History Of Punjab

Intro To History Of Punjab

Punjab - the land of five rivers - lies in North West India. In the Vedic Era, Punjab was called ‘Sapat Sindu’. Sapat Sindu means the land of seven rivers

- the Sindu, Jehlum, Ravi, Chenab, Beas, Satluj and Yamuna. The Mughals persianised its name by calling it ‘Panj – Aab’ or -the land of five rivers- excluding Sindhu and Yamuna. Punj means five and aab means water, so Punjab means -the land of five rivers These five rivers that run through Punjab, originate from the various small lakes in Himalayas. If one were to go across the Punjab starting from Delhi and to Afghanistan, the rivers are in this order - Beas, Satluj, Ravi, Chenab and Jhelum. Beas, and Satluj merge into one river retaining the name Satluj at Harike near Ferozepur in Punjab, just before crossing the border into West Punjab (Pakistan) and eventually merging into river Indus.
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 Charak, one of the founder of the Ayurvedic branch of medicine, Kautilya, the author of Arth-Shastra to name a few hailed from this place. Taxilla University is believed to have been situated to the east of the Indus in the modern district of Rawalpindi now in Pakistan.
The rich fertile land of Punjab lured many invaders to come galloping on horse backs, loot, plunder and go back. The Punjab, which then extended from Attock to Delhi, from Shimla hills to the borders of Rajasthan and Sind, faced these intruders bravely .The Punajbis developed into strong and strudy people who coined an appropriate phrase for themselves- ‘Eat, Drink and be Merry’, the rest Ahmed Shah Abdali will carry!
Punjabi civilization is one of the oldest on earth, with its distinguished language, culture, food, attire, script, folklore, people, etc. Punjabi langauge has its originating source in Sanskrit, i.e. the family of Indo-European group of langauges which includes Persian and Latin. Punjab has always been the land of great saints and warriors. In 450 BC (2450 years ago), Alexander invaded Punjab and conquered the mighty Punjabi king named Porus whose kingdom was on the banks of river Chenab. He did not accept defeat and asked Greek king to show him the same respect as is due to the royal kings. He was restored back to his throne by Alexander. Alexander returned to Greece right before crossing the river Beas, as his forces refused to fight. In his terrain we have a reliable resource that tells us about Punjab 2450 years ago. Not much different from today!!!