by kaash Thu Dec 18, 2008 12:20 am
Punjabi is the most common language of India and Pakistan.
Punjabi is the Provincial language of the Pakistani Province of Punjab.
Punjabi is spoken as first language by 3% of Indians, esp. the followers of Sikhism.
Punjabi is the official language of the Indian state of Punjab and the shared
state capital Chandigarh.
It is one of the official second languages of the states of Delhi and Haryana.
Punjabi is also spoken as a minority language in several other countries
where Punjabis have emigrated in large numbers, such as the United States,
Australia, the United Kingdom (where it is the second most commonly
used language[8]) and Canada, where in recent times Punjabi has grown fast
and has now become the fourth most spoken language.[9] Punjabi is the
preferred language of most Sikhs (most of their religious literature being
written in it) and Punjabi Hindu and Punjabi Muslims living in Pakistan.
It is the usual language of Bhangra music, which has recently gained wide
popularity in other parts of South Asia and abroad.
History
Punjabi is a descendant of Sauraseni, which was the chief language
of medieval northern India.Punjabi emerged as an independent language
in the 11th century from the Sauraseni Apabhramsa
However, the literary tradition in Punjabi started with
Fariduddin Ganjshakar (Baba Farid) and Guru Nanak Dev ji,
the first Guru of the Sikhism.
Guru Arjan Dev ji, the fifth Sikh Guru, compiled Sri Guru Granth Sahib.
A substantial portion of the Guru Granth Sahib is written in Punjabi,
although it is interspersed with Hindi languages
(such as Brajbhasha and Khariboli), and also contains Sanskrit,
Persian and Marathi words.[14] Guru Gobind Singh ji also composed
Chandi di Var in Punjabi, although most of his works are composed
in other languages like Braj bhasha and Persian.
Between 1600 and 1850, Sikh, Hindu and Muslim Sufi writers
composed many works in Punjabi. The most famous Punjabi Sufi
poet was Baba Bulleh Shah, who wrote in the Kafi style.
Waris Shah's rendition of the tragic love story of Heer Ranjha
is among the most popular medieval Punjabi works.
Other popular tragic love stories are Sohni Mahiwal,
Mirza Sahiba and Sassi Punnun. Shah Mohammad's
Jangnama is another fine piece of poetry that gives an
eyewitness account of the First Anglo-Sikh War that took
place after the death of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
The Punjabi identity was affected by the communal sentiments in
the 20th century. Bhai Vir Singh, a major figure in the movement
for the revival of Punjabi literary tradition, started insisting that
the Punjabi language was the exclusive preserve of the Sikhs.
The Hindu and Muslim Punjabis began to assert that their mother
tongue were Hindu and Urdu respectively. After Partition of India in 1947,
Punjabi was sidelined by Urdu in the Pakistani Punjab. With the Partition,
the Indian Punjab became Hindi-majority. The movement for a Punjabi
Suba led to trifurcation of Indian Punjab into three states:
Punjab (India), Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. Punjabi was made the
official language of Punjab and Delhi (NCR) and has flourished greatly.
The famous Indian Punjabi poets in modern times are Mohan Singh,
Pritam Singh Safir, I C Nanda, Balwant Gargi, Shiv Kumar Batalvi,
Surjit Patar and Amrita Pritam (winner of Jnanpith Award).
