| Punjab History |
| Punjab is the cradle of the Indus Valley Civilization, more than 4000 years old. The Mahabharata, which narrates life between the 7th and 5th century BC, contains rich descriptions of the land and people of Punjab at that time. It is believed that parts of the Ramayana too, were written around the Shri Ram Tirath Ashram, near Amritsar. Among other things, one of the reasons of the decline of Indus Valley Civilization could be a series of raids or small scale migration from the north-west between 1500 BC to 100 BC. The next thousand years of the history of Punjab is dominated by the Aryans. Here is where the oldest books of human history, called the Rig-Vedas, are supposed to have been written. The Aryans spoke Sanskrit, which became common language of the people. Punjab lay on the outskirts of the Great Persian empires and was often attacked by the Persians, finally occupied in 516 BC. Soon, Punjab became the wealthiest of all the provinces of the Persian kingdom. Following the birth of Islam in Arabia in the 6th century AD, Arabs rose to power and replaced the Persians as the major power in the area. In 1469 AD, Guru Nanak was born at Talwandi, now in Pakistan. He was to show the world a new light , the path of brotherhood amoung Hindus and Muslims . Soon he became famous accross Punjab and thousands of people started following his teachings . His followers were called the "SIKHS". He was followed by a number of gurus. The 10th Guru was Guru Gobind Singh Ji. He modified his Sikhs to a community , different from normal Hindus. From now on, Sikhs were required to keep long hair and beard . Next was the territory of Ranjit singh. During the rein of Maharaja Ranjit Singh , the Sikhs even ruled on Afganistan. The Sikh religion flourished and the territorial boundaries increased. It was during his reign that Har Mandir Sahib (Golden Temple) was covered with gold . After his death in 1839, the Sikh governors started fighting with each other for supremacy . Slowly the Sikh kingdom started declining and the British took over it. The British ruled Punjab for 200 years like the rest of India . Many of the Freedom Fighters of the Great Indian Freedom Struggle were from Punjab. At last on 15 th August 1947, India became independent and the State was divided among India and Pakistan. Punjab was again divided into the states of present day Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh for administrative reasons in 1966 . |
