How Punjabi Language Got Encroached By The Urdu-Hindi Language?

Punjabi is the 9th biggest nation and Punjabi speaking population of the world. Punjabi nation is the 3rd biggest nation of South Asia. Punjabi Muslims are the 3rd largest ethnic community in Muslim Ummah. Punjabis are the largest ethnic population in Pakistan. The great land of five rivers called as Punjab is the homeland of Punjabi nation. Yet, socially and politically Punjabi is a depressed and deprived nation due to the domination of Urdu-Hindi language, hegemony of Gunga Jumna culture, supremacy of UP-ites and UP-ite mindsets clones of Gunga Jumna culture in policy making and decision taking of national affairs and foreign relationship of Punjabi nation since from 1849.

In 1800 century, religious ratio of Punjabi people in Punjab was 48% Muslim Punjabis, 43% Hindu Punjabis, 8% Sikh Punjabis and 1% others but due to attraction of the various tribes, castes and the inhabitants of the Punjab into a broader common "Punjabi" identity and uniting by natural affinity of "Punjabi nationalism", Punjab was a secular region, Punjabi was a secular nation and a Sikh Punjabi, Maharaja Ranjeet Singh was the ruler of Punjab, after throwing out the Muslim Mughal invaders of Punjab from Delhi, India and Muslim Afghan invaders of Punjab from Kabul, Afghanistan.

Maharaja Ranjeet Singh made Lahore his capital and was able to expand the Kingdom of Punjab to the Khyber Pass and also included Jammu and Kashmir in it. He was also successful in keeping the British from expanding across the River Sutlej for more than 40 years. After his death in 1839 the internecine fighting between the Sikhs and several rapid forfeitures of territory by his sons, along with the intrigues of the Dogras and two Anglo-Sikh wars, eventually led to British control of the Lahore Darbar in 1849.

As, after Hindi-Urdu Speaking UP, CP people of Gunga Jumna culture, Bengali was the second and Punjabi was the third biggest nation of South Asia and for the British, Punjab was a frontier province of British India because, Punjab had boundaries with Afghanistan and Persia. Therefore, to rule the South Asia, the prime factor for the British rulers was to control the Punjab by dominating or eliminating the Punjabi nation.

British rulers were well aware with the fact that, they succeeded to capture the Punjab but they has not concurred the Punjabi nation. Therefore, British rulers imposed martial law in Punjab to govern Punjab and due to a fear from Punjabi nationalism; British rulers started to eliminate the Punjabi nation into frictions by switching over the characteristics of Muslim Punjabi, Hindu Punjabi, and Sikh Punjabi from  “ Affinity of Nation to Emotions of Religion”.

For demolishing the nationalism and promoting the religious fundamentalism in Punjab, British rulers not allowed the Punjabis to use their mother tongue as an educational and official language. Therefore, the British rulers first introduced Urdu as an official language in Punjab and they brought the Urdu-speaking Muslim Mullahs and Hindi-speaking Hindu Pundits from UP, CP to Punjab for the purpose of educational teaching of Punjabi people along with, UP, CP bureaucracy and establishment for the purpose of Punjab administration.

It resulted supremacy of UP-ites and UP-ite mindsets in policy making and decision taking in national affairs and foreign relationship of Punjabi nation, managed, motivated and sponsored by the British rulers to eliminate the Muslim, Sikh, Hindu and Christian Punjabi’s into different religions and languages to secure their rule over last captured land and martial race of subcontinent.

As a result, Punjabi nation became a socially and politically depressed and deprived nation due to the domination of Urdu-Hindi language, hegemony of Gunga Jumna culture and supremacy of UP-ite traditions.

However, beside the all efforts of British rulers to demolish and eliminate the Punjabi nation, due to struggle of Punjabi nationalists during British rule in India, beside the dissimilarity of religion, because of natural affinity on ground of similar language, culture and tradition, Muslim Punjabi, Hindu Punjabi, Sikh Punjabi and Christian Punjabi were still a nation. Religion was a personal subject for building moral character and spiritual development for the life of hereafter. Punjabi nationalism was a subject for the worldly life affairs. Whereas, clans moreover, communities were the institutions for social interaction and charity work. Punjab was a secular region, Punjabi language was a respectable language, Punjabi culture was a honorable culture and Punjabi nation was a wealthy nation in British India.

In 19th century due to politics of congress, dominated by Hindu and Hindi speaking, UP-ite Hindu leaders of UP, CP, Hindu Punjabi started preferring Hindi language, culture, and traditions instead of Punjabi. Later on, Muslim Punjabi’s did the same due to the influence of the Muslim League, dominated by the Urdu speaking, UP-ite Muslim leaders of UP, CP and presence of UP-ite Muslims in Punjab.

As a consequence of preferring Hindi language, culture and traditions by Hindu Punjabi’s and Urdu language, culture and traditions by the Muslim Punjabi’s, the characteristics of assimilation to accomplish the sociological instinct, started to switch from “Nation to Religion” and “A Great Nation of Sub-Continent Got Divided and Get Emerged into Muslim and Hindu States” as well as, started receiving the reward of hate and regret from every honorable nation, in addition, humiliation, loathing and abuse from Hindi-Urdu speaking persons too. This is the punishment of Punjabi's for not respecting their motherland, language, culture, and traditions. Anyway, Evolution exists everywhere, without realizing that, it is at right direction or wrong.

Now, from decades, Punjabi's are in trouble because of lacking interest in Punjabi nationalist politics, ignorant of the Punjabi language, unaware of the Punjabi culture and uninformed to the Punjabi traditions because of preference to the Urdu language, Gunga Jumna culture and UP-ite traditions.

Especially, the Punjabi's migrated from the Indian side of Punjab to Pakistan were more under influence of Urdu language, domination of Gunga Jumna culture and supremacy of UP-ite traditions. Therefore, they accepted and owned the hegemony of Urdu language, Gunga Jumna culture and UP-ite traditions by surrendering the Punjabi language, culture and traditions. In addition, they also facilitated and supported the UP-ites to dominate Urdu language, Gunga Jumna culture and UP-ite traditions by means of suppressing and eliminating the languages, cultures and traditions of actual inhabitants and original entities of Pakistan i.e. Bengali’s, Sindhi’s, Blochi’s, Pukhtoon’s and Punjabi’s (due to many factors).

Hence, time has proved that; independence of Pakistan at the cost of splitting up Punjab, disintegration of Punjabi nation with the blood of 2 million Punjabi’s and displacement of 20 million Punjabi’s furthermore, lending support to UP-ites for domination of Urdu language, Gunga Jumna culture and UP-ite traditions by means of suppressing and eliminating the languages, cultures and traditions of actual inhabitants and original entities of Pakistan, in conjunction with, hegemony of UP-ite Muhajir's in national and foreign affairs bureaucracy, military and civil establishment, skilled and technical professions, politics and media organizations, was a blunder by the Punjabi's due to political immaturity, irresponsibility and pettiness.

At present, Urdu Speaking UP-ites, those concurred foremost cities of Punjab during British rule and after creation of Pakistan are major problem for Punjabi Nation and Punjabi Language. As they also speak Punjabi therefore, it is difficult to distinguish them that they are Punjabi or Urdu speaking UP-ites. By camouflaging in Punjabi skin, these Urdu speaking Muhajirs of Gunga Jumna culture and UP-ite traditions are main conspirators in Punjab to confuse Punjabi people and degrade the Punjabi language along with support to Urdu language by propaganda of “ Urdu is Binding Language of Pakistani People”, rather Language of Muslims.

As the Punjabi language has groomed by the Sufi saints therefore, Punjabi language has spiritual background and Punjabi language has potential for wisdom related inventions and intellects to develop the moral character for good deeds of life and spiritual development for the life of hereafter.

For skill related inventions and intellects, usually international Lingua-Franca plays essential role but for wisdom related inventions and intellects, spiritually rich language is of vital importance, especially if it is your mother language. Therefore, it is in the best interest of Punjabis to adopt the English as an international Lingua-Franca and Punjabi as their national language.

If we start speaking other languages and forget our own, we would not be we, we would be clones of an alien people; we would be aliens to ourselves" UNESCO, 1958.

Punjabi is an actual, original and potential language of Punjab and Punjabi nation. A language groomed, patronized, propagated by the “Sufi Saints of Punjab”. Therefore, it is an earnest need to implant Punjabi language as an educational and official language of Punjab.

Tragedy with Mother Tongue of Punjabi's.

Maharaja Ranjit Singh made Lahore his capital and was able to expand the kingdom to the Khyber Pass and also included Jammu and Kashmir, while keeping the British from expanding across the River Sutlej for more than 40 years.

 After his death in 1839 the internecine fighting between the Sikhs and several rapid forfeitures of territory by his sons, along with the intrigues of the Dogras and two Anglo-Sikh wars, eventually led to British control of the Lahore Darbar ten years later.

 For the British, Punjab was a frontier province, because Punjab had boundaries with Afghanistan and Persia. Therefore, the Punjabis, unlike the Bengalis and the Sindhis, were not allowed to use their mother tongue as an official language due to a fear of Punjabi nationalism therefore, the British first introduced Urdu as an official language in Punjab, including Lahore, allegedly.

 In Punjab, non-educated, agriculture related and rural residents speaks Punjabi, owns Punjabi culture and follow Punjabi traditions but due to educational and official status of Urdu in Punjab, majority of elite class, government servants and urban residents, do not have respect, regard and honor for their mother language, culture and traditions.

 Urdu Speaking UP-ites, those concurred foremost cities of Punjab during British rule and after creation of Pakistan, are also a major problem for Punjabi Language, culture and traditions. By camouflaging in Punjabi skin, these UP-ite Urdu speaking Muhajirs are main conspirators in Punjab to confuse Punjabi elite class, government servants and urban residents by degrading Punjabi language and support to Urdu with propaganda of Binding Language for Pakistani People, rather Language of Muslims. Therefore, the basic assembling and vital binding force for Punjab and Punjabi nation, i.e. Punjabi language is not an official and educational language of Punjab.

 However, without patronage and ignorant attitude of Government of Pakistan, still Punjabi, the language of 60% Pakistanis, is the 9th Most Spoken Language of World.

 01. Chinese (Mandarin) – 935 Million Native Speakers

 02. Spanish – 387 Million Native Speakers

 03. English – 365 Million Native Speakers

 04. Hindi – 295 Million Native Speakers

 05. Arabic – 280 Million Native Speakers

 06. Portuguese – 204 Million Native Speakers

 07. Bengali – 202 Million Native Speakers

 08. Russian – 160 Million Native Speakers

09. Punjabi – 130 Million Native Speakers.

10. Japanese – 127 Million Native Speakers

Punjabi is the 9th Most Spoken Languages of World.

Although there are over 6,000 languages in existence today, the vast majority of the world speaks less than 150. Of those 150, the usual suspects are all there, however there are a few that may surprise you; English drops to third place and Portuguese overtakes Bengali. Enough teasing, let’s get started.

01. Chinese (Mandarin) – 935 Million Native Speakers

Of the more than 6.6 billion people in the world, 14.1% of them speak Mandarin Chinese. China has many dialects, but Mandarin Chinese is the most common and widely accepted of them all. It is the native language of roughly 935 million Chinese.

02. Spanish – 387 Million Native Speakers

Saying “Hola” at spot number two is Spanish with 387 million speakers. This accounts for about 5.85% of the world getting the big bien venido upon entering this world. Also a common second language, for Americans and others, Spanish is quickly gaining ground as a world language partly due to it being widely thought of as the easiest language to learn. While it has quite a ways to go before it overtakes Chinese, it’s already overtaken number #3… English.

03. English – 365 Million Native Speakers

If you’re reading this, you speak English to some degree (or you are really confused.) While behind Spanish, English is still the lingua franca of the world. It dominates business, trade, and America’s currency, the dollar, is still used on a global scale. Hollywood helps spread our lovely language throughout the world and helps it maintain it as a status language.

04. Hindi – 295 Million Native Speakers

Hindi is the big-hitter in India. India has over 122 languages with 22 of them recognized by the constitution of India as official languages. Of them, Hindi has emerged as the big dog; the one everyone wants to play with. It is essentially a lingua franca in parts of, if not all of, India. Most Indians can speak or understand it to some degree. India has a lot of people, therefore a lot of people speak Hindi. Logical.

05. Arabic – 280 Million Native Speakers

Obviously, as astute as you all are, you know this statistic is a bit skewed. Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) is the common language used for news broadcasts and official stuff, however most Arabic-speaking folk speak a dialect of Arabic; Egyptian Arabic, Moroccan Arabic, Algerian Arabic, etc. If these were fragmented off, none of them would easily make the top 10, however, luckily for Arabic, they are all lumped together for official purposes. You got lucky this time, Arabic. Arabic is also one of the hardest languages to learn for English speakers.

06. Portuguese – 204 Million Native Speakers

From Brazil to Portugal, the Portuguese know how to party. They also know how to multiply. From a relatively smaller number of countries, this rabbit-like mammals get it done when it comes to producing little Portuguese speakers.

07. Bengali – 202 Million Native Speakers

I bet you didn’t see Bengali coming… in fact, I bet you don’t know what Bengali is. Let me educate you. Bengali is the language native to the southeastern region of Asia known as Bengal. Think Bangladesh. While numbers vary for the ‘native speakers’ of this language, it’s still in a solid place among the top 10 most spoken languages in the world.

08. Russian – 160 Million Native Speakers

Russian, or Russki as I like to call it (I don’t know why) is a Slavic language that gives me fits when I try to learn it. Written in the Cyrillic alphabet, it looks and sounds foreign to most English speakers. The Russians know how to be cold and decline words. And be tough. And intimidating.

09. Punjabi – 130 Million Native Speakers

 Ahh Punjabi, what would a top 10 list be without you? Punjabi “…is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by 130 million (2013 estimate) native speakers worldwide making it the 9th most widely spoken language in the world.”

10. Japanese – 127 Million Native Speakers

Perhaps the most polite language on the top 10, Japanese is famous for it’s difficulty in addressing various levels of people with regards to their status and respect level. Seemingly two different languages are used for addressing elders and people of authority vs. that annoying kid down the street. With it’s unique writing system, it appears to be really foreign to a large portion of the world. However, to 127 million people, it’s pure comfort.

It’s clear to see that the vast majority of languages are comprised of only the top fraction of a percent. Of the 6,000+ languages spoken today, this list of 10 makes up for roughly 45% or so of the total population of the earth. As the world becomes smaller, we lose a lot of the underrepresented languages out there. Whether you consider this a natural part of civilization, or a tragedy, it is happening. There are large efforts out there to support and help preserve near-extinct languages, but it will remain an uphill battle as more and more people jump on the bandwagon to speak one of the more ‘common’ languages.

Author Jeffrey Nelson of LivingBilingual

List of Famous Punjabi-Language Poets.

Baba Farid - 12th-13th century
Damodar - 15th century
Guru Nanak Dev -15th - 16th century
Guru Angad - 16th century
Guru Amar Das - 15th - 16th century
Guru Ram Das - 16th century
Shah Hussain - 16th century
Guru Arjun Dev - 16th - 17th century
Bhai Gurdas - 16th - 17th century
Sultan Bahu - 16th-17th century
Guru Tegh Bahadur - 17th century
Guru Gobind Singh - 17th century
Saleh muhammad safoori - 17th century
Bulleh Shah - 17th-18th century
Waris Shah - 18th century
Khwaja Ghulam Farid- 18th-19th century
Babu Rajab Ali- 19th century
Mian Muhammad Bakhsh - 19th century
Qadaryar - 19th century
Piloo - 19th century
Amrita Pritam - 20th century
Hashim - 19th century
Shareef Kunjahi - 20th century
Mir Tanha Yousafi - 20th century
Anwar Masood - 20th century
Afzal Ahsan Randhawa - 20th century
Aatish - 20th century
Harbans Bhalla (1930-1993) - 20th century
Shaista Nuzhat - 20th century
Bhai Veer Singh - 20th century
Dhani Ram Chatrik - 20th century
Jaswant Singh Rahi - 20th century
Faiz Ahmad Faiz - 20th century
Darshan Singh Awara - 20th century
Dr. Harbhajan Singh - 20th century
Shiv Kumar Batalvi - 20th century
Sharif Kunjahi - 20th century
Surjit Paatar - 20th century
Ajmer Rode - 20th century
Sukhdarshan Dhaliwal - 20th century
◾Balwant Gargi - 20th century
◾Sukhbir - 20th century
◾Jaswant Singh Neki - 20th century
◾Shardha Ram Phillauri - 20th century
◾Ustad Daman - 20th century
◾Munir Niazi - 20th century
◾Chaman Lal Chaman - 20th century

◾Shamsher Singh Sandhu 20th-21st cent

Dialects of Punjabi Language Spoken in Lahore.

According to the 1998 census of Pakistan, Punjabi language is spoken by 87% population of Lahore.

Lahore being the capital of the province of Punjab exhibits a great variety of Punjabi dialects spoken by the people of different district's living in the city.

◾Majhi spoken by the majority

◾Pothohari

◾Dhani

◾Shapuri

◾Jhangochi

◾Jangli/Rachnavi

◾Chenavari

◾Thalochi

◾Hindko

◾Chhachi

◾Jandali

◾Multani/Saraiki

◾Derawali

◾Riasti

◾Ghebi

◾Dogri/Darhab

Other languages include:

◾Urdu being the national language is also spoken and understood by most of the population and primarily used as a second language.

◾English is also understood and spoken by a sizeable segment of the educated population.

◾Minority Languages spoken by people of different parts of Pakistan and Afghan refugees living in Lahore; Pahari, Raangrri, Pashto, Sindhi, Balochi, Brahui, Kashmiri, Shina, Balti, Khowar/Chitrali, Burushaski and Dari.

Punjabi Language has Spiritual Background.

Punjabi language has spiritual background. It is groomed by the Sufi saints Baba Farid, Baba Nanak, Shah Hussain, Sultan Bahu, Bulleh Shah, Waris Shah, Khwaja Ghulam Farid, Mian Muhammad Bakhsh. Because of that, Punjabi language has potential for wisdom related inventions and intellects to develop moral character for the good deeds of life and spiritual development for the life of the hereafter.

Punjabi emerged as an independent language in the 12th century. Fariduddin Ganjshakar is generally recognized as the first major poet of the Punjabi language. Revered by Muslims, he is considered one of the fifteen Sikh bhagats and selections from his work are included in the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh sacred scripture.

Punjabi language is older than Urdu and have a richer cultural and spiritual asset as compare to Urdu, which was planted in Punjab by the Britishers for their political pity interests, but Urdu is a virus in cultural and spiritual grooming of Punjabis.

Invention and intellect branch off into skill and wisdom. For skill related inventions and intellects usually international Lingua-Franca plays essential role, but for wisdom related inventions and intellects, spiritually rich language is of vital importance, especially if it is your mother language.

Punjabis are required to adopt English as international Lingua-Franca and Punjabi as their national language.

Punjabi Language.

Punjabi is the 9th most spoken languages of the world. 1.44% population of the world speaks it as a 1st language. Punjabi is spoken as a first language by the majority population of Pakistan and it is the primary language of the Sikh people in India and third-most spoken language in South Asia. The Punjabi language is currently the second-most spoken language in the United Kingdom and third spoken language of Canada.

Punjabi is an Indo-Aryan language like many other modern languages of South Asia and lies entirely in present day India, well within the eastern half of historical Punjab. It is a descendant of the Shauraseni language, which was the chief language of medieval northern India.

Punjabi emerged as an independent language in the 12th century. Fariduddin Ganjshakar is generally recognized as the first major poet of the Punjabi language,. Revered by Muslims, he is considered one of the fifteen Sikh bhagats and selections from his work are included in the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh sacred scripture.

The Sikh religion originated in the 15th century in the Punjab region and Punjabi is the predominant language spoken by the Sikhs. Most portions of the Guru Granth Sahib use the Punjabi language written in Gurmukhi, though Punjabi is not the only language used in the Sikh scriptures.

The Janamsakhis, stories on the life and legend of Guru Nanak (1469–1539), are early examples of Punjabi prose literature. Nanak himself composed Punjabi verse incorporating vocabulary from Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian, and other Indic languages as characteristic of the Gurbani tradition.

Punjabi Sufi poetry developed under Shah Hussain (1538–1599), Sultan Bahu (1628–1691), Shah Sharaf (1640–1724), Ali Haider (1690–1785), Saleh Muhammad Safoori (son of, Mai Safoora whom Ali Haider had given great tribute) and Bulleh Shah (1680–1757). In contrast to Persian poets, who had preferred the Ghazal for poetic expression, Punjabi Sufi poets tended to compose in the Kafi.

Punjabi Sufi poetry also influenced other Punjabi literary traditions particularly the Punjabi Qissa, a genre of romantic tragedy which also derived inspiration from Indic, Persian and Quranic sources. The Qissa of Heer Ranjha by Waris Shah (1706–1798) is among the most popular of Punjabi qisse. Other popular stories include Sohni Mahiwal by Fazal Shah, Mirza Sahiba by Hafiz Barkhudar (1658–1707), Sassi Punnun by Hashim Shah (1735?–1843?), and Qissa Puran Bhagat by Qadaryar (1802–1892).

Heroic ballads known as Vaar enjoy a rich oral tradition in Punjabi. Prominent examples of heroic or epic poetry include Guru Gobind Singh's in Chandi Di Var (1666–1708). The semi-historical Nadir Shah Di Vaar by Najabat describes the invasion of India by Nadir Shah in 1739. The Jangnama, or 'War Chronicle,' was introduced into Punjabi literature during the Mughal period; the Punjabi Jangnama of Shah Mohammad (1780–1862) recounts the First Anglo-Sikh War of 1845–46.

There are several different scripts used for writing the Punjabi language, depending on the region and the dialect spoken, as well as the religion of the speaker. In the Punjab province of Pakistan, the script used is Shahmukhi and differs from the standard Nastaʿlīq script as it has four additional letters. The eastern part of the Punjab region, located in India, is divided into three states. In the state of Punjab, the Gurmukhī script is generally used for writing Punjabi. Punjabi Hindus, who are mainly concentrated in the neighboring Indian states such as Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, as well as the national capital territory of Delhi, sometimes use the Devanāgarī script to write Punjabi. While Punjabi GCSE and A Level qualifications are available to students in the United Kingdom; their written exam is in Gurmukhi only.