Punjab Meets Here

The Background of Punjab

Harpa ,Mohenjodaro

Punjab - The part of Hindustan that the Gurus were born into was first the seat of the Indus Valley civilisation of Mohenjodaro and Harappa, replaced later by the war-like nomadic Aryans from central Asia, by village culture.

Origin

Most scholars are of the opinion that the dark coloured aborigines of the Indus valley civilisation (now known as Dravidians & mostly inhabiting Southern India) like the Jats of the Punjab are Scythians in origin & came from central Asia, whose one branch migrated to Southern Europe in Bulgaria. Since the language of the Gypsies in Bulgaria is very similar to the language of the hilly areas of the Punjab and the traditional customs, folk tunes & costumes of Bulgarians resemble those of the hilly areas of Punjab, now called Himachal Pradesh.

Nature

The indigenous black aborigines (now known as the Dravidians living in the south) were defeated in long term engagements, which is clear, from the war like qualities of the vedic gods, like Indra, and also from the relics & ruins of the civilisation they displaced. The waves of migrating Aryans also tussled with the older settlers, one class with another, thus making the people of North-west both aggressive and tough, the extremes of heat and cold in summer and winter also contributing their own share to the same effect.

Alexander the great of Macedonia found the resistance to his march into the Punjab (literally the land of five rivers, the tributaries or river Indus or Sind) so over-powering that he had to return, frustrated, in his grand design us a world-conqueror.

The Punjabi men of arms fought in Persia in the armies of king Darius, five centuries before Christ. Horse was a weapon of war, known to Punjab even in pre-Aryan times. "Flaming thunder-bolts" were hurled at Alexander by the Punjabi men of arms and it’s the opinion of many scholars that gunpowder was invented not in China but in the North-west of India.

Culture

No ceremony is complete without drinking & dancing. Upto the time of the Rig-Veda (composed mostly in Punjab), the culture of the Pre-Aryan is sought to be absorbed, by the love of life and its secular joys. Phallic worship (or worship of procreative faculty) was an important element of the Harappa religion and burial was the usual rite. It was the meeting place of many races, and cotton (as against the bark at trees) was first used by the Harappa people, two or three thousand years before it become current in Europe.

Several weapons of war like the sword and the axe (employed for peaceful purpose) were extensively known, but also, life here had a gaiety & an abundance which the exclusive Aryan tribes (which exclusiveness was based on colour, profession or time at migration), as they moved further into the Indo-Gangetic plains or the heartland of Hindustan. Influenced by long-term peace, the over productive earth, and an enervating climate, the Aryans began to speculate, as time passed, more on the other world and the nothingness of life, than the joys and the beauties of here and now.

There was a mixed culture as a result of the interaction on the Punjabis of the various races like the Greek, Chinese, Iranian, pre-Muslim Turks upon each other. These fiercely independence people were governed neither by the king or the priest, but their duly chosen representative.

The worship of image & idols in the post-Buddha period is also a Greek influence. Nowhere were the women honoured so much as in the early Aryan and the pre-Aryan civilisations. She is the light of the dwelling. She makes her own choice of the husband and gaily-dressed women with their hair in four knots are coveted. The magnificent hair styles of women on the Mohenjodaro seals, the urbane living standards, the building of structure for the convenience of the citizens rather than the temples of God and palaces and tombs for kings as in contemporary Egypt, reveal that it's predominantly secular civilisation - advanced and singular in uniform, closely akin but in some respects even superior to that of contemporary Mesopotamia and Egypt.

Caste

The aborigines observed no caste in the South, even now there are no Kshatriyas or Vaishas. There are no priestly classes among them.

Trade

Trade was related to raw materials, luxury articles and fish, regularly imported from the Arabian seacoast augmented the food supplies of Mohenjodaro and their manufacturers reached even the markets of the Tigris and Euphrates.

They dig canals for irrigation & sow corn, bears, barley and sesame. They knew the use of medicinal herbs, of weaving and spinning and also made fine leather goods. They have among them smiths, carpenters, carriage-makers, ship builders, gold smith and other artisan. A vigorous school of sculpture was developed known - the Gandhara School of Art and the University of Taxila, which was the capital seat of the North-western province of Ashoka's empire as a foremost seat of higher learning in the whole of Asia.

Arian, the Greek historian of Alexander’s, campaign in the Punjab said, "no nation is fonder of singing & dancing then the Indian" - obviously, he meant the people of Punjab.

Other Related Topics of Interest !

Framework of Punjab I Modern Punjab I Geographics of Punjab I
Festivals of Punjab I Arts & Crafts of Punjab I The Art of Feasting in Punjab I Folk Music of Punjab I

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