Punjabi and Punjab

'Punjabi', also spelled 'Panjabi', is a cultural region straddling the border between West Punjab (Pakistan) and East Punjab (India). History shows that this region, due to the influence of Persian language during the Mughal Period was named as Punjab due to the reason that it has five rivers namely, the Jhelum, the Chenab, the Ravi, the Sutlej, and the Beas reigned this area. Punjabi is spoken by inhabitants of Punjab region (in Pakistan and India).

George Abraham Grierson (1904-1928), a linguist , in his 24 volume Linguistic Survey of India done in1920 mentions that 1503 languages are spoken in India and Punjabi is one of them. It is understood that Punjabi is an Indo-Aryan language like many other modern languages of South Asia. Most of the material in this language originates from the 3rd to 10th centuries AD. It is also said that this language is being spoken in this region for centuries. The Punjabi language evolved from Sauraseni Apbharnsha (Shauraseni Apabhransha) which has the influence of earlier Prakrits, especially Pali and Sanskrit. ( details in Punjabi "Punjabi Philology – پنجابی لسانیات and Punjabi Origin – پنجابی دا پچھوکڑ)

Punjabi language has more than 64 dialects ( see Punjabi Urdu Dictionary 2009 ) spoken in the different sub-regions of Punjab. Sikhs write this language in Gurmukhi, Hindus in Devanagari and Muslims in Urdu script (Punjabi Alphabet – Shahmukhi).

In Pakistan, the Punjabi speaking territory spans the east-central districts of Punjab Province, ie. Lahore, Rawalpindi, Faislabad, Gujranwala, Sargodha, Sialkot, Jhelum and Gujrat. Lahore, the historic capital city of Punjab is the largest Punjabi speaking city in the world. Lahore has 86% native Punjabis of the total population of the city, and Islamabad, the Capital city of Pakistan, has 71% Native Punjabis of the total population. Punjabi is spoken as a native language by over 2.85% of Indians. Punjabi is the official language of the Indian state of Punjab and the shared state capital Chandigarh. It is one of the official languages of the state of Delhi and the second language of Haryana. Thus Indian Punjab is the Punjabi language state. Some of its major urban centers are Ludhiana, Amritsar, Chandigarh, Jalandhar, and Patiala.

Punjabi emerged as an independent language in the 11th century from the Sauraseni Apbharnsha, and its literature started developing tremendously since the time Muslims came to this part of the world. According to the available record, the first Punjabi writer is Farid ud Din Ganj Shakar (Baba Farid 1173-1266)

Lahnda , old Hindvi (Moors), Hindvi and Lanhda Lahori are taken as Punjabi by different universities; whereas, the actual Punjabi is Western Punjabi (Lahnda) and Eastern Punjabi (Lahori). As mentioned by Insha in his book ' دریائے لطافت ' in 1802 Punjabi was used for these two Punjabis. This site will give detail on this Punjabi.