Historians till the mid of the 19th century believed that the socio-cultural history of India had its origins in the advent of arrival of Aryans in Punjab. But serendipitous findings of explorers and scholars in the 19th century brought about a fundamental change regarding the sub-continental history. It was the time when the British colonialists had already occupied large swathes in India.

During the reign of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Charles Masson, a traveller and explorer, visited an ancient town of Harappa in the vicinity of present-day Sahiwal and noticed ruins that had time-worn bricks and debris of baked broken pots. Later another white officer Sir Alexander Cunningham came to Harappa and there he found stamps with animal images on them.

The colonial administration started building North Western Railway in 1860s. When Cunningham discovered that crushed bricks from Harappa ruins were being used as track ballast in the construction of Lahore-Multan railway, he concluded that the bricks were unmistakable signs of an ancient human settlement.

Punjab’s colonial administration assigned Daya Ram Sahni and others with the task of excavating the Harappa ruins in 1921. Sahni’s excavation opened the door to an unimaginable world. It changed the prevalent view of history. The contours of ancient society of Punjab began to emerge that baffled the mind.

Harappa came to be regarded as a centre of an ancient civilisation thought to be as old as that of Egypt and Mesopotamia. Consequently the traditional view of culture and language proved anachronistic. It firmly established the existence of a culture older than Aryan culture and a language older than Sanskrit. Unfortunately the script of Harappa language has so far not been deciphered. But the concrete evidence provided by excavations is undeniable that languages such as Austric, Munda and Dravidian preceded the Vedic language and Sanskrit in Punjab. Such a perspective can help us understand the origins, evolution and development of Punjabi language.

About the origins of Punjabi language we come across three different views; firstly, Punjabi is derived from Sanskrit. Secondly, it branched off from Vedic language and thirdly, the roots of the Punjabi are buried in the pre-Aryan languages.

In the wake of Aryan ascendancy Sanskrit was put on a high pedestal as a sacred language of Brahmanism spoken and used by elite scholars of upper castes. Scriptures and religious treatises were composed in it. But masses continued to use their indigenous languages which were known as Prakrits, peoples’ natural languages. Mahavira Jain and Lord Buddha in particular challenged the hegemony of Brahmanism and caste system in 6th/5th century BC.

Lord Buddha, on the one hand, rebelled against the caste hierarchy and on the other rejected Sanskrit as a sacred language. He chose Prakrit [Pali], the natural speech of the people, as a vehicle of his expression which also strengthened the role of Prakrit in Punjab. As a result of this historical development, Punjab, present-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Afghanistan emerged as centres where Buddhism and Prakrits flourished.

Alexander of Macedonia attacked India in 326 BC. He fought one of the fiercest battles of his life against unusually brave and majestically graceful Maharaja Porus [Puru in local language] on the banks of the River Vehit / Vitasta [Jhelum].

In the aftermath of Greek invasion we see the establishment of a Greek Bactrian kingdom in Central Asia and the emergence of Gandhara culture in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as a result of socio-cultural interaction between the locals and Greeks. Surrounded by lush green Margalla Hills, Taxila [Takshishla] achieved eternal glory as the metropolis of Gandhara culture and international centre of religious and secular education and learning.

After the Greek invasion, interaction between the Greek language and Punjab’s Prakrit was inevitable, the evidence of which are the words borrowed from the Greek that are still used in Punjabi. A number of specimens of the writings of that era have been preserved in the Taxila Museum, some of which are from the Emperor Ashoka’s period. The script used is Aramaic from which the Kharosthi script is derived. A Sanskrit writing on the bark of tree can also be seen in the museum.

We find writings on the pillars [Laths] built by Emperor Ashoka in the third century BC in four Prakrits. The script used is either Aramaic or Kharosthi. During these times Prakrit continued to develop and was called Upbhransh.

Arab armies under the command of Muhammad Bin Qasim invaded and conquered Sindh in 711. They gradually extended their rule to Multan in Punjab. People from the oppressed low castes initiated a process of conversion which was aided and supported by the new Muslim rulers. Saints, scholars and clerics accelerated the process of conversion to Islam through their preaching which emphasised the Muslim notion of human equality which was polar opposite of inviolable caste distinctions. The Semitic and Islamic influences triggered an unstoppable process of transformation in the realms of culture and language. People started using Arabic words and phrases in their daily life. Terms and vocabulary in matters of religious practices and administration were borrowed from Arabic which with the passage of time became integral part of Punjab’s Prakrit.

Ismailis/Karamatas who fled Egypt and Iraq eventually toppled the Abbasid ruler of Multan Banu Munabba in the 10th century and laid the foundation of Ismaili rule. During Ismaili rule one finds the evidence of language in transition in the sacred book known as Ginan. The language of hymns in Ginan on the one hand has its connections with the old language and on the other reflects the influence of Arabic, the ruling language. The Ginan’s language is a kind of bridge between Nath poetry of 9th and 10th centuries and the language that later emerged as a precursor of contemporary Punjabi. It was in fact the beginning of a new language in Punjab.

In the 11th century Turk ruler Mahmud of Ghazna launched a series of ferocious attacks against Punjab. He through his relentless wars not only demolished Hindu Shahia kingdom but also decimated karamati or Ismaili rule. Mahmud annexed Punjab in 1027 and made Lahore its capital. Arab and Turk rule in Punjab triggered the process of building a new socio-cultural edifice. One of the results of this transformation expressed itself in the form of a new language, the language we speak and write, the contemporary Punjabi. 

— soofi01@hotmail.com