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Punjabi culture grew out of the settlements along the five rivers (the name Punjab, is derived from two Persian language words, Panj meaning "Five" and Âb meaning "Water") which served as an important route to the Near East as early as the ancient Indus Valley civilization, dating back to 3000 BCE. Agriculture has been the major economic feature of the Punjab and has therefore formed the foundation of Punjabi culture, with one's social status being determined by landownership. The Punjab emerged as an important agricultural region, especially following the Green Revolution during the mid-1960's to the mid-1970's, has been described as the "breadbasket of both India and Pakistan". Besides being known for agriculture and trade, the Punjab is also a region that over the centuries has experienced many foreign invasions and consequently has a long-standing history of warfare, as the Punjab is situated on the principal route of invasions through the northwestern frontier of the Indian subcontinent, which promoted to adopt a lifestyle that entailed engaging in warfare to protect the land. Warrior culture typically elevates the value of the community's honour (izzat), which is highly esteemed by Punjabis.
History of Modern Music
Punjabi music started to develop and alter in the 20th century as it was impacted by Western musical genres including pop, rock, and hip-hop. As a result, a brand-new genre of Punjabi music emerged, fusing contemporary beats and production methods with traditional instruments and melodies. Gurdas Maan was a trailblazer of the new Punjabi music scene, becoming well known in the 1980s with singles like "Challa" and "Mamla Gadbad Hai." Traditional Punjabi folk tunes were blended with contemporary production methods in Maan's music, while societal themes including drug misuse, poverty, and governmental corruption were frequently touched upon in his lyrics.
/ref> Miniature painting depicting Hindu religious scenes and themes was popular in the Punjab Hills amongst the various Pahari Rajput states.
Between 1810–1830, the Sikhs began to commission these Pahari artists to paint Sikh subjects and settings, mostly Sikh royalty and nobility. After Sikhs began to progressively come into more and more contact with Europeans after 1830, the main influence on Punjabi Sikh art shifted from Pahari styles and methods to European ones. The Punjabi form and localization of Company style would be born out of this increased interaction between European and Punjabi artists. Thus, Pahari-influenced traditional miniature paintings began to be surmounted by European-influenced Company school paintings. Lahori and Amritsari artists increasingly abandoned using the traditional Indic medium of gouache for watercolour techniques.
In 1838–39, a British visitor hired local Punjabi artists to produce pictures covering the various kinds of inhabitants of northern India using British-supplied paper and bound into an album. Images of the Sikh royals and military were documented in these British-patronized local paintings. Many Europeans were employed by the Lahore Durbar, such as the Frenchman Jean-François Allard, and were sponsors of the local arts. A few European artists who visited the Sikh court of Lahore and left a deep impact on the local art were: Godfrey Vigne (visited in 1837), William G. Osborne (visited in 1838), Emily Eden (visited in 1838 alongside her brother), and August Schoefft (arrived in 1841). Eden had a large impact, as her published work Portraits of the Princes and People of India (which included lithographic depictions of Sikhs and Punjabis) was a big success and many copies of the work made their way to Punjab where they ended up giving further shape to the emerging Punjabi Company School. Schoefft spent over a year in Punjab painting various local scenes and subjects. During the Anglo-Sikh Wars, many of the British officials and soldiers who made their way to Punjab were artists. An example is Henry Lawrence, who painted local residents of various walks of life. Many Indian artists who followed the Company school were hired to paint Punjabi subjects and settings. When the Sikh Empire was annexed in 1849, local Punjabi artists working in the Company style created works based upon stock sets for the purpose of selling them to European tourists in the local bazaars. These Punjabi paintings geared towards a European audience depicted "Sikh rulers, heroes, occupations, and costumes".
Religious murals depicting female figuratives were often Shaktism in-nature. A prevailing theme of the divine (the Shakti) incarnating in feminine form (these unique forms are given various names, such as Kali) to battle with negative forces (that are hostile to the deities and mankind), including Rakshasa (such as Mahishasura) and giants (such as Shumbha and Nishumbha), is a commonly witnessed scene of Punjabi murals. The scenes depicted by this category of wall paintings are seemingly drawn from the Markandeya Purana, which promotes the reverence of Shakti as the divine-mother figure.
Other scenes found in Punjabi wall paintings seem to stem from the stories of the Bhagavata Purana. An example of a type of mural scene derived from it is Radha being surrounded by youthful Gopi. Krishna is also commonly depicted alongside gopis in this sort of mural. Krishna is sometimes shown playing his flute whilst the gopis perform the Raslila around him or he is shown stealing clothes from the gopis, an episode known as Gopala-Krishna.
Aside from Hindu themes, there are also depictions based upon Sikh history and Sikh culture, such as Sikh gurus, martyrs ( Shaheed), and religious figures (an example being Bhagat).
Basmati rice is the indigenous variety of Punjab, and various meat- and vegetable-based rice dishes have been developed using it.
The earliest writings in Punjabi belong to Nath era from 9th to 14th century. They referred to God with various names such as "Alakh Nirajan" which are still prevalent in Punjabi vernacular.
The Punjabi literary tradition is popularly seen to commence with Fariduddin Ganjshakar (1173–1266). Roughly from the 12th century to the 19th century, Punjabi Sufi poetry developed under Shah Hussain (1538–1599), Sultan Bahu (1628–1691), Shah Sharaf (1640–1724), Ali Haider (1690–1785), Bulleh Shah (1680–1757), Saleh Muhammad Safoori (1747–1826), Mian Muhammad Baksh (1830–1907) and Khwaja Ghulam Farid (1845–1901). 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).
A Dastar is an proud of headgear associated with Sikhism and is an important part of the Punjabi and Sikh culture. Among the Sikhs, the dastār is an article of faith that represents equality, honour, self-respect, courage, spirituality, and piety. The Khalsa Sikh men and women, who keep the Five Ks, wear the turban to cover their long, uncut hair ( kesh). The Sikhs regard the dastār as an important part of the unique Sikh identity. After the ninth Sikh Guru, Tegh Bahadur, was sentenced to death by the Mughal Empire Aurangzeb, Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh Guru created the Khalsa and gave five articles of faith, one of which is unshorn hair, which the dastār covers. “Importance of turban in Sikhism”, earlytimes.in. 2018-05-29. Prior to Sikhism, only kings, royalty, and those of high stature wore turbans, but Sikh Gurus adopted the practice to assert equality and sovereignty among people.
Punjabi suit that features two items - a qameez (top), salwar (bottom) is the traditional attire of the Punjabi people. (2007). 9789814022330, Select Publishing. ISBN 9789814022330 Shalwars are trousers which are atypically wide at the waist but which narrow to a cuffed bottom. They are held up by a drawstring or elastic belt, which causes them to become pleated around the waist. The trousers can be wide and baggy, or they can be cut quite narrow, on the bias. The kameez is a long shirt or tunic. The side seams are left open below the waist-line (the opening known as the chaak), which gives the wearer greater freedom of movement. The kameez is usually cut straight and flat; older kameez use traditional cuts; modern kameez are more likely to have European-inspired set-in sleeves. The combination garment is sometimes called salwar kurta, salwar suit, or Punjabi suit. The shalwar-kameez is a widely-worn, and national dress, of Pakistan. When women wear the shalwar-kameez in some regions, they usually wear a long scarf or shawl called a dupatta around the head or neck. (2005). 9781858563534, Trentham Book. ISBN 9781858563534 The dupatta is also employed as a form of modesty—although it is made of delicate material, it obscures the upper body's contours by passing over the shoulders. For Muslim women, the dupatta is a less stringent alternative to the chador or burqa (see hijab and purdah); for Sikh and Hindu women, the dupatta is useful when the head must be covered, as in a temple or the presence of elders. Everywhere in South Asia, modern versions of the attire have evolved; the shalwars are worn lower down on the waist, the kameez have shorter length, with higher splits, lower necklines and backlines, and with cropped sleeves or without sleeves.
Eid ul-Fitar, Ramzan Id/Eid-ul-Fitar in India, Festival Dates
The Hindu and Sikh Punjabi seasonal festivals are set on specific dates of the luni-solar Bikrami calendar or Punjabi calendar and the date of the festival also typically varies in the Gregorian calendar but stays within the same two Gregorian months.Some Punjabi Muslims participate in the traditional, seasonal festivals of the Punjab region: Baisakhi, Basant and to a minor scale Lohri, but this is controversial. Islamic clerics and some politicians have attempted to ban this participation because of the religious basis of the Punjabi festivals, The ban on fun, IRFAN HUSAIN, Dawn, Feb 18, 2017 and they being declared haram (forbidden in Islam). The barricaded Muslim mind, Saba Naqvi (August 28, 2016), Quote: "Earlier, Muslim villagers would participate in Hindu festivals; now they think that would be haraam, so stay away. Visiting dargahs is also haraam"
Pattis can also be divided into gwand, which usually consists of five-to-ten housing units which are adjacent to one another. Neighbours of a gwand are known as gwandies, and may belong to differing caste-backgrounds. The housing unit is known as a ghar, with Punjabi houses traditionally being further subdivided into three components: dlan (main-room), rasoi or chula chaunka (kitchen), and vchra (yard). Another method of dividing the house-unit is: andrla (kitchen, bedroom, store) and bahrla (farm, animals, fodder, ) ghar, which separates the domestic domain of women from the external one. H. S. Bhatti believes the andrla and bahrla ghar division method is a later development.
A second method of dividing a village is by divvying it up by vehra (also known in some areas as agwar) or yards, which function as local-units but in some cases may be formed from a single-descent unit. This method is tied with lower castes, as the yard that low-caste groups, such as Chamars, inhabit are known as chamahri, which is isolated from the other yards inhabited by other groups of the village. In some villages, the service-orientated castes have their own vehra, which may be known as Naeean da vehra (barber-caste yard) or Ghumaran da vehra (potter-caste yard).
These habitational divisions interact with social groupings, lineages, and clans, such as kul/kandan, sharika/bhaichar, moohi (sub-clan), Gotra (clan), and jaat (caste).
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