud of Ghazna. The area subsequently came under various other Muslim rulers until the victorious entry of the Mughals in 1526. Under the Mughals the province enjoyed peace and prosperity for more than 200 years. Their power declined after 1738, however, and in 1747 Lahore fell under weak Afghan rule marked by lawlessness and disorder. The religious sect called the Sikhs rose to power in the latter part of the 18th century. The Punjab came under British occupation in 1849, after the British victory over the Sikhs in the battles of Chilianwala and Gujrat. When the Indian subcontinent received its independence in 1947, Punjab was split between Pakistan and India, with the larger western portion becoming part of Pakistan. The present provincial boundaries were established in 1970. The capital, Lahore, is located in the east-central region, near the border with India. Punjab's area consists of an alluvial plain formed by the southward-flowing Indus River and its four major tributaries in Pakistan, the Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, and Sutlej rivers. The general slope of the land is from northeast to southwest, but it rises in the areas between rivers. The alluvial plain has a diversity of landforms: its active floodplains are flooded every rainy season and contain changing river channels, while meander floodplains lying adjacent to the active floodplain are marked by relict and abandoned channels. In the northern parts of the province are the Murree and Rawalpindi and the Pabbi hills, part of the Sub-Himalayas, and in the far north is the Potwar Plateau. Punjab lies on the margin of the monsoon climate. The temperature is generally hot, with marked variations between summer and winter. In the plain the mean June temperature is 95 F (35 C), while the mean January temperature is 55 F (12 C). The average annual rainfall is low, except in the sub-Himalayan and northern areas, and decreases markedly from north to south or southwest, from 23 inches (580 mm) at Lahore in east-central Punjab to just 7 inches (180 mm) at Multan in the southwest. Punjab is the most populous province of Pakistan, containing more than half the nation's total population as well as several of its major cities: Lahore, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Multan, and Gujranwala. There is considerable rural-to-urban migration in the province, especially to the larger cities. In religion, the province is almost entirely Muslim, with a small Christian minority. Punjabi is the mother tongue of 90 percent of the population. The main written language is Urdu, followed by English. The major ethnic groups are the Jat, Rajput, Arain, Gujar, and Awan. The caste system is gradually becoming blurred as a result of increasing social mobility, intercaste marriages, and changing public opinion. Agriculture is the chief source of income and employment in Punjab. Much of the province once consisted of desert wastes that were unfavourable for settlement, but its character changed after an extensive network of irrigation canals was built in the early 20th century using the waters of the Indus tributaries. The area of settlement, which had formerly been limited to the north and northeast, was enlarged to include the whole province, and now about three-quarters of the province's cultivable land is irrigated. Wheat and cotton are the principal crops. Other crops grown include rice, sugarcane, millet, corn (maize), oilseeds, pulses, fruits, and vegetables. Livestock and poultry are also raised in large numbers. The Punjab is one of the more industrialized provinces in Pakistan; its manufacturing industries produce textiles, machinery, electrical appliances, surgical instruments, metals, bicycles and rickshas, floor coverings, and processed foods. Pakistan's main north-south road and railway connect Lahore with Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, to the north and with the ocean port of Karachi to the south. Punjab is connected by road or railway to India, China, and Afghanistan, and its major cities are linked by road. Lahore's airport provides domestic service. The University of the Punjab and the University of Engineering and Technology are located in Lahore, as well as other colleges, museums, libraries, and cultural centres. Area 79,284 square miles (205,344 square km). Pop. (1983 est.) 50,460,000. state of India. It is located in the northwestern part of the subcontinent. It is bounded on the north by the state of Jammu and Kashmir, on the east by the state of Himachal Pradesh, on the south by the states of Haryana and Rajasthan, and on the west by Pakistan. Punjab in its present form came into existence on Nov. 1, 1966, when most of the predominantly Hindi-speaking areas of the older unit were separated to form the new state of Haryana. It covers an area of 19,445 square miles (50,362 square kilometres). The city of Chandigarh, within the Chandigarh union territory, is the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana. The word Punjab is a compound of two Persian words, panj (five) and ab (water), thus signifying the land of five waters, or rivers (the Beas, Chenab, Jhelum, Ravi, and Sutlej). The origin can perhaps be traced to paca nada, Sanskrit for five rivers and the name of a region mentioned in the ancient epic the Mahabharata. As applied to the present Indian state of Punjab, however, it is a misnomer, for, since the partition of India in 1947, only two of these rivers, the Sutlej and the Beas, lie within its territory. Additional reading Surya Kant, Administrative Geography of India (1988), focuses on Punjab. Paul Wallace and Surendra Chopra (eds.), Political Dynamics and Crisis in Punjab (1988), devotes individual chapters to a specific issue. A readable description of the political complexity of Punjab in the 1980s and early '90s is found in V.S. Naipaul, The Shadow of the Guru, in his India: A Million Mutinies Now (1991), pp. 420489. The Punjab's social and cultural life are the themes of Prakash Tandon, Punjabi Century, 18571947 (1961), and two sequels, Beyond Punjab, 19371960 (1971), and Return to Punjab, 19611975 (1980); the three vol. are also issued in one vol. with the title Punjabi Saga (18571987) (1988). Kenneth W. Jones, Arya Dharm: Hindu Consciousness in 19th-Century Punjab (1976), examines the response of Hinduism in Punjab to religious, social, and political challenges during this period. Tom G. Kessinger, Vilyatpur, 18481968 (1974), is a study of the social and economic history of one Punjabi village. Surinder M. Bhardwaj History The foundations of the present Punjab (historical Pajab) were laid by Banda Singh Bahadur, a hermit who became a military leader and, with his fighting band of Sikhs, temporarily liberated the eastern part of the province from Mughal rule in 170910. Banda Singh's defeat and execution in 1716 were followed by a prolonged struggle between the Sikhs on one side and the Mughals and Afghans on the other. By 176465 the Sikhs established their dominance in the region. Ranjit Singh (17801839) built up the Punjab into a powerful kingdom and attached to it the adjacent provinces of Multan, Kashmir, and Peshawar. In 1849 the Punjab fell to the troops of the British East India Company and subsequently became a province under British rule. By the late 19th century, however, the Indian nationalist movement took hold in this province. One of the movement's most significant eventsthe some 400 deaths and 1,200 injuries of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, ordered by British general Reginald E.H. Dyertook place at Amritsar in 1919. When India gained its independence in 1947, the British province of Punjab was split between the new sovereign states of India and Pakistan, and the smaller, eastern portion became part of India. Since independence, the history of the Indian sector of the Punjab has been dominated by Sikh agitation for a Punjabi-speaking state, led first by Tara Singh and later by his political successor, Sant Fateh Singh. In November 1956 the Indian state of Punjab was enlarged by its incorporation of the Patiala and East Punjab States Union (PEPSU), an amalgamation of the preindependence princely territories of Patiala, Jind, Nabha, Faridkot, Kapurthala, Kalsia, Malerkotla, and Nalagarh. Political and administrative leadership for the enlarged Punjab was provided by Sardar Partap Singh Kairon, Congress chief minister of the state from 1956 to 1964. Demands for a separate Indian state containing the predominantly Punjabi-speaking areas were eventually agreed to by the government of India. On Nov. 1, 1966, Punjab was divided on the basis of language into Haryana (with most of the Hindi-speaking areas) and a new, smaller state of Punjab, and the northernmost districts were transferred to Himachal Pradesh. Punjab's recently built capital, the city of Chandigarh, along with the immediate surrounding region, became a separate union territory. Though not a part of either state, the city of Chandigarh was retained as the joint administrative headquarters, or capital, of Haryana and Punjab. Although Sikhs had won the use of Punjabi within the state, by the 1980s factions of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Leading Akali Party) and the All India Sikh Students' Federation were demanding the establishment of an autonomous Sikh homeland, or Khalistan (Land of the Pure, a term introduced as early as 1946 by Tara Singh). In order to attain their goal, these militant groups began to use terrorism, including the indiscriminate killing of Punjabi Hindus and even those Sikhs who opposed the creation of Khalistan. In June 1984, in an effort to dislodge Sikh militants fortified in the Golden Temple (the Sikhs' holiest shrine), the Indian army carried out an attack. The Sikh leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and most of his armed followers were killed, as were at least 100 Indian soldiers. In retaliation, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated at her Delhi home by two of her Sikh bodyguards, which in turn led to violence against Sikhs in Delhi and elsewhere. Despite numerous attempts at a negotiated settlement, a climate of violence and disorder has continued in Punjab, leaving considerable doubt about the political future of the state. H.K. Manmohan Singh Surinder M. Bhardwaj