Archaeological finds in Punjab have revealed early habitation by Stone Age man, dating from the second ice age. Here hunting-gathering tribes evolved into agro-pastoralists who settled down in villages. Around 3000 BC, this area witnessed the rise of the Indus Valley or Harappan civilisation. Evidence of fortified settlements has been found in western Punjab, now in Pakistan, and in Ropar district on the Indian side. It is believed that the Rig Veda, the most ancient holy text of the Hindus, originated in the Punjab. The two great Sanskrit epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata were also composed here.
Some of the greatest scholars of ancient India, including Panini, the scholar who codified Sanskrit grammar, Charaka the founder of a stream of Ayurveda, the traditional Indian system of medicine, Kautilya the author of the Arthashastra – a guide to administration and politics, lived and practised in this land. In the 6th century BC, Punjab came under Persian rule and the cross-cultural exchange saw growth of a refined city-state, the Gandhara.
In 327 BC Alexander’s army invaded Punjab and defeated its king Paurava, or Porus, as the Greeks called him. Year after year, this prosperous land was made the target of more such incursions. The armies of Ghori, the Mongols, the Ghaznavids and finally the Mughals, all rode over Punjab. The invading armies pillaged its wealth, but they also left behind cultural inputs and new trends, like Sufism. Another important event during this period of upheaval was the birth of one of India’s most important saint-philosophers, Guru Nanak Dev.
Born in 1469 in Sheikhupura (now in Pakistan), Guru Nanak founded the new faith of Sikhism which rejected Hindu rituals and the rigid caste system. He spent his adult life travelling all over India, as well as to distant places like Rome and Mecca. This reformist religion transformed Punjab, and over the next two hundred years, nine of his followers propagated the faith and established its roots firmly in the land. Two of the Gurus (leaders), Guru Arjan Dev in 1606 and Guru Tegh Bahadur in 1675, laid down their lives in defence of the Sikh faith.
Guru Arjan Dev compiled the Adi Granth (the holy text) in 1604. It had compositions from six of the Gurus and other Hindu and Muslim teachers. The tenth Guru, Gobind Singh, did not name a successor and proclaimed the “Adi Granth” as the eleventh and permanent leader of the Sikhs. Henceforth, it came to be known as the Guru Granth Sahib, venerated by its followers and recited on holy occasions.
In 1699, Gobind Singh founded a new order, the Khalsa. Blue turbaned warrior-saints of the Khalsa panth (order of the Khalsa) were baptised and vowed to protect the faith from Muslim rulers. The five elements of kesh (uncut hair), kanga (the comb), karha (the bangle), kirpan (dagger) and kachcha (drawers) became an integral part of Sikhism. To instil a spirit of fearlessness, the Guru named his male followers Singhs or tigers and females as Kaurs or tigresses.
In 1799, the Sikh ruler Maharaja Ranjit Singh established a confederacy evolved from autonomous local units or Misals. His rule ended in 1839 and after two bloody wars the British established a truce with Punjab in 1849. From then on, this warrior community provided fighters for the British, including 60% of the Indian force for the First World War.
However, relations began to sour and protests were organised against British rule as India’s struggle for independence gained momentum. Matters came to a head on 13th April 1919, the Punjabi new year’s day of Baisakhi. A gathering of men, women and children assembled at Jallianwala Bagh, in Amritsar, were mercilessly fired upon that shook the entire nation and triggered off widespread protests all over the country.
Punjab suffered its most difficult days just after the partition of India in 1947. Punjab was divided and in the ensuing chaos and communal violence, there were 5 million Hindus left behind in the Muslim country of Pakistan and over 40 million Muslims in predominantly Hindu India. It is with sheer grit and hard work that the people have transcended the carnage and heartbreak to build Punjab into the most prosperous state of India.
In the post-Independence years, Punjab was further divided into the Sikh majority Punjab, Hindu majority Haryana (1966) and the hill state of Himachal Pradesh. In the aftermath of the religious Akali movement, Punjab witnessed a growing separatist movement for creation of an independent nation-state of ‘Khalistan.’
Militancy grew in Punjab, till the extremists occupied the sacred precincts of the Golden Temple at Amritsar. Operation Bluestar, an army operation ordered by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to flush out these extremists, was widely resented by the Sikhs. In its aftermath, Mrs. Gandhi was assassinated by two of her own bodyguards and there were widespread attacks on Sikhs in retaliation. After several years of police and military action, Punjab has now returned to normalcy. The Sikhs, who developed distrust towards the ruling Congress Party, voted to return the religious Akali Dal to power.
