Punjab, Pakistan
Punjab is a province of Pakistan. With a population of over 127 million, it is the most populous province in Pakistan and the second most populous subnational polity in the world. Located in the central-eastern region of the country, it has the [|largest economy], contributing the most to national GDP in Pakistan. Lahore is the capital and largest city of the province. Other major cities include Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala and Multan.
It is bordered by the Pakistani provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the north-west, Balochistan to the south-west and Sindh to the south, as well as Islamabad Capital Territory to the north-west and Azad Kashmir to the north. It shares an international border with the Indian states of Rajasthan and Punjab to the east and Indian-administered Kashmir to the north-east. Punjab is the most fertile province of the country as the Indus River and its four major tributaries Ravi, Jhelum, Chenab, and Sutlej flow through it.
The province forms the bulk of the transnational Punjab region, partitioned in 1947 between Pakistan and India. The province is represented in the federal parliament through 173, out of 336, seats in National Assembly, the lower house; and 23, out of 96, seats in Senate, the upper house.
Punjab is Pakistan's most industrialised province, with the industrial sector comprising 24 per cent of the province's gross domestic product. It is known for its relative prosperity, and has the lowest rate of poverty among all Pakistani provinces. However, a clear divide is present between the northern and southern regions of the province; with northern Punjab being relatively more developed than southern Punjab. Punjab is also one of the most urbanised regions of South Asia, with approximately 40 per cent of its population being concentrated in urban areas.
Punjabi Muslims form majority of the province. Their culture has been strongly influenced by Islamic culture and Sufism, with a number of Sufi shrines spread across the province. Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, was born in the town of Nankana Sahib. Punjab hosts several of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites, including the Shalimar Gardens, the Lahore Fort, the archaeological excavations at Taxila, and the Rohtas Fort, among others.
Etymology
The name "Punjab" consists of two parts, of Persian origin which are cognates of the Sanskrit words. The word pañj-āb is the calque of Indo-Aryan pañca-áp and means "The Land of Five Waters", referring to the rivers Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Sutlej, and Beas. All are tributaries of the Indus River, the Sutlej being the largest. References to a land of five rivers are found in the Mahabharata, in which one of the regions is named as Panchanada. The ancient Greeks referred to the region as Pentapotamía, of the same meaning as that of Punjab. Earlier, Punjab was also known as Sapta Sindhu in the Rigveda and Hapta Hendu in the Avesta, translating into "The Land of Seven Rivers"; the other two being Indus and Kabul which are included in the greater Punjab region. The current name gained currency during the Mughal period.History
Ancient period
It is believed that the earliest evidence of human habitation in Punjab traces to the Soan Valley of the Pothohar, between the Indus and the Jhelum rivers, where Soanian culture developed between 774,000 BC and 11,700 BC. This period goes back to the first interglacial period in the second Ice Age, from which remnants of stone and flint tools have been found. The Punjab region was the site of one of the earliest cradle of civilisations, the Bronze Age Harrapan civilisation that flourished from about 3000 B.C. and declined rapidly 1,000 years later, following the Indo-Aryan migrations that overran the region in waves between 1500 and 500 B.C. The migrating Indo-Aryan tribes gave rise to the Iron Age Vedic civilisation, which lasted till 500 BC. During this era, the Rigveda was composed in Punjab, laying the foundation of Hinduism. Frequent intertribal wars in the post-Vedic period stimulated the growth of larger groupings ruled by chieftains and kings, who ruled local kingdoms known as Mahajanapadas. Achaemenid emperor Darius the Great, in 518 BCE crossed the Indus and annexe the regions up to the Jhelum River. Taxila is considered to be the site of one of the oldest education centre of South Asia and was part of the Achaemenid province of Hindush.One of the early kings in Punjab was Porus, who fought the famous Battle of the Hydaspes against Alexander the Great. The battle is thought to have resulted in a decisive Greek victory; however, A. B. Bosworth warns against an uncritical reading of Greek sources who were obviously exaggerative. Porus refused to surrender and wandered about atop an elephant, until he was wounded and his force routed. When asked by Alexander how he wished to be treated, Porus replied "Treat me as a king would treat another king". Despite the apparently one-sided results, Alexander was impressed by Porus and chose to not depose him. Not only was his territory reinstated but also expanded with Alexander's forces annexing the territories of Glausaes, who ruled to the northeast of Porus' kingdom. The battle is historically significant because it resulted in the syncretism of ancient Greek political and cultural influences on the Indian subcontinent, yielding works such as Greco-Buddhist art, which continued to have an impact for the ensuing centuries.
Multan was the noted center of excellence of the region, which was attacked by the Greek army during the era of Alexander the Great. The Malli tribe, together with nearby tribes, gathered an army of 90,000-100,000 personnel to face the Greek army. This was perhaps the largest army faced by the Greeks in the entire Indian subcontinent. During the siege of the city's citadel, Alexander leaped into the inner area of the citadel, where he faced the Mallians' leader. Alexander was wounded by an arrow that had penetrated his lung, leaving him severely injured. The city was conquered after a fierce battle.
The region was then divided between the Maurya Empire and the Greco-Bactrian kingdom in 302 B.C.E. Menander I Soter conquered Punjab and made Sagala the capital of the Indo-Greek Kingdom. Menander is noted for becoming a patron and converting to Greco-Buddhism and he is widely regarded as the greatest of the Indo-Greek kings.
Medieval period
Following the Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent at the beginning of the 8th century, Arab armies of the Umayyad Caliphate penetrated South Asia, introducing Islam into the Punjab. First, Islam was introduced into the Southern Punjab in the opening decades of the eighth century. By the 16th century, Muslims were the majority in the region and an elaborate network of mosques and mausoleums marked the landscape. Local Punjabi Muslim converts constituted the majority of this Muslim community, and as far for the mechanisms of conversion, the sources of the period emphasise the recitation of the Islamic confession of faith, the performance of the circumcision, and the ingestion of cow-meat.Islam emerged as the major power in Punjab after the Umayyad army led by Muhammad ibn al-Qasim conquered the region in 711 AD. The city of Multan became a centre of Islam. After the Umayyads conquered the key cities of Uch and Multan, they ruled the far areas of Punjab and included Kashmir. Islam spread rapidly.
According to local traditions, Baba Ratan Hindi was a trader from Punjab who was one of the non-Arab companions of Prophet Muhammad. He was reportedly a trader who used to take goods to Arabia. There is also a dargah named after him, the Haji Ratan Dargah, in Bathinda, where he settled after his conversion to Islam. Muslims who migrated to Pakistan during the partition of India in 1947 still venerate him as Baba Haji Ratan.
In the ninth century, the Hindu Shahi dynasty originating from the region of Oddiyana replaced the Taank kingdom in the Punjab, ruling much of Punjab along with eastern Afghanistan. In the 10th century, the tribe of the Gakhars/Khokhars, formed a large part of the Hindu Shahi army according to the Persian historian Firishta.
Ghaznavid
The Turkic Ghaznavids in the tenth century attacked the regions of Punjab. Multan and Uch were conquered after 3 attacks, and Multan's ruler, Abul Fateh Daud was defeated, famous Sun Temple was destroyed. Ghaznavids overthrew the Hindu Shahis and consequently ruled for 157 years, gradually declining as a power until the Ghurid conquests of key Punjab cities of Uch, Multan and Lahore by Muhammad of Ghor in 1186, deposing the last Ghaznavid ruler Khusrau Malik.
Following the death of Muhammad of Ghor in 1206, the Ghurid state fragmented and was replaced in northern India by the Delhi Sultanate, and for some time, independent sultanates ruled by various Sultans. The Delhi Sultanate ruled Punjab for the next three hundred years, led by five unrelated dynasties, the Mamluks, Khalajis, Tughlaqs, Sayyids and Lodis.
Delhi Sultanate
Tughlaqs
Ghiyath al-Din Tughlaq, the former governor of Multan and Dipalpur founded the Tughlaq dynasty in Delhi and ruled the subcontinent region. Earlier, he served as the governor of Multan and fought 28 battles against Mongols from there and saved Punjab and Sindh regions from the advances of Mongols and survived. After his death, his son Muhammad Tughlaq became the emperor.
Sayyid Dynasty
The 15th century saw the rise of many prominent Muslims from Punjab. Khizr Khan established the Sayyid dynasty, the fourth dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate, with four rulers ruling from 1414 to 1451 for 37 years. The first ruler of the dynasty, Khizr Khan, who was the Timurid vassal of Multan, conquered Delhi in 1414, while the rulers proclaimed themselves the Sultans of the Delhi Sultanate under Mubarak Shah, which succeeded the Tughlaq dynasty and ruled the Sultanate until they were displaced by the Lodi dynasty in 1451.
Khizr Khan was originally a noble in the Delhi Sultanate during the Tughlaq Dynasty and was the governor of Multan under Sultan Firuz Shah. He was expelled from the city by the Muin tribes under Sarang Khan who occupied Multan in 1395, an Indian Muslim and the brother of Mallu Iqbal Khan, who was the de facto ruler of Delhi. Sarang Khan was aided by the servants of Malik Mardan Bhatti, a former governor of Multan and the grandfather of Khizr Khan by adoption.
In 1398, Timur attacked the Punjab region. After his invasion, Khizr Khan established the fourth dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate. According to Richard M. Eaton, Khizr Khan was the son of a Punjabi chieftain. He was a Khokhar chieftain who travelled to Samarkand and profited from the contacts he made with the Timurid society.
Following Timur's 1398 Sack of Delhi, he appointed Khizr Khan as deputy of Multan. He held Lahore, Dipalpur, Multan and Upper Sindh. Collecting his forces in Multan, Khizr Khan defeated and killed Mallu Iqbal Khan in Delhi in 1405. He then captured Delhi on 28 May 1414 thereby establishing the Sayyid dynasty. Khizr Khan did not take up the title of Sultan, but continued the fiction of his allegiance to Timur as Rayat-i-Ala of the Timurids - initially that of Timur, and later his son Shah Rukh. After the accession of Khizr Khan, the Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Sindh were reunited under the Delhi Sultanate, where he spent his time subduing rebellions.
Khizr Khan was succeeded by his son Sayyid Mubarak Shah after his death on 20 May 1421. Mubarak Shah referred to himself as Muizz-ud-Din Mubarak Shah on his coins, removing the Timurid name with the name of the Caliph, and declared himself a Shah. A detailed account of his reign is available in the Tarikh-i-Mubarak Shahi written by Yahya-bin-Ahmad Sirhindi. After the death of Mubarak Shah, his nephew, Muhammad Shah ascended the throne and styled himself as Sultan Muhammad Shah. Just before his death, he called his son Sayyid Ala-ud-Din Shah from Badaun, and nominated him as successor.
The last ruler of the Sayyids, Ala-ud-Din, voluntarily abdicated the throne of the Delhi Sultanate in favour of Bahlul Khan Lodi on 19 April 1451, and left for Badaun, where he died in 1478.File:Khizr_Khan_.jpg|thumb|180x180px|Silver copper coin of Khizr Khan, founder of the Sayyid dynasty.Langah Sultanate
In 1445, Sultan Qutbudin, chief of Langah tribe, established the Langah Sultanate in Multan. The Sultanate included regions of southern and central Punjab and some areas of present-day Khyber. A large number of Baloch settlers arrived and the towns of Dera Ghazi Khan and Dera Ismail Khan were founded.
During the most of 15th century, the Khokhars and Gakhars tribes were in general revolt in the Pothohar region. Jasrath Khokhar was one of their major chiefs who helped Sultan Zain Ul Abideen of Kashmir Sultanate to gain his throne and ruled over vast tracts of Jammu and North Punjab. He also conquered Delhi for a brief period in 1431 but was driven out by Mubarak Shah.