Book Description

'Punjab' has been called by different names in the periods of its history. Punjab has been mentioned in Mahabharata / Epic age as Panchnada and in the ancient period, Madra or Madhya Desa was the name of Punjab. During the Vedic age, the Punjab was called the Sapt Sindhu comprising regions encompassed by 7 rivers named Vitasta (Jhelum), Asuki (Chenab), Parushni (Ravi), Vipasa (Beas), Shatradu (Sutlej), Saraswati (dried up now) and Sindhu (Indus) and during the rule of Greeks in Punjab/ India from 4th century BCE, it was called as PentaPotamia (delta of five rivers). Both in the Buddhist literature and in the holy book Zend Avesta of Zoroastrianism, the name Hafta Hindva of Punjab appears. Punjab was known for several centuries as Taki or Tak Desa. The then Punjab was inhabited by the tribes or Panchjanas: Anush, Purus, Bharats, Yadus and Turvasus. Punjab has been inhabited over the years by Harappans, Indo-Aryans, Greeks, Persians, Scythians, Arabs, Turks, Mughals, Balochs and it has seen the influence of the Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Islam, Sikhism and Christianity. The boundaries of Punjab extended beyond the Hindukush mountains during the Mauryan and Kushan reign. During the Turco-Afghan rule, the boundaries of Punjab or Lahore province extended up to Peshawar. In the Mughal Period, it extended from River Sutlej to River Indus which is about 180 Kos or 324 Kms and from Bhimhar to Chaukandi, also 180 Kos or 324 Kilometres. Later, Punjab was divided into Lahore and Multan provinces which remained like that throughout the Mughal Period. During the Sikh Reign of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the Punjab was generally called 'the Lahore Province' or 'the Lahore Kingdom', after the name of the capital city. The Lahore Kingdom extended from Sutlej to Khyber Pass. After the Mutiny of 1857, Delhi and Hissar of present Haryana were added to the Punjab Province. In 1901, areas to the west of Punjab, beyond the Indus, were separated from the Punjab and a separate province NWFP (presently KPK) was formed, away from the administrative control of the Lt. Governor of the Punjab and placed under the charge of a chief commissioner, directly responsible to the Indian Government. Under the rule of Lord Curzon and in 1912, the capital Delhi was separated from the Punjab. But under the British rule, it came to be called 'the Province of the Punjab' and after independence, as mentioned above, the Indian portion of the Punjab got the name 'East Punjab'. At present, however, this 'Land of Five Rivers' or the Punjab is not held by one single country. In 1947, a brutal dismemberment of the Punjab took place and it was divided into two Punjabs. The West Punjab went to Pakistan, whereas the East Punjab became an important frontier State in the North-West of the Indian Union. In the new constitution of India, it is called 'The Punjab State'. In 1966, there was a trifurcation of Indian Punjab and it was again divided into three parts, the Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. Punjab's size has shrunk further. It may be mentioned that the boundaries of the Punjab have been altered not only after partition in 1947 but also in the various periods of History. The area of the good old Punjab from 1912 to 1947 was more than 255700 square kms or 505 kms x 505 kms approximately and it comprised 29 districts including historical towns like Multan, Lahore, Dipalpur, and Sialkot. The Indian Punjab now forms a small frontier State of the Indian union. Its area is now reduced to only 50,130 square km. and its total Population, according to the latest census, is 27.7 million (as per census 2011). Once it included what is now Pakistan's Punjab and part of the Islamabad and Indian Punjab, parts of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Jammu and Delhi. However, whatever be the political divisions of the region called the Punjab, historians are concerned with the whole region, as it was and has been through the ages.