A Brief History of Punjab

Punjab, an exuberant and fertile land of five rivers, has always been India's northern gateway. During the days of Rig-Veda this land was called 'Sapt-Sindhu' - the land of seven rivers namely - Sindh, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, Sutlej, and Saraswati.The history of Punjab goes back to the times of Indus Valley civilization or the arrival of the Aryans. Lord Rama is also said to have been born at a place called Ghuram, now in Patiala district. Lord Sri Krishna delivered the immortal message of the Gita at Kurukshetra, which was well within the boundary of Punjab till very recently.

Taxilla University, a great institution of learning in the past, with scholars like Charaka, one of the founder of the Ayurvedic branch of medicine, Kautilya, the author of Arth-Shastra to name a few hailed from this place. The famous Taxilla University is believed to have been situated to the east of the Indus in the modern district of Rawalpindi now in Pakistan. In the later years it saw the rise and fall of the Mauryans, Bactrians, Greeks, Kushans and Guptas. Medival Punjab saw supremacy of the Muslims. In the fourteenth and the fifteenth century the Bhakti movement saw a great impetus through the teachings of Guru Nanak. A socio-religious movement whose followers were called Sikhs had started which fought against the evils in religion and society. It rejected the Hindu caste system, priesthood and idol worship while retaining the Hindu doctrines of Karma.

Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Guru transformed the Sikhs into Khalsa in 1699. The Sikhs led by Maharaja Ranjit Singh created a powerful state in Punjab. He extended his empire from the Sutlej to the Khyber Pass, east to west and from Ladakh to Sindh, north to south. But after his death in 1839 the power in Punjab passed on to the Britishers. In the nineteenth century a spate of religious movements began in Punjab. The foremost amongst them were the Singh Sabha and the Arya Samaj. In the struggle for freedom from the Britshers, Punjab played a vital role. Some of the prominent freedom fighters, to name a few, from Punjab were Lala Lajpat Rai and Bhagat Singh. The cherished dream of freedom in 1947 was not without bloodshed and Punjab had to pay a heavy price. Punjab was divided in two. The area allotted to India was 96,809 square kilometres with a population of around 12,650,000 and the area given to Pakistan was 160,610 square kilometres with a population of about 18,800,000. The Partition line followed the course of the Ravi and Sutlej rivers, allotting parts of Lahore, Rawalpindi, and Multan to Pakistan and the remaining to India. In the rioting that followed partition lakhs of Hindus and Sikhs had to flee the Western Punjab and in the process tens of thousands lost their lives.

Punjab is also famous for the folk songs and music. The songs were mostly about religion, cult and related to rituals and ceremonies.

Sources :
1. http://www.punjabonline.com/servlet/library.history?Action=History
2. http://www.webindia123.com/punjab/history/history.htm