Punjabis (Sikhs) of Punjab (northern India)

• published: 12 Apr 2013
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Punjabis are 120 million people that live in northern India and east Pakistan. Indian Punjabis are Sikhs and Christians. They live Indian states of Punjab (capital is Amritsar), Kashmir and Haryana, while Pakistani Punjabis are mainly Moslem (live in Paksitani state of Punjab). Music video: Punjabi wedding song. There are many Punjabis who live in USA (mainly in NY, California and Texas) and UK (London and elsewhere through England). The people of Indian Punjab are mainly descendants of the so-called Aryan tribes that entered India from the northwest during the 2nd millennium bce, as well as the pre-Aryan population, probably Dravidians (speakers of Dravidian languages), who had a highly developed civilization. Relics of this civilization have been unearthed at Rupnagar (Ropar). Successive waves of invaders—Greeks, Parthians, Kushans, and Hephthalites (Hunas)—added to the diversity of earlier social, or caste, groups (jatis). Later, invaders under the banner of Islam forced several vanquished groups (such as the Jat peasant caste and the Rajput class of landowners) to convert to the Muslim faith, although many conversions were voluntary under the influence of Ṣūfī saints. Today, however, the majority religion of Punjab is Sikhism, which originated from the teachings of Nanak, the first Sikh Guru. Hindus make up the largest minority, but there also is a significant population of Muslims. There are small communities of Christians and Jains in some areas. More than one-fourth of Punjab's population consists of Hindus and Sikhs who officially belong to the Scheduled Castes (formerly called "untouchables"), which occupy a relatively low position within the traditional Indian caste system. Punjabi is the official state language. Along with Hindi, it is the most widely spoken. However, many people also speak English and Urdu. About one-third of Punjab's population lives in cities and towns. Its major cities are Ludhiana in the central region, Amritsar in the northwest, Jalandhar in north-central Punjab, Patiala in the southeast, and Bathinda in the south-central part of the state. Muslims reside mostly in and around the southwest-central city of Maler Kotla, which was once the centre of a princely state ruled by a Muslim nawab (provincial governor). Some two-fifths of Punjab's population is engaged in the agricultural sector, which accounts for a significant segment of the state's gross product. Punjab produces an important portion of India's food grain and contributes a major share of the wheat and rice stock held by the Central Pool (a national repository system of surplus food grain). Punjab has an inland subtropical location, and its climate is continental, being semiarid to subhumid. Summers are very hot.