Languages & Dialects of Undivided Punjab Presented on an online conference: South Asia at 75: Past, Present, and Future" International Conference of Department of History from 26 to 28 October 2022. Part 1: Partition of Punjab: Issues and Approaches Organised by Dr, Harjinder Singh Dilgeer, Director of Guru Nanak Research Institute (Birmingham, England), and Punjab University, Lahore. Author: Jaspreet Kaur- architect, urban designer, New Delhi ABSTRACT: This paper is a research and understanding of the various languages and dialects of undivided Punjab from antiquity till 1947. A language is a structured system of communication. Languages are the primary means of communication of humans, and can be conveyed through spoken, sign, or written language. Many languages, including the most widely-spoken ones, have writing systems that enable sounds or signs to be recorded for later reactivation. Human language is highly variable between cultures and across time. Whereas a dialect refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. Under this definition, the dialects or varieties of a particular language are closely related and, despite their differences, are most often largely mutually intelligible. Estimates of the number of human languages in the world vary between 5,000 and 7,000. Precise estimates depend on an arbitrary distinction (dichotomy) being established between languages and dialects. A linguist would probably categorise a language under these, but not limited to, broad headings: standard / polite / formal, colloquial / informal, regional dialect, social dialect, lingua franca, pidgin, creole, vernacular, patois, lingo, jargon, slang. However, in most regional languages, as in Punjabi there is no term to define a dialect. A language is boli, whether closely related or completely different. In recent time, Maa-boli and upp-boli are used as literal translations of mother-tongue and dialect. The pre-partition Punjab province comprised five administrative divisions, Delhi, Jullundur, Lahore, Multan and Rawalpindi and a number of princely states. After the win of 1849 Anglo-Sikh war, Punjab came under direct rule of the British in 1858. It is commonly believed that the Punjabi language, as other regional languages, developed from Prakrit language (vernacular Middle Indo-Aryan). Many Persian and Arabic words were incorporated in Punjabi. This paper looks at works of linguistics who have established links between Punjabi language and Austroasiactic languages. And also the influence of various other languages on the vernacular which came in by way of migrations through the NorthWest. The sources of these being mostly the folk tales and oral traditions. Punjab: An Introduction The region, of un-divided Punjab, has been referred to as Sapta Sindhu1, land of seven rivers, in the Rig Veda2. The seven rivers are the Sindhu (Indus), Vitasta (Jhelum), Asikini (Chenab), Parusni or Airavati (Ravi), Vipasa (Beas), Sutudri (Sutlej) and Sarasvati. In the Mahabharata, Punjab is referred to as Aratta and its people as Balika. Panini3 (4th century BC) referred to Punjab as Vahika in Ashtadhyayi. The meaning of the word, Panini explains, is ‘a region free of religious orthodoxy’. By explaining the word Vahik, Panini has in fact explained why the advocates of the caste system were hostile towards Punjab and its people. Another name of Punjab was Madra or Madra Desa. Panini writes about the Madra Janapada as a part of Punjab with its capital at Sakala or Sangla, modern Sialkot. (Soofi, Punjab Notes | Punjab: some of its ancient names, 2015) The Greeks referred to Punjab as Penta Potamia (five rivers). Muhammad Asif Khan (1929 -2000 CE), a Punjabi writer, wrote several essays on linguistics and has done considerable research on the various names of Punjab. According to him, it was Ibn-Batuta who came here in the 14th century CE, who first used the referred to the region as Punjab. It’s literally Panjnad rephrased. Panj means five and Nad means river i.e. the land of five rivers. Both the words are indigenous. This is said to have been translated to Persian as Punjab - as a compound of two Persian words Panj (five) and aabb (water). Punjab literally means "(The Land of) Five Waters" referring to the rivers: Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Sutlej, and Beas. All are tributaries of the Indus River, the Chenab being the largest4. In writings of the Mesopotamian civilization, contemporary of Harappan civilization, this region and its inhabitants have been labeled Meluha. In the Vedas the term Daseya or Dasa is used for the inhabitants of this region. (Ejaz, 2020, pp. 16, 17) The history of Punjab has witnessed the migration and settlement of different tribes of people with different cultures and ideas, forming a melting pot of Punjabi civilization. The Indus Valley civilization flourished in antiquity before recorded 1 The Vendidad (an ancient Zoroastrian text) speaks of Hapta Hindu, the Vedic counterpart of which is the Sapta Hindu, i.e., the seven rivers of the Punjab. There were seven branches of the Indus River, two which latterly united, thus giving us the present five rivers of the Punjab.The Indian or Hindu name of India should therefore be ‘Sindustan’ and not ‘Hindustan’ which is derived from the Persian name ‘Hindu’. (Mehta, 2022, p. 42) 2 The RV reflects the Panjab and its immediate surroundings of c. 1500-1200 BCE., most clearly visible in its river names, extending from the Kabul River to the Yamunå (mod. Jamna) and even the Ganges (Gangå, mentioned only twice). (Witzel, Early Sources for South Asian Substrate Languages, 1999) 3 The formal study of language is often considered to have started in India with Pāṇini, the 5th century BC grammarian who formulated 3,959 rules of Sanskrit morphology. However, Sumerian scribes already studied the differences between Sumerian and Akkadian grammar around 1900 BC. Subsequent grammatical traditions developed in all of the ancient cultures that adopted writing. 4 Al-Baladhuri (ninth century CE), Al-Beruni (tenth century CE) and El-Masudi (tenth century), describe the Indus (Sindh/ Sindhu) and the Mihran. The British cartographers broadly concluded that above its junction with Chenab, the Indus was called Sindh; from this point to Aror it was Panjnad; and from the city to its mouth it bore the name of Mihran. (Sinha, 2021, p. 5) history until their decline around 1900 BCE. The region formed the frontier of initial empires during antiquity including Alexander's and Maurya empires. It was subsequently conquered by the Kushan Empire, Gupta Empire, and then Harsha's Empire. Punjab continued to be settled by nomadic people; including the Huna, Turkic and the Mongols. Circa 1000 CE, the Punjab came under the rule of the Delhi Sultanate, Mughal Empire, and Durrani Empire. Sikhism was founded in the 15th century CE in the Punjab and resulted in the formation of the Sikh Confederacy after the fall of the Mughal Empire and ensuing conflict with the Durrani Empire. This confederacy was united into the Punjab Empire or the Lahore Darbar (also referred to as the Sikh Empire, Khalsa Sarkar, Sarkar-i-Khalsa) in 1801 by Maharaja Ranjit Singh. The geographical reach of the Punjab Empire under Maharaja Ranjit Singh (18011839) included all lands north of Sutlej river, and south of the high valleys of the northwestern Himalayas. The major towns at time included Srinagar, Attock, Peshawar, Bannu, Rawalpindi, Jammu, Gujrat, Sialkot, Kangra, Amritsar, Lahore and Multan. The Punjab Empire spanned a total of over 520,000 km sq. at its zenith, straddling India and the Afghan Durrani Empire. The following modern-day political divisions made up the historical Empire:  Punjab region, to Mithankot in the south  Punjab, Pakistan, excluding Bahawalpur State  Punjab, India, south to areas just across the Sutlej river  Haryana, India  Himachal Pradesh, India, south to areas just across the Sutlej river  Jammu Division, Jammu and Kashmir, India and Pakistan (1808–1846)  Kashmir, from 5 July 1819 to 15 March 1846, India/Pakistan/China  Kashmir Valley, India from 1819 to 1846  Gilgit, Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan, from 1842 to 1846  Ladakh, India 1834–1846  Khyber Pass, Afghanistan/Pakistan  Peshawar, Pakistan (taken in 1818, retaken in 1834)  Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, Pakistan (documented from Hazara (taken in 1818, again in 1836) to Bannu)  Parts of Western Tibet, China (briefly in 1841, to Taklakot),  Jamrud District (Khyber Agency, Pakistan) was the westernmost limit of the Sikh Empire. The pre-partition Punjab province comprised five administrative divisions, Delhi, Jullundur, Lahore, Multan and Rawalpindi and a number of princely states. After the win of 1849 Anglo-Sikh war, Punjab came under direct rule of the British in 1858. Along the northern border, Himalayan ranges divided it from Kashmir and Tibet. On the west it was separated from the North-West Frontier Province by the Indus, until it reached the border of Dera Ghazi Khan District, which was divided from Baluchistan by the Sulaiman Range. To the south lay Sindh and Rajputana, while on the east the rivers Jumna and Tons separated it from the United Provinces. In total Punjab had an area of approximately 357,000 km sq. about the same size as modern day Germany, being one of the largest provinces of the British Raj. It encompassed the present day Indian states of Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, and Himachal Pradesh (but excluding the former princely states which were later combined into the Patiala and East Punjab States Union) and the Pakistani regions of the Punjab, Islamabad Capital Territory and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In 1901 the frontier districts beyond the Indus were separated from Punjab and made into a new province: the North-West Frontier Province. In 1947 it got divided in to West and East Punjab. Further divisions happened in 1966, when Haryana and Himachal Pradesh separated from Punjab, after the demand of the Punjabi Suba. Prior to India's independence from the British, Himachal comprised the hilly regions of Punjab Province of British India. After independence, many of the hilly territories were organized as the Chief Commissioner's province of Himachal Pradesh which later became a union territory. In 1966, hilly areas of neighboring Punjab state were merged into Himachal and it was ultimately granted full statehood in 1971. Origins of Punjabi language It is commonly believed that the Punjabi language, as other regional languages, developed from Prakrit language (vernacular Middle Indo-Aryan)5. Many Persian and Arabic words were incorporated in Punjabi. Manzoor Ejaz, in his book People’s History of Punjab (Punjab di Lok Tareekh)6, strongly contests the assumption that Punjabi language is of Dravidian origin or has Sanskrit roots. Quoting linguistic data, he asserts that Punjabi, organically linked with Munda7 of Austroasiatic languages family, has close affinity with 5 The Prakrits were Middle Indo-Aryan languages spoken between about 500 B.C. and 500 A.D. The name Prakrit (prākṛta) means ‘derived’, a name contrasting with Sanskrit (saṃskṛta) ‘complete, perfected’, reflecting the fact that the Prakrit languages were considered historically secondary to, and less prestigious than, Sanskrit. The oldest stage of Middle Indo-Aryan language is attested in the inscriptions of Ashoka (ca. 260 BCE), as well as in the earliest forms of Pāli, the language of the Theravāda Buddhist canon. The most prominent form of Prakrit is Ardhamāgadhı̄ , associated with the ancient kingdom of Magadha, in modern Bihar, and the subsequent Mauryan Empire. Mahāvı̄ra, the founder of Jainism, was born in Magadha, and the earliest Jain texts were composed in Ardhamāgadhı̄ . The other main Prakrit languages include Māhārāṣṭrı̄ , Śaurasenī, Māgadhī, and Avantī, used in dramatic literature and lyric poetry, and Gāndhārī, a far North-Western Indo-Aryan language once used extensively as a language of Buddhist literature in Central Asia. The latest Middle Indo-Aryan period is represented by the Apabhraṃśas, used as literary languages from around the 8th century A.D. well into the second millennium. Ardhamāgadhı̄ and some other forms of Prakrit became learned, literary languages, much like Classical Sanskrit, but at the earliest period originated as either genuine vernacular dialects, or as lingua francas based on such dialects. It was these vernacular dialects which ultimately developed into the Modern Indo-Aryan languages spoken across South Asia today. (Prakrit, n.d.) 6 It deals with basic issues of history of Punjab starting with the history of ancient Punjab, entry of Aryans in Punjab, Jatka culture of Punjab, Changes in Aryans culture and Mahabharat, new order: the talent of Aryans and Harappa people, invaders and Moria kingdom, new foreign invaders, forgotten Punjab and ideology of ancient Punjab. (Parvez, 2020) 7 The Munda languages are a group of closely related languages spoken by about nine million people Santali and Khasi languages spoken in Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal and Meghalaya in India. He tries to debunk the theory that Punjabi has Dravidian roots by claiming that Dravidian tribes moved into Punjab later than the arrival of Arya. (Soofi, 2019). The first section of the Rig Veda8 does not include any Dravidian words which are found in the later sections. Ejaz concludes from this that the Dravidian people moved via Sindh from Eastern Iran after the Aryans, and that the original language of the Harappan civilization was Para-Munda. (Ejaz, 2020, p. 13). He states that the believers of Aryans as being indigenous to the sub-continent would argue that language of Harappa Civilization would have been some old form of Sanskrit, if so then it should have been deciphered by now. Others believe Dravidian was the original language of Harappa. However, Michael Wiltez9 and some other linguists have shown that Dravidian words do not appear in earlier parts of Rig Veda10. Ejaz quotes Michael Wiltez11 : “the language of the Indus people, at least those in in India and Bangladesh. Historically, they have been called the Kolarian languages. They constitute a branch of the Austroasiatic language family, which means they are more distantly related to languages such as the Mon and Khmer languages, to Vietnamese, as well as to minority languages in Thailand and Laos and the minority Mangic languages of South China. Bhumij, Ho, Mundari, and Santali are notable Munda languages. The family is generally divided into two branches: North Munda, spoken in the Chota Nagpur Plateau of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, and Odisha, and South Munda, spoken in central Odisha and along the border between Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. 8 While the area of the RV, as clearly visible in the mentioning of the major rivers, is the Greater Panjab (with the inclusion of many areas of Afghanistan from Sistan/Arachosia to Kabul/Gandhara), its temporal horizon consists of three stages, roughly datable between c. 1700– 1200 BCE (Witzel 1995, 1999, J. R. Gardner, Thesis Iowa U. 1998, Th. Proferes, Ph.D. Thesis, Harvard U. 1999). They are: *I. the early R°gvedic period1: c. 1700–1500 BCE: books (man.d.ala) 4, 5, 6, and maybe book 2, with the early hymns referring to the Yadu-Turva´sa, Anu-Druhyu tribes; *II. the middle (main) R°gvedic period, c. 1500–1350 BCE: books 3, 7, 8. 1–66 and 1. 51–191; with a focus on the Bharata chieftain Sudas and his ancestors, and his rivals, notably Trasadasyu, of the closely related Puru tribe. *III. the late R°gvedic period, c. 1350–1200 BCE: books 1.1–50, 8.67–103, 10.1–854; 10.85–191: with the descendant of the Puru chieftain Trasadasyu, Kuru´sravan. a, and the emergence of the super-tribe of the Kuru (under the post-RV Pariks.it, Witzel 1997). 9 Michael Witzel (born July 18, 1943) is a German-American philologist, comparative mythologist and Indologist. Witzel is the Wales Professor of Sanskrit at Harvard University and the editor of the Harvard Oriental Series (volumes 50–80). Witzel is an author on Indian sacred texts, particularly the Vedas, and Indian history. 10 Vedic, Dravidian and Munda belong to three different language families (respectively, IndoEuropean, Dravidian and Austro-Asiatic). (Witzel, 1999) 11 Witzel sums up the Rig Veda (RV) and later Vedic texts by listing four substrate languages: — A Central Asian substrate in the oldest R°gvedic; — RV I: no Dravidian substrate but that of a prefixing Para-Mundic (or ParaAustroasiatic) language, along with a few hints of Masica’s U.P. Language “X”, and some others; — RV II and III: first influx of Dravidian words; —Post-RV (YV, AV Mantras <MS, KS, TS, VS, AV, PS> and later Vedic): continuing influx of the same types of vocabulary into the educated Vedic speech of the Brahmins; occurrence of ProtoMunda names in eastern North India. — Other substrates include Proto-Burushaski in the northwest, Tibeto-Burmese in the Himalayas and in Kosala, Dravidian in Sindh, Gujarat and Central India, and predecessors of remnants language groups, now found in isolated pockets of the subcontinent (Kusunda in C. Nepal, pre-Tharu in S. the Panjab, must have been Para-Munda or a western form of Austro-Asiatic… in short, the Panjab is an area of a Pre-R°vedic, largely substrate that apparently overlays a still older local level which maybe identical with Masicas’s “language X” found in the Gangetic plains (preserved in some Hindi words). In general, the vocabulary of Para-Munda and “language X” words is limited to local flora and fauna, agriculture and artisans, to terms of toilette, clothing and household; dancing and music are particularly prominent, and there are some items of religion and beliefs as well. Since no traces of the supposedly Dravidian “Trader’s Language” of the Indus civilization (…) are visible in the RV, the people who spoke this language must either have disappeared without a trace … or, more likely, the language of the Panjab was Para-Munda already during the Indus period (2600–1900 BCE).” (Ejaz, 2020, p. 24) Ejaz has compiled A Comparitive Dictionary of Indian Astroasiatic Languages in which he has shown more than 5000 words which match with Santhali, Munda and Khasi and concluded that all these languages emerged from Meluha12. He also states that the Harappan society was matriarchal, as that still exists in the Khasi tribes. The Aryans brought the patriarchal system to Punjab, as is true of most animal breeding tribes. Ibid., 30 Establishing the correlation between linguistic levels and grammar structure to changing human and social needs, Ejaz writes: Given the general historical pattern of linguistic evolution it will be logical to assume that people of Harappa Civilization, gone through several centuries of agricultural production, animal breeding and trading, must have a developed language and grammatical structures. On the contrary, the Aryan came to Punjab at the pastoral stage and, hence, had a lesser developed language in comparison to Harappans. Therefore, in the interfacing of two sets of speech groups, it is more likely that newcomers had to borrow more words than the indigenous people. Furthermore, if the direction of borrowing is left alone, for a while, the fact remains that the grammatical structure of the indigenous speech group could not be altered or replaced. Therefore, it is logical to conclude that the Harappan speech group continued using its language and it is preposterous to assert that their language was/is a corrupted form of Sanskrit. (Ejaz, 2020, p. 25) After the decline of Harappan civilization, its descendants would have continued communicating in their traditional languages. Ejaz writes: “Harappans did not and could not speak Sanskrit, therefore, Punjabi and Sindhi would be considered as descendants of the Harappan language.” Ibid., 22 Since Aryans had come, largely, as a male group, the females in the households could only speak Meluha. As a matter of fact, Sanskrit did not make any progress in the first 700 years in Punjab. According to Witzel the mixing of Sanskrit (IndoNepal/UP, Nahali in C. India, and the pre-Nilgiri and Vedda substrates). (Witzel, Substrate Languages in Old Indo-Aryan, Vol 5 1999, Issue 1) 12 Since the language is not known or deciphered, it is named as Meluha, the term used to address the people of Harappa by the Egyptians and Mesopotamians. The languages of Baluchistan would have synthesized with the various languages already spoken in the Indus valley to give rise to the languages spoken in the Indus valley civilization. There would have been undoubtedly many languages belonging to many language families spoken here, such as proto-Burusharski… European) and indigenous languages (Meluha) took place by those lower strata people who knew both languages. Ibid., 27 From the 4th BC onward, in Punjab, Buddhism was the popular religion which used Prakrits13 (variations of Meluha) instead of Sanskrit. Buddha himself preferred Pali over Sanskrit and his followers used local languages of their regions. Buddhist Bhikkhus came from indigenous populations who had not learnt Sanskrit. Sanskrit would, therefore, been the language of a tiny priestly (Aryan) class. Persians14, who occupied Taxila and Gandhara, at various time periods, brought Kharosthi, which was the script of Aramaic15. Like Persian and Arabic, it is written from right to left. This script was dominant in Punjab till 4th century and most of the Buddhist scripture were written in this script. Emperor Ashoka’s inscriptions are also found written in this script16. During the Mauryan period, the language of Punjab had also changed. Gautam Buddha, preached in Prakrit (Pali), which was the language of the common people. There is not much information about the language of the Jains in Punjab. But it is certain that the people in Punjab did not speak Sanskrit and therefore Buddhism and Jainism had greater acceptance amongst the people. Their language must be near the language of Jogis and Sadhus, as they continued their earlier customs and traditions. It is quite possible that the language used by Guru Nanak which is called Sadhukadi17, had its roots in this old language. (Ejaz, 2020, p. 109) The influence of Buddhism in Punjab resisted the Brahmins for a long time, and the older Harappan teachings remained alive among the hermits (jogi), ascetics (sadhu), and atheists (nastic). Buddhism and Kharosthi script arose at the same time in Punjab. In the third and fourth century, this script vanished from Punjab. It is around this time that Buddhism started disappearing and Brahmanical order started gaining ground. Sanskrit replaced Prakrit and Kharosthi18 gave way to 13 Pali and Prakrit literature was written during the post-Vedic period, in addition to Sanskrit. Prakrit is a term that refers to any language other than the standard one, Sanskrit. Pali is a term that refers to an archaic or old form of Prakrit that combines several existing dialects. These languages rose to prominence when Buddhist and Jain religious literature was written in them. 14 The founder of the Iranian dynasty Achaemenid (750 BC) occupied Taxila in 600 BC and his successor Cyrus (588-530 BC), had occupied Gandhara. After him Darius (550-496 BC), occupied the area in 515 BC, from Gandhara to Karachi. 15 The ancient Aramaic alphabet was adapted by Arameans from the Phoenician alphabet and became a distinct script by the 8th century BC. It was used to write the Aramaic language and had displaced the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet, itself a derivative of the Phoenician alphabet, for the writing of Hebrew. 16 The earliest recognizable examples of Kharosthi have been located in the region of Gandhara (northern Pakistan), recorded in the Ashokan edicts (mid-3rd century BCE) at the towns of Mansehra and Shahbazgarhi. Outside the Indian northwest, Ashokan inscriptions were in Prakrit, written in the Brahmi script, but towards the Gandhara region these inscriptions are written using the Kharosthi script, also in the Prakrit language, or sometimes even translated directly into Aramaic or Greek. 17 Sadhukkadi was a vernacular dialect of the Hindi Belt of medieval North India, and a mix of local languages (Khariboli, Haryanvi, Braj Bhasha, Awadhi, Bhojpuri, Marwari) and Punjabi, hence it is also commonly called a Panchmail Khichari. 18 No systems of writing subsequently developed from the Kharosthi script. Brahmi, however, is thought to be the forerunner of all of the scripts used for writing the languages of Southeast Asia, Brahmi script19. (Ejaz, 2020, p. 122) However, Sanskrit remained confined to the priestly class and the elite intellectuals, represented by the likes of Panini and Patanjali. It was never used as an administrative language. After Maurya dynasty, Punjab was ruled by Greeks, Saka, Kushans and White Huns. None used Sanskrit for administrative purposes. A similar pattern is observed during the Muslim rule who imposed their language, Persian, for many centuries, which, unlike Aryan’s failure to implement Sanskrit, did succeed at the administrative level. Nevertheless, despite Persian domination, the creative arts, like music, were monopolized by the indigenous artists: a bulk of them belonged to Punjab. D D Kosambi has pointed out that when Mahabharata was being created “Professional bards (suta) were the original poets and singers when Brahmanism had not separated its priest caste greatly from the other Aryans.” Therefore, large parts of books like Mahabharata are also created with substantial contribution from indigenous artists. “Since the singers were indigenous Harappa Civilization artists, therefore, Indian classical musical structures are not shared by the Europeans”, writes Ejaz. (Ejaz, 2020, p. 33) Al- Biruni20 (973 – 1050 CE) has shed some light on India in his treatise on Indian culture, Taḥqīq mā li-l-Hind min maqūlah maqbūlah fī al-ʿaql aw mardhūlah or Tarikh al-Hind (variously translated as "Verifying All That the Indians Recount, the Reasonable and the Unreasonable"), but his main interest was more in understanding the Brahman ideology rather than the general life conditions. AlBiruni states that important religious practices and rituals of Punjab bear the imprint of Harappa. In Punjab, he asserts, indigenous groups associated with performing arts such as minstrels, musicians, soothsayers and masters of ceremonies came to be entrusted with the task of managing the religious rituals for the Arya elite. They evolved and preserved the traditions of classical music which is unique to the region. (Soofi, 2019) Ejaz asserts that several examples of ‘little noticed aspects of Punjabi culture’ have gone unnoticed as most of our historians were Europeans and their research was primarily focused on the Rig Veda, the epic Mahabharata, the other Vedas, the Upanishads, grammar of Panini and Arthshasthra of Kautilya21. Since the script of Harappa has not been deciphered yet, much of history and traditions India, Indonesia, and the Tibet Autonomous Region of China (exceptions include those areas in which native writing systems have been replaced by the Latin or Arabic alphabet or by Chinese). A southern form of Brahmi developed into the Grantha alphabet, from which in turn the writing systems of the Dravidian languages of southern India (e.g., Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, and Kannada) as well as the writing systems of the Sinhalese language of Sri Lanka, the Khmer and Mon languages of Southeast Asia, and the Kavi, or Old Javanese, system of Indonesia were developed. 19 Georg Bühler argued that Brahmi was initially derived from the Semitic script that was later used by the Brahman scholars as appropriate for Sanskrit and Prakrit. Professor K Rajan thought that the ancestor of the Brahmi script is a combination of symbols present on graffiti marks in various places in Tamil Nadu. 20 A gifted linguist, Abu Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad Al-Biruni was conversant in Khwarezmian, Persian, Arabic, Sanskrit, and also knew Greek, Hebrew, and Syriac. He spent much of his life in Ghazni, then capital of the Ghaznavids, in modern-day central-eastern Afghanistan. In 1017 he travelled to the Indian subcontinent and wrote his treatises. He is considered the father of Indology. 21 Panini, Patanjali and Kautilya were from Taxila, a part of ancient Punjab. remain unknown. Ibid., 3,4 The ancient traditions, in the absence of documented history, therefore, can mostly be deduced from classical Punjabi poetry of Baba Farid, Guru Nanak, Damodar Das, Shah Hussain, Bulleh Shah, Waris Shah and Khawaja Ghulam Farid. Punjabi language texts do not appear till around the 12th or 13th century CE, and even then most of the known works were written after the 15th century. However, even these later works carry ancient cultural, social and linguistic elements. Up until the 18th century, large parts of Punjab, especially the Western belt, remained pastoral, leading a life of hunter-gatherers, and so the Punjabi texts are an important source of knowledge of ancient culture and society. Since Eastern and Central parts of Punjab were more advanced in agriculture and trade, almost all the intellectuals and poets, from Guru Nanak to Warris Shah, belonged to these areas. Western Punjab being pastoral produced only one great poet, Khawaja Ghulam Farid, by the end of 19th century. His poetry depicts the animal breeding society as depicted in early Vedic hymns. (Ejaz, 2020, p. 26) Origins of indigenous vocabulary The Aryans of Rig Veda, in the first 700 years, only increased animal husbandry. This is corroborated in the works of Witzel and Kuiper22. The hymns of Rig Veda are centered around praying for two things: pasu (animals) and parajana (offspring). In Punjab, this prayer changed to “dudh” (milk) and “put” (son), for which people in Punjab still pray. However, some villages, remnants of Harappa civilization, continued agriculture, particularly in flooded fields or where they had some alternative water sources. According to Kuiper, all the vocabulary related to agriculture came from these sources.23 (Ejaz, 2020, pp. 43, 82) The following are some words Panini provided related to agricultural production: Krishi (agriculture), Vanijya (trade), Pashu Palu (cattle raiser), Vahi (tilling) from Vahna (to till), Hal (plough), Haali, Halayati, Suhalyaik (one with good plough), Durhali (one with bad plough). Three parts of the plough: Aisa (long wooden part), Potra (carved part) and Kusi (tiller). Halika or Sarika (ploughing animals), Yog (yoke), Yotra (ploughing). The word for harvesting tool in Rig Veda was Datara (sickle), Panini called it Latara. The words for all sorts of goods and services used in every sphere of life were Franciscus Bernardus Jacobus Kuiper (July 7, 1907 – November 14, 2003) was a distinguished scholar in Indology. His very innovative work covers virtually all the fields of Indo-Iranian and IndoAryan philology, linguistics, mythology and theater, as well as Indo-European, Dravidian, Munda and Pan-Indian linguistics 23 Although the expansion of Brahmanical order to Ganga valley is considered to be the ‘Golden Age of India’ It is true that with the discovery of iron, thick jungles of Ganga valley were cleared, and agriculture was expanded greatly. But it was the subjugated Harappan people who made the main contribution in terms of techniques and their free labor to establish agriculture in the Ganga-Jumna Valley. With increased production, ranks of Brahmins and Kshatriyas got richer and imposed brutal customs and laws on the lower castes. P83 From the times of Maurya onwards, great developments in agriculture were made by the followers of Buddhism and Jainism. 22 classified by V. S. Agarwala in his book India as Known to Panini24. It is evident from this vocabulary collection that the words used for production, cannot be found in Rig Veda or other Vedas. This shows that these words must have come from the local people who carried out the agriculture and other productive activities and not from the outsiders. Ibid., 86 As is common in historiography, the focus is usually on either the rulers, their kingdoms or on prevalent religions. A lot of effort is needed to uncover the ancient history of the ‘lower castes and nomadic tribes’. As is usually the case, written historical accounts are those of the upper class/ ruling class. Most of the information that writers like Nain Sukh25 have gathered of the lower castes26, is from oral history. The only written source is the poetry of a few people like Bulleh Shah (put himself in the category of 'kanjars'), Warris Shah and Shah Hussain. Other saints like Baba Farid and Guru Nanak, in general, spoke against the rigidity of the society. Nain Sukh, in his talk titled ‘Gwachaya Punjab’27, describes the working class of ancient Punjab. The names of the various castes/ professions, which remained interchangeable for centuries, are still in use. The Harappan civilization appears to be an equal society, though controlled by an ‘elite group’, however, an economic class structure does develop. The working class – carpenter, mason, blacksmith, weaver etc – are accepted as part of the social structure since the settlements won’t survive without them. However, soon a set of people working with dead animal skin and hair become ‘outcast’ or kept at the periphery of the settlements. The Aryans come with their own social structure, which again has a hierarchy, although they consider themselves superior to the Harappans and begin to dominate. They call them kale, rakshasa, maleech, nak wadde, etc. Beginning with the Aryan migration, people from outside continued to enter Punjab well in to the 15th century, which included the Arabs (7th century CE). Names of several fruits and vegetables, in this region are derived from other languages such as Arabic – wassal for onions, thom for garlic. (Ejaz, 2020, p. 6) The social landscape of Western Punjab retained the ancient social, cultural and economic features of Punjabi life, until the creation of canal colonies by the British. Many of the later migrants such as the Persians, Greeks, Sakas and Huns settled primarily in the Northern and mountainous areas, which incidentally have remained a major source of soldiers. Ibid., 8 The working class included the Tarkhans (carpenters & lohars), paavali, kumbhar/ kubhar (or kamyar in Majha region who made pottery). Then there were the gharial (utensil makers), Vyatare/ Vaitr (carried load on donkeys, though they claim to have been utensil makers), churigar etc. 24 Agarwal, V.S.; India as known to Panini: A study of the cultural material in the Ashthadyayi; University of Lucknow, 1953 25 He has written on cultural history of the Punjab. Oral and written history, starting from Vedic period to the present day. Mythology, folk literature and subaltern of the land. 26 The lower caste when converted to Sikhs became ‘Mazhabi’ Sikhs, Deendar as Muslims, Kirane as Christians. Though the social standing of some may have improved after converting, but it took a long time for any economic improvement, if at all. 27 “Gwachaya Punjab’; Lyallapur Young Historians Club (LYHC); https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bh6s4Tszk9o The word Tarkhan28, according to Nain Sukh may have originated from Tirakh which was the foundation ceremony. The foundation laying involved laying of the first brick which was a black khangar and was called Dhi which may have led to the word dhirakh/ tirakh and hence tarkhan. Tarkhans included kharasi, kasere (brass utensils), teergar/‘kamangar etc. The Julaha/ paavali/ pawali were the weavers, lalari/ rangrez were dyers, chimbe stamped patterns on cloth, called theka. Dhobi washed this cloth and patoli made nalas and parandas. The tarkhans, julahas and other working class were uneducated and considered inferior also referred to as namaane, and were not allowed to sit on the manji (charpai/ bed) with the zamindars. However, they were not considered paleet or untouchables. They were employed by the upper class zamindars and were generally called kami, which according to them was related to kamittan, that is paid as per work, however, according to the zamindars, kami was short of kaminey. Another word used was sepi which meant permanent employees. The women would collect baallan (wood/ wooden sprigs) for fire and depending on whether there was a maj (buffalo) tied to their door, they may be entitled to a loan. The buffalo too was basically the katti/ bachhi (calf) of a dead buffalo of the zamindar who was looked after by the workers till it grew up. Dai, who delivered babies also was from this class. The other set is of peeraei, macchi and mussali/ massali. The peeraein were dhol players. There were different names for the when and how it was played: maaruu (call for war), sagaru/ nagara (receding from war), trut (on death of noblemen/king), mela (festivals, occasions), sat, dhum, kher were for other occasions. Macchi were people who lived near water and work was related to water, however, they were also called upon for work related to fire – machera, tob, mashhi, baazigar, roorigar/ reorigar. Roorigars29 were sweet makers. The sweets were dry, long lasting like patissa, phuliyaan, makahne. The Massalis (maloha, malli, naage, malohi) claim to be Dravidians who had fought the Aryans. A proud people they were supposed to have guarded the settlements. They lived a life of merriment, were meat eaters and were supposed to be petty thieves also (now mostly sanitation workers – as Muslims in Pakistan, regions of Afghanistan and Hindus in regions of Rajasthan). Though there is another explanation for the origin of the word Tarkhan – Tarkhan was used among the Sogdian,Saka, Hephthalite, Turkic, and proto-Mongol peoples of Central Asia and by other Eurasian nomads. It was a high rank in the army of Timur. Tarkhans commanded military contingents (roughly of regimental size under the Turkic Khazars) and were, roughly speaking, generals. They could also be assigned as military governors of conquered regions. A tarkhan of the Arghun dynasty, Muhammad 'Isa Tarkhan, established the Tarkhan dynasty, which ruled Sindh from 1554–91. All craftsmen held the status of darkhan and were immune to occasional requisitions levied incessantly by passing imperial envoys. From then on, the word referred to craftsmen or blacksmiths in the Mongolian language now and is still used in Mongolia as privilege. 29 Halwais are said to have come later from around Delhi region. 28 The nai (barbers) are said to have been rajas (Raja /Bhatti) of some small regions. After being defeated, they were imprisoned and sold. Left homeless they became nai, bawarchi etc. Other working class were sonare, kagaz, mochi, teli, hatat etc. The mochis were upgraded30 from chamars who were considered paleet due to working with animal skin. The uchhi made bags (boris) for carrying load from animal hair, later upgrade to Julaha. Chure, chamar, changad, gagare, saansi, dom/ doma were considered paleet. These were the untouchables and at no time, even under the British, did they ever find a place among the other dwellers, except in the official records as people who handled murdaar (corpses). They were relegated to the outskirt low lying areas, usually along drains or garbage heaps. But even then they sang songs of the earth, lived colourful lives. Their peer was Rooian/ Rooyean. The Valmikis/ Balmikis, found in regions near Gujranwala, Gurdaspur, areas near Gujarat etc. were of mixed dharam and generally called chure, changad. Their days were named after their peers - Boni, Dang, Mangi, Chautha, Chiragi, Chhan and satta. Another important history is of the Mirasis (Marassi), originally believed to be of doong caste. Meaning of term Mirasi is the one who preserves tradition and believed to have belonged to the Sandal Bar region of Pakistan. They also preserved genealogy and arts of society. Rituals of birth and death were performed by the male Mirasis or female Mirasans. These rituals began with the tradition of Yajnas, which were earlier performed by the tribal leaders were later handed over by the elites to the professionals who would perform the yajnas on their behalf – the mirasis (Shudras from lower castes as confirmed by Panini). The sponsors of yajnas became the yajmans.31 (Ejaz, 2020, p. 93) Mirasis32 were further divided by their specialties, into Khans (the classical singers of Mirasis), Bhantray, Dome, Dahdi, Kalal, Bhand, Mirsang, Pakhawji etc. These were the main keepers of the arts in the society. Other artists were low caste people like Chuhras, Bhail, Sahnsi, Kangar, Chumar, Chamrang, Sandal, Machi, Rawal, Changar, Billaymar, Odh etc. From the anthropological and sociological perspective, the lower the caste the more chances of being the indigenous of Harappa Civilization. Hence the gypsy tribes had the least mixing with the foreign genes. Probably, they were the best sample for discovering the original genealogical structures. (Ejaz, 2020, p. 137). However, many of the nomads like the doms were forced to leave the region with the rise of Brahmanism. Most traveled further west. The Roma nomads of Romania, Lom of Armenia, and Domari of Middle East trace their origins back to 30 This indicates that the castes were based on the profession and were inter-changeable depending on change of profession. 31 This was not accepted to the Brahmans/ pandits of the Ganga Valley. Punjabis have had a separate ideological development to the extent that it was said: Vahika, the country of five rivers, is such a land which is outside the social boundaries of Aryans. These [people] are devoid of religion (nishta dharma) and are polluted (asochi) people.” 32 Bhai Mardana belonged to the Mirasi caste the doma caste. The language of the Romas remains very close to the Prakrits, while Lomavern and Domari got diluted with local Armenian and Arabic languages. Nain Sukh relates the story of Chawali Sahotra, said to be the first to have converted to Islam, who was taken as a slave to Medina during the Arab attack on Sindh. It was here he converted to Islam on seeing that all were allowed in to the masjid as compared to temples where only Brahmans and Khatris could go. He is believed to have met Imam Jaffar there and became Diwan Chawali Musaikh. Several groups converted to Islam and were named after their peers/ fakirs/ shaikhs: Tarkhan/ lohars became Mistri, Marassi became Qureshi, kamiyar became Rehmani and paavali became Ansari. The known Sufi saints, Baba Farid & Bahauddin Zakariya, were not able to convert the working class. Most of the upper class, like the zamindars and Rajputs, converted under their influence. The general system followed for justice was the panchayat system – parabi/ jajmani. Again mostly dominated by the zamindars. This system had two levels of hearing, lower and upper. If, however, after this no decision was reached then the eldest woman of the community, addressed as Maa Sahiban would be consulted. This is also where the word Saibaan comes from. Languages and dialects of Punjab Empire and Pre-partition Punjab Punjab province, now West and East Punjab has several spoken languages. Punjabi itself has numerous dialects. Pakistan has several regional languages, including Saraiki, Pashto, Sindhi, Balochi, Gujari, Kashmiri, Hindko, Brahui, Shina, Balti, Khowar, Dhatki, Haryanvi, Marwari, Wakhi and Burushaski. Four of these are provincial languages – Punjabi, Pashto, Sindhi, and Balochi. Greater Punjabi is divided into Punjabi, Lahnda, Saraiki, Hindko, Pothwari and Dogri. Lahnda group of languages is spoken in Pakistani Punjab and in parts of the Azad Kashmir and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Interestingly the word Lahnda was coined by William St. Clair Tisdall in 1890s. Hindko, though earlier referred broadly to the Lhanda group of Languages now is considered a separate language of the regions closer to Peshawar & Abottabad. It essentially was a term used to refer to the language of the "Hind" in contrast to Pashto (Pushto/ Pakhto), an Eastern Iranian language. Pashto and Dari are the two official languages of Afghanistan. Pashto is also the second-largest regional language of Pakistan, mainly spoken in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and northern districts of Balochistan province in south-west. Punjabi dialects include Majhi, Doabi, Malwai and Puadhi. The 2011 Census also lists Bagri, Bilaspuri/Kahluri and Bhateali as Punjabi. Majhi is Punjabi dialect spoken by the majority of the people in Lahore, Gujranwala, Sheikhupura, Kasur, Sialkot, Narowal, Gujrat, Okara, Pakpattan, Sahiwal, Hafizabad, Nankana Sahib and Mandi Bahauddin, Faisalabd & Toba Tek Singh districts of Pakistan's Punjab Province. Jhangvi/ Jhangochi/ Jhanglu is also spoken in the last three of the above districts. The people living in the Majha region are known as “Majhe”. It means the centre or the “heartland”. Lahore, Shiekhupura, Okara, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Narowal, Wazirabad, Gujrat, Amritsar, Tarn Taran, and Gurdaspur. In India Majhi is referred to as standard Punjabi. Malwai is spoken in the southern part of Indian Punjab South of river Sutlej and also in Bahawalnagar and Vehari districts of Pakistan. This dialect is spoken in Ludhiana, Moga, Firozpur, Fazilka, Muktsar, Faridkot, Bathinda, Barnala, Sangrur, Patiala, Fatehgrah Sahib, Malerkotla, and, Mansa districts of Punjab, India and also in Ganganagar, Ropar, Ambala, Sirsa, Kurukshetra, Fatehabad and Hanumangarh districts of Rajasthan and, the Sirsa and, Fatehabad districts of Haryana. Doabi33 is spoken in the Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Hoshiarpur and Nawanshahr districts in Indian Punjab, and Una District of Himachal Pradesh. The Doabi dialect in its eastern part blends with the Malwai dialect of Ludhiana district, and in its Northern side, it shares the linguistic features of Pahari. Pwadhi (Puadhi or Powadhi) is another important dialect of Punjabi. Puadh is the region that lies between Punjab and Haryana. Majorly, it lies between the Satluj and Ghaggar rivers. It is spoken in Kharar, Kurali, Ropar, Morinda, Pail, Samrala, Hisar, Pinjore, Nabha and some parts of Patiala. Multani is a mixture of several languages including Punjabi, Sindhi, and Jhangochi. It is considered by many as a separate language. According to a study by Indianculture.gov.in, Multani is nowhere known among the people by this name. It is usually called Hindi or Jatki. In the Baluchi-speaking parts of Dera Ghazi Khan, it is known as Jagdalli. It is spoken in parts of Karachi, Sirsa, Delhi, Panipat, Ganganagar, Hanumangarh, Bikaner, Jafarabad, Jhal Magsi, Barkhan, Dera Ismail Khan, Kashmore, Jacobabad, Sobho Khan, Tando Allahyar. People living in the northern region of Pakistan’s Punjab speak Pothowari. It is also called Pahari which means ‘hill language’ referring to a string of divergent dialects, some of which may be separate languages. Pahari is a dialect chain with Panjabi and Hindko. It is spoken in Muzaffarabad, Gujar Khan, Rawalpindi, Muree Hills, and Bhimber. (Bansal, 2021) Burushaski language, also spelled Burushaki or Burushki, language spoken primarily in the Hunza, Nagar, and Yasin valleys of northern Pakistan. As listed in Britannica, the language has no standard writing system, though a modified Perso-Arabic system has been used since the 1940s. There is no written literary tradition, but a number of oral traditions have been collected. Besides Burushaki, the other languages spoken in this region include: Balti, Bhoti, Changthang, Domaaki, Gujari, Khowar, Ladakhi-Balti, Purgi, Shina, Wakhi. In Ladakh the spoken languages include Bhoti/ Ladakhi, Lehskat, Shamskat, Stotskat, Nubra, Purigi and Balti. The last two primarily spoken in Kargil District. Bhoti/ Ladakhi is also found in Karachi, Rawalpindi regions of Pakistan. 33 The dialect is named for the region in which it was historically spoken, Doaba (also known as Bist Doab); the word doab means "the land between two rivers" and this dialect was historically spoken in the doab between the Beas River and Sutlej River. In the Kashmir region the main language is Kashmiri. Most Kashmiri speakers are located in Kashmir and Chenab Valley (Kishtwar, Doda, Ramban, Reasi) and also in Neelam, Leepa Valleys and in the district of Haveli. Kashmiri, as also the other Dardic languages, shows many divergences from Indo-Aryan mainstream. Dardic languages, also called Dard, Pisaca, or Pisacha Languages, group of closely related Indo-Iranian languages spoken in Pakistan, Kashmir, and Afghanistan. They are often divided into three subgroups: Kafiri, or Western; Khowari, or Central (spoken in the Chitral district of northwestern Pakistan); and the Eastern group, which includes Shina and Kashmiri. Other spoken languages are: Dogri, Pahari, Gojri and Punjabi (some consider Dogri to be a dialect of Punjabi). Some of the other languages of Himachal Pradesh are: Bilapuri, Chinali, Chitkuli Kinnauri Western Pahari, Kangri, Kinnauri, Jad, Mahasu Pahari, Mandeali, Pattani, Sunam. Pahari languages are a group of Indo-Aryan languages spoken in the lower ranges of Himalayas. Dogri and Kangri fall in the Western Pahari group. The official language of Haryana is Hindi, however, several regional languages/ dialects are spoken here. Predominant among them is Haryanvi (also known as Bangru), whose territory encompasses the central and eastern portions of Haryana. Hindustani is spoken in the northeast, Bagri in the west, and Ahirwati, Mewati and Braj Bhasha in the south. There are also significant numbers of speakers Punjabi, which was recognised in 2010 as a second official language of Haryana for government and administrative purposes. Other spoken languages found here are: Marwari, Mewari, Saraiki, Bauria, Bazigar, Gujari, Gade Lohar, Oadki and Sansi. Development of the script The script of Punjabi language, in East Punjab is Gurmukhi. Gurmukhi developed from Sharada (further divided in to Lahnda/ Landa & Takri) in the Northwestern groups, standardized and used by the second Sikh guru, Guru Angad (1504– 1552). The primary scripture of Sikhism, the Guru Granth Sahib34, is written in Gurmukhi, in various dialects often subsumed under the generic title Sant Bhasha or saint language. It is more a direct derivative of Lahnda, which remained the mercantile script of Punjab and was normally not used for literary purposes. Sharada proper was eventually restricted to very limited ceremonial use in Kashmir, as it grew increasingly unsuitable for writing the Kashmiri language. This script however, is not in common use today, except for religious ceremonies of the Kashmiri Pandits. Today it is written in Urdu and Devanagari scripts (with some modifications). The regional variety in Punjab continued to evolve from this stage through the 34 The Adi Granth or the Guru Granth Sahib was compiled by Guru Arjan in 1604. Pashaura Singh writes: “the compilation of the Adi Granth was the culmination of a process that had already begun in Guru Nanak’s lifetime during the period when he resided at Kartarpur, a religious commune that he founded on the right bank of the River Ravi in the Punjab.” (Singh, 2000, p. 15) 14th century; during this period, it starts to appear in forms closely resembling Gurmukhi and other Lahnda scripts. In Punjab, there were at least ten different scripts classified as Lahnda, Mahajani being the most popular. Lahnda script did not have vowel symbols. In contrast to Lahnda, the use of vowel diacritics was made obligatory in Gurmukhi for increased accuracy and precision, due to the difficulties involved in deciphering words without vowel signs. By the 15th century, Sharada had evolved so considerably that epigraphists denote the script at this point by a special name, Devaseṣa. Tarlochan Singh Bedi35 (1999) prefers the name Pritham Gurmukhi, or Proto-Gurmukhi. The Takri alphabet developed through the Devaseṣa stage of the Sharada script from the 14th-18th centuries and is found mainly in the Hill States such as Chamba, Himachal Pradesh and surrounding areas, where it is called Chambeali. In Jammu Division, it developed into Dogri. The Sikh gurus adopted Proto-Gurmukhi to write the Guru Granth Sahib, the religious scripture of the Sikhs. According to Sikh tradition, Gurmukhi (guru de manmukh ho ke (Dilgeer, 2020, p. 1094) literally, “from the mouth of the Guru”) was invented in the mid-16th century by Guru Angad, the second Sikh Guru in order to correct certain inadequacies in the Lahnda script so that sacred literature might be accurately recorded. However, the script is known to have existed before his time, as Proto-Gurmukhi, and he is now considered the popularizer or standardizer of Gurmukhi rather than its originator. Gurmukhi became the primary script for the literary writings of the Sikhs. Playing a significant role in Sikh faith and tradition, it expanded from its original use for Sikh scriptures and developed its own orthographical rules, used widely under the Sikh Empire and used by Sikh kings and chiefs of Punjab for administrative purposes. Also playing a major role in consolidating and standardizing the Punjabi language, it served as the main medium of literacy in Punjab and adjoining areas for centuries when the earliest schools were attached to gurdwaras. The first natively produced grammars of the Punjabi language were written in the 1860s in Gurmukhi. The Singh Sabha Movement of the late 19th century, a movement to revitalize Sikh institutions which had declined during colonial rule after the fall of the Sikh Empire, also advocated for the usage of the Gurmukhi script for mass media, with print media publications and Punjabi-language newspapers established in the 1880s. The name for the Perso–Arabic alphabet for the Punjabi language, Shahmukhi (“from the mouth of the shah”), was modeled on the term Gurmukhi. Shahmukhi created from a modification of the Persian Nastaʿliq (calligraphic) script. It has 47 letters as compared to 38 of Urdu and 28 of Arabic. Shahmukhi is written from right to left, while Gurmukhi is written from left to right. It is now limited to writing Punjabi by Punjabi Muslims of West Punjab (Pakistan) and is also used as the main alphabet to write Pahari–Pothwari in Azad Kashmir and Jammu and Kashmir. 35 Tarlochan Singh Bedi is an academician and served as principal of the Government College of Education at Faridkot, Punjab. He has written articles on the cultural and linguistic similarities between Tamil and Punjabi. Shahmukhi script is a modified version of the Arabic script. It was introduced by the Muslim Sufi poets in twelfth century for Punjabi language. It can be considered as a superset to Urdu alphabet because it has same alphabet as Urdu but with just 2 extra consonants; hence all Urdu readers can generally read Shahmukhi (and vice-versa). For writing Saraiki, an extended Shahmukhi is used that includes 4 additional letters for the implosive consonants. According to Purnima Dhavan, (Marking Boundaries and Building Bridges: Persian Scholarly Networks in Mughal Punjab)36 Punjabi began to adopt the script as a "side effect" of educational practices in Mughal-era Punjab, when Punjabi Muslims learned the Persian language in order to participate in Mughal society. Educational materials taught Persian to Punjabi speakers by using Punjabi written in Persian's alphabet, which was a novel innovation. This was one of the first attempts in writing and standardising the Punjabi language; prior to this, Punjabi was primarily a spoken language, not formally taught in schools. Post-Partition Punjab The partition of the subcontinent in 1947 along religious lines was also marked by language associations. Whereas the Muslims had strongly identified with Urdu and the Hindus with Hindi, it was the Sikhs who had particularly identified with the Punjabi cause. Sikh writers were mainly responsible for developing Punjabi as a modern standard language, and the Sikh political leadership in 1966 finally achieved the goal of an albeit truncated state with Punjabi as its official language. In the 20th century, after the struggle of the Punjabi Suba movement, from the founding of modern India in the 1940s to the 1960s, the script was given the authority as the official state script of the East Punjab, where it is used in all spheres of culture, arts, education, and administration. It is the official language of the Indian state of Punjab and is one of the languages recognized by the Indian constitution. In Pakistan Punjabi is spoken mostly in Punjab province, but official status at both the national and the provincial level is reserved for Urdu. There are also important overseas communities of Punjabi speakers, particularly in Canada and the United Kingdom—where in the early 21st century they respectively constituted the third and fourth largest linguistic groups in the national populations—as well as in several parts of the United States. (Shackle, 2017). The Turko-Afghan Delhi Sultanate established Persian as its official language in India, a policy continued by the Mughal Empire, which extended over most of northern South Asia from the 16th to 18th centuries and cemented Persian influence on Hindustani. From the 13th century until the end of the 18th century the language now known as Urdu was called Hindi, Hindavi, Hindustani, Dehlavi, Lahori, and Lashkari. By the end of the reign of Aurangzeb in the early 18th century, the common language around Delhi began to be referred to as Zaban-eUrdu, a name derived from the Turkic word ordu (or orda (army) and is said to 36 The Persianate World-The Frontiers of a Eurasian Lingua Franca; Edited by: Nile Green have arisen as the "language of the camp", or Zaban-i-Ordu or natively Lashkari Zaban. The name Urdu was first introduced by the poet Ghulam Hamadani Mushafi around 1780. As a literary language, Urdu took shape in courtly, elite settings. While Urdu retained the grammar and core Indic vocabulary of the local Indian dialect Khariboli, it adopted the Nasta 'liq writing system. Urdu replaced Persian as the official language of India in 1837 and was made co-official, along with English. Hindi in the Devanagari script (as also sought by Arya Samajis) replaced Urdu written in the Perso-Arabic script as the official language of Bihar in 1881, establishing a sectarian divide of "Urdu" for Muslims and "Hindi" for Hindus, a divide that was formalised with the partition37. This officially recognized Indian Punjabi is generally taken as standard in descriptions of the language. There is a significant degree of mutual intelligibility with Hindi and Urdu, although the three languages are sharply differentiated by their scripts, and Punjabi is historically distinguished by its retention of Middle Indo-Aryan (MIA) doubled consonants following a short vowel, so that Sanskrit akshi ‘eye’ becomes MIA akkhi and Punjabi akkh, versus Hindi-Urdu aankh. Phonetically, the most prominent distinctive feature of standard Punjabi is the realization of historical voiced aspiration as tones, so that, for example, HindiUrdu ghora ‘horse’ appears in Punjabi as k’òra (with glottal constriction and lowrising tone) and Hindi-Urdu rah ‘way’ as Punjabi rá (with high-falling tone). (Shackle, 2017). Conclusion This paper is the beginning of an understanding the complexities of languages as these evolve and diversify over time. The story of language(s) and the various dialects associated with a language is as old and as complex as the story of human migration. A language and/or dialect is influenced by and in turn influences the socio-economics, religion and culture of a region and a community. 37 Urdu is the official national language, and lingua franca, of Pakistan. In India, it is one of 22 constitutionally recognised official languages, having official status in the five states of Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal, as well as the national capital territory of Delhi. Bibliography Dilgeer, S. D. (2020). Nawan Mahan Kosh, Vol 2. Amritsar: Singh Brothers. Ejaz, M. (2020). People's History of Punjab. Virginia: Wichaar Publications. Mehta, P. (2022). Who is a Parsi? New Delhi: Niyogi Books. Parvez, D. (2020, September 13). Dr Manzur Ejaz — poet, writer, columnist and playwright of Punjabi and literature. Retrieved from Daily Times: https://dailytimes.com.pk/666124/dr-manzur-ejaz-poet-writer-columnist-andplaywright-of-punjabi-and-literature/ Prakrit. (n.d.). Retrieved from University of Oxford: https://www.orinst.ox.ac.uk/prakrit#:~:text=The%20Prakrits%20were%20Middle%20I ndo,to%2C%20and%20less%20prestigious%20than%2C Shackle, C. (2017, July 27). Punjabi Language. 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An Introduction to the Study of Indian History, Popular Parkashan, Mumbai, India,1956  Joseph, Tony, Early Indians, Juggernaut Books, 2018  Grewal, J S; Banga, Indu, Five Punjabi centuries: policy, economy, society, and culture, c. 1500-1990: essays for J.S. Grewal, Manohar, 1997  Sukh, Nain, Dharti Punj Daryai, transliteration and editing: Paramjeet Singh Misha, first Gurmukhi edition, Sachal Parkashan, 2020