01:Punjab and Sikhi in Historical and Pluralistic Context — Lecture Notes (RLG207)

Etymology of Punjab

  • From Persian origin; literal meaning often rendered as "Five Waters" or "Land of Five Rivers".

  • Linguistic breakdown:

    • \text{punj} = \text{five}, \quad \text{ab} = \text{water}

  • Alternate/expanded reading: Punjab refers to the land associated with five watercourses/rivers, a toponym central to the region's geography and historical identities.

Rivers of Punjab

  • Indus is the major regional river on which the Punjab region is macro-identified.

  • The region is associated with the five rivers often cited in classic sources:

    • Beas, Sutlej, Ravi, Chenab, Jhelum.

  • This hydrology underpins settlement patterns, agriculture, and political ecologies across centuries.

Regional Geography of Punjab

  • Doabs: regions formed between two rivers (from the Urdu/Persian term dosāb, meaning "between two rivers").

  • Five Doabs are recognized in the traditional framework:

    • \text{Bist}, \text{Bari}, \text{Rechna}, \text{Jech}

    • (Note: the slide lists five doabs but explicitly names these four; the fifth is not clearly named in the provided material.)

  • Doabs organize land-use, settlement, and defense logistics within Punjab’s geography.

Indus Valley Settlement

  • Indus Valley settlement patterns developed along riverbanks and key urban centers.

  • Harappa: c.\ 3000-2000\ \text{BCE} (Indus Valley Civilization).

  • Other major centers: Mohenjo-Daro (Sindh), with newer upriver centers forming from around c.\ 1000\ \text{BCE onwards} (e.g., Taxila, Sialkot, Jalandhar, Lahore).

  • The map/slide reference indicates a broader network of contemporary centers across the region.

Major Rulers (10th–17th C)

  • Ghaznavids

  • Ghurids

  • Delhi Sultanate (significant for the course)

  • Mughal Empire (central to shaping early modern Punjab and northern India)

Ghaznavids

  • Origin/travel: Ghaznavid state centered around Ghazna; expansions into the northwestern Indian subcontinent.

  • Temporal frame: Early 11th century; campaigns intensified around the 1030s and related military campaigns across the region.

  • Geographic/cultural logic: A major Turko-Persian imperial presence with campaigns extending toward the Indus, Punjab, and northern Indian plains; interactions with other polities (e.g., Qarakhanids, Seljuks) feature in the campaign histories.

  • The slide depicts borders, frontier zones, and a web of campaigns illustrating Ghaznavid expansion and subsequent pressures from rival powers.

  • Some key dynamic: Ghaznavid campaigns helped shape early political geography of Punjab and adjacent areas, setting precedents for later Islamic polities in the region.

The Mughal Empire (c. 1595)

  • The map/slide presents Mughal imperial reach circa 1595 with a focus on political boundaries, Sarkar (district) boundaries as described in the Ain-i-Akbarī.

  • Core cities/regions illustrated include northern plains and the Punjab core around Delhi, Lahore, Amritsar, Patna, and neighboring zones.

  • Conceptual takeaways:

    • Administrative organization through Sarkars as part of Mughal governance.

    • Overlapping imperial networks that integrated military, revenue, and religious-cultural spheres.

  • The depiction emphasizes the Mughal framework of governance and territorial extent during the late 16th century, preceding later imperial transformations.

Sikh Empire under Maharaja Ranjit Singh

  • Period: Late 1830s to 1838–1839 CE;

  • Geographic scope: A pan-Punjab empire centered around Lahore, expanding into parts of present-day Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Kashmir, and western frontier regions.

  • Notable features:

    • Consolidation of power under Maharaja Ranjit Singh.

    • Administration and defense of a culturally diverse Punjab through a secular-leaning imperial ethos in practice, even as religious identities remained salient.

    • The map illustrates major towns and districts within the empire and surrounding territories.

  • Area/scale: The empire covered a substantial portion of the Punjab region, with major urban centers such as Amritsar, Lahore, Jalandhar, Multan, Patiala, and more highlighted.

Punjab under British India

  • Administrative divisions (Imperial Gazetteer framework):

    • 1) Delhi Division

    • 2) Lahore Division

    • 3) Jullundur Division

    • 4) Rawalpindi Division

    • 5) Multan Division

  • The presentation shows named districts and towns within these divisions, reflecting colonial governance and the integration of Punjab into British administrative structures.

  • Other noted locales: Key cities such as Amritsar, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Srinagar, and others appear, signaling the geographic breadth of British Punjab.

Partitioned Punjab

  • Partition geography (1947):

    • Punjab lands were divided between India and the new nation of Pakistan.

    • The map shows the Indus, Chenab, Satluj, Ravi, Jhelam, Beas rivers as geopolitical markers around the new borders.

    • Western Punjab became part of Pakistan; eastern Punjab remained in India.

  • Post-partition demography and demographics changed dramatically due to migration, dislocation, and reorganization of political-administrative units.

Religious Traditions in Punjab

  • Buddhist presence prior to 7th–8th centuries.

  • Islam and Sufism entered the region in the 8th century.

  • Hindu belief systems remained influential; the Bhakti (devotional) movement contributed to devotional religiosity across the region.

Social and Ethnic Groups

  • Punjab was historically a frontier region for multiple social and ethnic groups, including:

    • Pathans

    • Baloch

    • Afghans

    • Rajputs

    • Jats

  • This diversity shaped cultural, linguistic, and religious interactions across centuries.

Persianate Influence

  • Persian culture and aesthetic sensibility permeated the Sikh court (darbar) and broader administrative culture.

  • Language: Persian/Farsi used as courtly/administrative language across successive dynasties (Ghaznavids → Delhi Sultanate → Mughal Empire → Sikh rulers).

  • Guru Granth Sahib contains Gurumukhi-scripted Farsi poems.

  • Guru Gobind Singh authored the Zafarnama; Farsi loanwords permeate Sikh texts and practice.

  • Common Persian-derived terms in religious and administrative life include:

    • Ardas (petition, from arz dasht)

    • dastar (turban)

    • tavarikh (history/chronicle)

    • divan (multi-meaning: poetry collection, treasury office, or office in some contexts)

Vernacular Turn: Punjabi

  • Vernacular refers to the languages spoken by ordinary people, contrasted with sacred or courtly languages (Persian, Arabic, Sanskrit).

  • Punjabi emerges as a vernacular language with multiple regional oral dialects.

  • By the 13th century, Punjabi literary expression develops in the context of Sufi Islam and later Sikh scripture.

  • Punjabiyat denotes an idea of Punjab as a shared space of devotion, culture, and piety, emphasizing a plural or inclusive cultural identity.

Sufism in Punjab

  • Sufism brought vernacular and musical dimensions to Islam in the region.

  • Chishti order of Sufism takes root in Punjab, contributing to literary Punjabi and spiritual culture.

  • Notable early contributors to Punjabi literature and Sikh scripture include Shaikh Farid (Guru Nanak’s era overlap within a broader spiritual milieu).

  • Key concepts:

    • Khanqah (hospice/ascetic lodge)

    • Langar (community kitchen)

    • Pir (Sufi guide/saint)

  • Sufi practices and institutions shaped devotional life and intercultural exchange in Punjab.

Reading: Women’s Popular Practices as Critique — Vernacular Religion in Indian and Pakistani Punjab

  • Key argument: Examination of women’s religious practices reveals vernacular religious expressions that challenge monolithic binary categorizations (Muslim, Sikh, Hindu).

  • Theoretical challenges addressed:

    • Binaries in religious categorization

    • Bounded or essentialist notions of religious identity (Muslim, Sikh, Hindu)

    • Colonial framings of religion and theology; male-dominant upper-caste framings of religion

  • Shift in analysis proposed:

    • Focus on shared notions of devotion, everyday piety, and vernacular practices across communities

    • Culturally grounded, ethnographic, and anthropological approaches to religion and practice

  • Examples discussed in the reading illustrate cross-cutting devotional practices and inter-community influences.

The Sikh Empire and Punjab under British Rule (Recap)

  • Sikh Empire (Maharaja Ranjit Singh): A distinct political framework in the Punjab region prior to British consolidation.

  • British Punjab: Administrative divisions and colonial governance reshaped political boundaries and economic organization.

  • Partition and postcolonial reconfigurations deeply affected Punjab’s religious and cultural landscapes.

Take-away Questions

  • 1) Where is Punjab situated? What were the major empires and dynasties leading up to the birth of Sikhi?

  • 2) What were some Persian and vernacular influences on Punjab and Sikhi?

  • 3) Reading: What argument does Kalra and Purewal (2010) make about religion, gender, and Punjab? What is their approach and what does their approach tell us about pluralistic practices of religion in Punjab? What are some examples they use?

References within the slides

  • Kalra and Purewal (2020) reading emphasized in Learning Agenda; frames pluralistic religious practices in Punjab and the ways gender is implicated in religious life.

  • Persianate influences are reflected across administrative, literary, and devotional contexts; Sikh texts show Persian loanwords; Gurumukhi-scripted Farsi material appears in sacred literature.

  • Vernacular Punjabi emerges in the 13th century as a literary language alongside the expansion of Sufi Islam and the later formation of Sikh scripture; Punjabiyat as an identity concept ties together broader regionalism and devotional life.