History
Punjabi is an Indo-Aryan language like many other modern languages of South Asia. It is a descendant of the Shauraseni language, which was the chief language of medieval northern India.
Punjabi emerged as an independent language in the 11th century. Fariduddin Ganjshakar is generally recognized as the first major poet of the Punjabi language,. Revered by Muslims, he is considered one of the fifteen Sikh bhagats, and selections from his work are included in the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh sacred scripture. The linguist George Abraham Grierson in his multivolume Linguistic Survey of India (1904–1928) used the word "Punjabi" to refer to several languages spoken in the Punjab region: the term "Western Punjabi" (ISO 639-3 pnb) covered dialects (now designated separate languages) spoken to the west of Montgomery and Gujranwala districts, while "Eastern Punjabi" referred to what is now simply called Punjabi (ISO 639-3 pan) After Saraiki, Potwari and Hindko started to be counted as separate languages, the percentage of Pakistanis recorded as Punjabi speakers was reduced from 59% to 44%. Although not an official language, Punjabi is still the predominant language of Pakistan.
Contemporary Punjabi is not the only language used in Sikh scriptures (which though in Gurmukhi script are written in several languages). Many portions of Guru Granth Sahib use Punjabi dialects, but the book is interspersed with several other languages including Brajbhasha, Khariboli, Sanskrit and Persian. Guru Gobind Singh, the last Guru of the Sikhs, composed Chandi di Var in Punjabi, although most of his works are composed in other languages like Braj Bhasha and Persian.
In the 1960s, the Shiromani Akali Dal proposed "Punjabi Suba", a state visioned for Punjabi speakers where Punjabi being the vernacular language would not be a obstacle for positive social mobility for the rising rural class in the Punjab. Paul R. Brass, the Professor Emeritus of Political Science and South Asian Studies at the University of Washington, opines that the Sikh leader Fateh Singh tactically stressed the linguistic basis of the demand, while downplaying the religious basis for the demand—a state where the distinct Sikh identity could be preserved. Sikhs are a separate ethno-religious group historically and culturally connected to the Punjab and wanted social, economic and political space to shield from Hindu hegemonic forces. Public discourse in the Punjab around the need for Punjab Suba was used by the centre to trifurcation of Indian Punjab into three smaller states: Punjab (India), Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. Following the trifurcation there was controversy surrounding the demarcation of the borders of the new states as large border regions containing Punjabi speaking majorities where included in Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. Further infuriating the sentiments of leaders advocating for a Punjabi language rights, Chandigarh thought to be the cultural centre of the Punjab post-partition was converted to a union territory and excluded from newer and smaller Punjab.
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