1.
Punjab, Pakistan
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Punjab, is Pakistans second largest province by area after Balochistan, and its most populous province with an estimated population of 101,391,000 as of 2015. It is bordered by Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as well as the regions of Islamabad Capital Territory and it also shares borders with the Indian states of Punjab, Rajasthan, and Jammu and Kashmir. The provincial capital of Punjab is the city Lahore, a centre of Pakistan where the countrys cinema industry. Punjab has been inhabited since ancient times, the Indus Valley Civilization, dating to 2600 BCE, was first discovered at Harappa. Punjab features heavily in the Hindu epic poem, the Mahabharata, in 326 BCE, Alexander the Great defeated King Porus at the Battle of the Hydaspes near Mong, Punjab. The Umayyad empire conquered Punjab in the 8th century CE, Punjab was later invaded by Tamerlane, Babur, and Nader Shah. Punjab reached the height of its splendour during the reign of the Mughal Empire, following a successful rebellion, Sikh-led armies claimed Lahore in 1759. The administration of the Sikh Empire was based out of Lahore, the province was formed when the Punjab province of British India was divided along religious boundaries in 1947 by the Radcliffe Line after Partition. Punjab is Pakistans most industrialised province with the industrial sector making up 24% of the gross domestic product. Punjab is known in Pakistan for its prosperity, and has the lowest rate of poverty amongst all Pakistani provinces. Punjab is also one of South Asias most urbanized regions with approximately 40% of people living in urban areas and its human development index rankings are high relative to the rest of Pakistan. Punjab is known in Pakistan for its relatively liberal social attitudes, the province has been strongly influenced by Sufism, with numerous Sufi shrines spread across Punjab which attract millions of devotees annually. The founder of the Sikh faith, Guru Nanak, was born in the Punjab town of Nankana Sahib near Lahore, Punjab is also the site of the Katasraj Temple, which features prominently in Hindu mythology. Several UNESCO World Heritage Sites are located in Punjab, including the Shalimar Gardens, the Lahore Fort, the excavations at Taxila. The region was known to the Greeks as Pentapotamia, meaning the region of five rivers. The word Punjab was formally introduced in the early 17th century CE as an elision of the Persian words panj and āb, thus meaning the five rivers, similar in meaning to the Greek name for the region. The five rivers, namely Chenab, Jhelum, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej, flow via the Panjnad River into the Indus River, of the five great rivers of Punjab, four course through Pakistans Punjab province. Due to its location, the Punjab region came under constant attack and witnessed centuries of invasions by the Persians, Greeks, Kushans, Scythians, Turks
2.
Punjab, India
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Punjab is a state in North India, forming part of the larger Punjab region. The state capital is located in Chandigarh, a Union Territory, after the partition of India in 1947, the Punjab province of British India was divided between India and Pakistan. The Indian Punjab was divided on the basis of language in 1966 and it was divided into 3 parts. Haryanvi speaking areas were carved out as Haryana, Hilly regions, Punjab is the only Sikh majority state in India with Sikhs being 57. 69% of the population. Agriculture is the largest industry in Punjab, Punjab has the largest number of steel rolling mill plants in India, which are located in Steel Town—Mandi Gobindgarh in the Fatehgarh Sahib district. The word Punjab is a compound of the Persian words panj, thus Panjāb roughly means the land of five rivers. The five rivers are the Sutlej, Beas, Ravi, Chenab, traditionally, in English, there used to be a definite article before the name, i. e. The name is sometimes spelled as Panjab. During the period when the epic Mahabharata was written, around 800–400 BCE, Punjab was known as Trigarta, the Indus Valley Civilization spanned much of the Punjab region with cities such as Rupar. The Vedic Civilization spread along the length of the Sarasvati River to cover most of northern India including Punjab and this civilisation shaped subsequent cultures in the Indian subcontinent. The Punjab region was conquered by many ancient empires including the Gandhara, Nandas, Mauryas, Shungas, Kushans, Guptas, Palas, Gurjara-Pratiharas, the furthest eastern extent of Alexander the Greats exploration was along the Indus River. Agriculture flourished and trading cities such as Jalandhar, Sangrur and Ludhiana grew in wealth, due to its location, the Punjab region came under constant attack and influence from both west and east. Punjab faced invasions by the Achaemenids, Greeks, Scythians, Turks and this resulted in the Punjab witnessing centuries of bitter bloodshed. Its culture combines Hindu, Buddhist, Islamic, Sikh and British influences, the regions of Azad Kashmir and Jammu have also been historically associated with the Punjab. The Punjab is the Sapta Sindhu region mentioned in the Rig Veda, among the classic books that were wholly or partly composed in this region are the following. The Brahmins of this region are called Saraswata after the legendary Saraswati river region, Hinduism has been prevalent in Punjab since historical times before the arrival of Islam and birth of Sikhism in Punjab. Some of the influential Sikh figures such as Guru Nanak, Banda Singh Bahadur, Bhai Mati Das, many of Punjabs Hindus converted to Sikhism. Punjabi Hindus can trace their roots from the time of the Vedas, many modern day cities in Indian Punjab and Pakistani Punjab are still named from that period like Lahore, Jalandhar, Chandigarh and so on
3.
Region
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In geography, regions are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics, human impact characteristics, and the interaction of humanity and the environment. Apart from the continental regions, there are also hydrospheric and atmospheric regions that cover the oceans. The land and water global regions are divided into subregions geographically bounded by large geological features that influence large-scale ecologies, such as plains and features. As a way of describing spatial areas, the concept of regions is important and widely used among the branches of geography. For example, ecoregion is a used in environmental geography, cultural region in cultural geography, bioregion in biogeography. The field of geography that studies regions themselves is called regional geography, where human geography is concerned, the regions and subregions are described by the discipline of ethnography. A region has its own nature that could not be moved, the first nature is its natural environment. The second nature is its physical elements complex that were built by people in the past, the third nature is its socio-cultural context that could not be replaced by new immigrants. Global regions distinguishable from space, and are clearly distinguished by the two basic terrestrial environments, land and water. However, they have generally recognised as such much earlier by terrestrial cartography because of their impact on human geography. They are divided into largest of land regions, known as continents, there are also significant regions that do not belong to either classification, such as archipelago regions that are littoral regions, or earthquake regions that are defined in geology. Continental regions are based on broad experiences in human history. As such they are conceptual constructs, usually lacking distinct boundaries, oceanic division into maritime regions are used in conjunction with the relationship to the central area of the continent, using directions of the compass. To a large extent, major continental regions are mental constructs created by considering an efficient way to large areas of the continents. For the most part, the images of the world are derived as much from academic studies and they are a matter of collective human knowledge of its own planet and are attempts to better understand their environments. Regional geography is a branch of geography that studies regions of all sizes across the Earth and it has a prevailing descriptive character. The main aim is to understand or define the uniqueness or character of a particular region, attention is paid also to regionalization, which covers the proper techniques of space delimitation into regions. Regional geography is considered as a certain approach to study in geographical sciences
4.
India
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India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and it is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast. It shares land borders with Pakistan to the west, China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast, in the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Indias Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a border with Thailand. The Indian subcontinent was home to the urban Indus Valley Civilisation of the 3rd millennium BCE, in the following millennium, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism began to be composed. Social stratification, based on caste, emerged in the first millennium BCE, early political consolidations took place under the Maurya and Gupta empires, the later peninsular Middle Kingdoms influenced cultures as far as southeast Asia. In the medieval era, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived, much of the north fell to the Delhi sultanate, the south was united under the Vijayanagara Empire. The economy expanded in the 17th century in the Mughal empire, in the mid-18th century, the subcontinent came under British East India Company rule, and in the mid-19th under British crown rule. A nationalist movement emerged in the late 19th century, which later, under Mahatma Gandhi, was noted for nonviolent resistance, in 2015, the Indian economy was the worlds seventh largest by nominal GDP and third largest by purchasing power parity. Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India became one of the major economies and is considered a newly industrialised country. However, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, corruption, malnutrition, a nuclear weapons state and regional power, it has the third largest standing army in the world and ranks sixth in military expenditure among nations. India is a constitutional republic governed under a parliamentary system. It is a pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic society and is home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats. The name India is derived from Indus, which originates from the Old Persian word Hindu, the latter term stems from the Sanskrit word Sindhu, which was the historical local appellation for the Indus River. The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi, which translates as The people of the Indus, the geographical term Bharat, which is recognised by the Constitution of India as an official name for the country, is used by many Indian languages in its variations. Scholars believe it to be named after the Vedic tribe of Bharatas in the second millennium B. C. E and it is also traditionally associated with the rule of the legendary emperor Bharata. Gaṇarājya is the Sanskrit/Hindi term for republic dating back to the ancient times, hindustan is a Persian name for India dating back to the 3rd century B. C. E. It was introduced into India by the Mughals and widely used since then and its meaning varied, referring to a region that encompassed northern India and Pakistan or India in its entirety
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Pakistan
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Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a federal parliamentary republic in South Asia on the crossroads of Central Asia and Western Asia. It is the sixth-most populous country with a population exceeding 200 million people, in terms of area, it is the 33rd-largest country in the world with an area covering 881,913 square kilometres. It is separated from Tajikistan by Afghanistans narrow Wakhan Corridor in the north, Pakistan is unique among Muslim countries in that it is the only country to have been created in the name of Islam. As a result of the Pakistan Movement led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah and it is an ethnically and linguistically diverse country, with a similarly diverse geography and wildlife. Initially a dominion, Pakistan adopted a constitution in 1956, becoming an Islamic republic, an ethnic civil war in 1971 resulted in the secession of East Pakistan as the new country of Bangladesh. The new constitution stipulated that all laws were to conform to the injunctions of Islam as laid down in the Quran. Pakistan has an economy with a well-integrated agriculture sector. The Pakistani economy is the 24th-largest in the world in terms of purchasing power and it is ranked among the emerging and growth-leading economies of the world, and is backed by one of the worlds largest and fastest-growing middle classes. The post-independence history of Pakistan has been characterised by periods of military rule, the country continues to face challenging problems such as illiteracy, healthcare, and corruption, but has substantially reduced poverty and terrorism and expanded per capita income. It is also a member of CERN. Pakistan is a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol, the Paris Agreement, the name Pakistan literally means land of the pure in Urdu and Persian. It is a play on the word pāk meaning pure in Persian and Pashto, the letter i was incorporated to ease pronunciation and form the linguistically correct and meaningful name. Some of the earliest ancient human civilisations in South Asia originated from areas encompassing present-day Pakistan, the earliest known inhabitants in the region were Soanian during the Lower Paleolithic, of whom stone tools have been found in the Soan Valley of Punjab. The Vedic Civilization, characterised by Indo-Aryan culture, laid the foundations of Hinduism, Multan was an important Hindu pilgrimage centre. The Vedic civilisation flourished in the ancient Gandhāran city of Takṣaśilā, the Indo-Greek Kingdom founded by Demetrius of Bactria included Gandhara and Punjab and reached its greatest extent under Menander, prospering the Greco-Buddhist culture in the region. Taxila had one of the earliest universities and centres of education in the world. At its zenith, the Rai Dynasty of Sindh ruled this region, the Pala Dynasty was the last Buddhist empire, which, under Dharampala and Devapala, stretched across South Asia from what is now Bangladesh through Northern India to Pakistan. The Arab conqueror Muhammad bin Qasim conquered the Indus valley from Sindh to Multan in southern Punjab in 711 AD, the Pakistan governments official chronology identifies this as the time when the foundation of Pakistan was laid
6.
Punjab
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The Punjab, also spelled Panjab, panj-āb, land of five rivers, is a geographical and cultural region in the northern part of South Asia, comprising areas of eastern Pakistan and northern India. Not being a unit, the extent of the region is the subject of debate. The foreign invaders mainly targeted the most productive region of the Punjab known as the Majha region. The people of the Punjab today are called Punjabis and their language is called Punjabi. The main religions of the Punjab region are Islam, Sikhism and Hinduism, other religious groups are Christianity, Jainism and Buddhism. The name of the region is a compound of two Persian words Panj and āb and was introduced to the region by the Turko-Persian conquerors of India, Punjab literally means Five Waters referring to the rivers, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Sutlej, and Beas. All are tributaries of the Indus River, the Chenab being the largest, there are two main definitions of the Punjab region, the 1947 definition and the older 1846–1849 definition. The third definition incorporates both the 1947 and the definitions but also includes northern Rajasthan on a linguistic basis. 1947 definition The 1947 definition defines the Punjab region with reference to the dissolution of British India whereby the then British Punjab Province was partitioned between India and Pakistan, in Pakistan, the region now includes the Punjab province and Islamabad Capital Territory. In India, it includes the Punjab state, Chandigarh, Haryana, Using the 1947 definition, the Punjab region borders Kashmir to the north, Sindh and Rajasthan to the south, the Pashtun region and Balochistan to the west, and the Hindi belt to the east. Accordingly, the Punjab region is diverse and stretches from the hills of the Kangra Valley to the plains. Present day maps Major cities Using the 1947 definition of the Punjab region, some of the cities of the area include Lahore, Faisalabad. Older 1846–1849 definition The older definition of the Punjab region focuses on the collapse of the Sikh Empire, According to this definition, the Punjab region incorporates, in Pakistan, Azad Kashmir including Bhimber and Mirpur and parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In India the wider definition includes parts of Delhi and Jammu Division, the formation of the Himalayan Range of mountains to the east and north-east of the Punjab is the result of a collision between the north-moving Indo-Australian Plate and the Eurasian Plate. The plates are moving together, and the Himalayas are rising by about 5 millimetres per year. The upper regions are snow-covered the whole year, Lower ranges of hills run parallel to the mountains. The Lower Himalayan Range runs from north of Rawalpindi through Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, the mountains are relatively young, and are eroding rapidly. The Indus and the five rivers of the Punjab have their sources in the range and carry loam, minerals and silt down to the rich alluvial plains
7.
Demonym
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A demonym is a word that identifies residents or natives of a particular place, which is derived from the name of that particular place. It is a neologism, previously gentilic was recorded in English dictionaries, e. g. the Oxford English Dictionary, thus a Thai may be any resident or citizen of Thailand, of any ethnic group, or more narrowly a member of the Thai people. Conversely, some groups of people may be associated with multiple demonyms, for example, a native of the United Kingdom may be called a British person, a Brit, or a Briton. In some languages, when a parallel demonym does not exist, in English, demonyms are capitalized and are often the same as the adjectival form of the place, e. g. Egyptian, Japanese, or Greek. Significant exceptions exist, for instance the adjectival form of Spain is Spanish, English widely includes country-level demonyms such as Ethiopian or Guatemalan and more local demonyms such as Seoulite, Wisconsinite, Chicagoan, Michigander, Fluminense, and Paulista. Some places lack a commonly used and accepted demonym and this poses a particular challenge to those toponymists who research demonyms. The word gentilic comes from the Latin gentilis and the English suffix -ic, the word demonym was derived from the Greek word meaning populace with the suffix for name. National Geographic attributes the term demonym to Merriam-Webster editor Paul Dickson in a recent work from 1990 and it was subsequently popularized in this sense in 1997 by Dickson in his book Labels for Locals. However, in What Do You Call a Person From, a Dictionary of Resident Names attributed the term to George H. Scheetz, in his Names Names, A Descriptive and Prescriptive Onymicon, which is apparently where the term first appears. Several linguistic elements are used to create demonyms in the English language, the most common is to add a suffix to the end of the location name, slightly modified in some instances. Cairo → Cairene Cyrenaica → Cyrene Damascus → Damascene Greece → Greek Nazareth → Nazarene Slovenia → Slovene Often used for Middle Eastern locations and European locations. Kingston-upon-Hull → Hullensian Leeds → Leodensian Spain → Spaniard Savoy → Savoyard -ese is usually considered proper only as an adjective, thus, a Chinese person is used rather than a Chinese. Monaco → Monégasque Menton → Mentonasque Basque Country → Basque Often used for French locations, mostly they are from Africa and the Pacific, and are not generally known or used outside the country concerned. In much of East Africa, a person of an ethnic group will be denoted by a prefix. For example, a person of the Luba people would be a Muluba, the plural form Baluba, similar patterns with minor variations in the prefixes exist throughout on a tribal level. And Fijians who are indigenous Fijians are known as Kaiviti and these demonyms are usually more informal and colloquial. In the United States such informal demonyms frequently become associated with mascots of the sports teams of the state university system. In other countries the origins are often disputed and these will typically be formed using the standard models above
8.
Punjabis
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The Punjabis, or Punjabi people, are an ethno-linguistic group associated with the Punjab, who speak Punjabi, an Indo-Aryan language. Punjab literally means the land of five waters (Persian, panj āb, Punjab is often referred to as the breadbasket in both Pakistan and India. The coalescence of the tribes, castes and the inhabitants of the Punjab into a broader common Punjabi identity initiated from the onset of the 18th century CE. Traditionally, Punjabi identity is primarily linguistic, geographical and cultural, integration and assimilation are important parts of Punjabi culture, since Punjabi identity is not based solely on tribal connections. More or less all Punjabis share the cultural background. Historically, the Punjabi people were a group and were subdivided into a number of clans called biradari or tribes. However, Punjabi identity also included those who did not belong to any of the historical tribes, the 1947 independence of India and Pakistan, and the subsequent partition of Punjab, is considered by historians to be the beginning of the end of the British Empire. The UNHCR estimates 14 million Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims were displaced during the partition, to date, this is considered the largest mass migration in human history. Until 1947, the province of Punjab was ruled by a coalition comprising the Indian National Congress, the Sikh-led Shiromani Akali Dal, however, the growth of Muslim nationalism led to the All India Muslim League becoming the dominant party in the 1946 elections. As Muslim separatism increased, the opposition from Punjabi Hindus and Sikhs increased substantially, communal violence on the eve of Indian independence led to the dismissal of the coalition government, although the succeeding League ministry was unable to form a majority. Partition was accompanied by violence on both sides, claiming the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. West Punjab was virtually cleansed of its Hindu and Sikh populations, by the 1960s, Indian Punjab underwent reorganisation as demands for a linguistic Punjabi state increased. The Hindi-speaking areas were formed into the states of Himachal Pradesh and Haryana respectively, in the 1980s, Sikh separatism combined with popular anger against the Indian Armys counter-insurgency operations led to violence and disorder in Indian Punjab, which only subsided in the 1990s. Political power in Indian Punjab is contested between the secular Congress Party and the Sikh religious party Akali Dal and its allies, the Bharatiya Janata Party, Indian Punjab remains one of the most prosperous of Indias states and is considered the breadbasket of India. Subsequent to partition, West Punjabis made up a majority of the Pakistani population, today, Punjabis continue to be the largest ethnic group in Pakistan, accounting for half of the countrys population. They reside predominantly in the province of Punjab, neighbouring Azad Kashmir in the region of Jammu and Kashmir, Punjabis are also found in large communities in the largest city of Pakistan, Karachi, located in the Sindh province. Punjabis in India can be found in the states of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, large communities of Punjabis are also found in the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir and in Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. In Delhi, Punjabis make up half of the population of Pakistan
9.
Punjabi language
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Punjabi /pʌnˈdʒɑːbi/ is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by over 100 million native speakers worldwide, making it the 10th most widely spoken language in the world. It is the language of the Punjabi people who inhabit the historical Punjab region of India. Among the Indo-European languages it is unusual in being a tonal language, Punjabi is the most widely spoken language in Pakistan, the 11th most widely spoken in India and the third-most spoken native language in the Indian Subcontinent. Punjabi is the fourth-most spoken language in the United Kingdom and third-most spoken native language in Canada, the language also has a significant presence in the United Arab Emirates, United States, Saudi Arabia, and Australia. The Punjabi language is written in the Shahmukhi and Gurmukhi scripts, the word Punjabi is derived from the word Panj-āb, Persian for Five Waters, referring to the five major eastern tributaries of the Indus River. Panj is cognate with Sanskrit pañca and Greek πέντε five, the historical Punjab region, now divided between India and Pakistan, is defined physiographically by the Indus River and these five tributaries. One of the five, the Beas River, is a tributary of another, Punjabi developed from Sanskrit through Prakrit language and later Apabhraṃśa From 600 BC Sanskrit gave birth to many regional languages in different parts of India. These all languages are called Prakrit language collectively, Shauraseni Prakrit was one of these Prakrit languages, which was spoken in north and north-western India and Punjabi and western dialects of Hindi developed from this Prakrit. Later in northern India Shauraseni Prakrit gave rise to Shauraseni Aparbhsha, Punjabi emerged as an Apabhramsha, a degenerated form of Prakrit, in the 7th century A. D. and became stable by the 10th century. By the 10th century, many Nath poets were associated with earlier Punjabi works, Arabic and Persian influence in the historical Punjab region began with the late first millennium Muslim conquests on the Indian subcontinent. The Persian language was introduced in the subcontinent a few centuries later by various Persianized Central Asian Turkic, many Persian and Arabic words were incorporated in Punjabi. Punjabi has more Persian and Arabic vocabulary than Bengali, Marathi, later, it was influenced by Portuguese and English, though these influences have been minor in comparison to Persian and Arabic. However, in India English words in the language are more widespread than Hindi. Punjabi is the most widely spoken language in Pakistan, the seventh-most widely spoken in India, Punjabi is the most widely spoken language in Pakistan. Punjabi is the language in the Punjab Province of Pakistan. Punjabi is spoken as a language by over 44. 15% of Pakistanis. About 70. 0% of the people of Pakistan speak Punjabi as either their first or second language, Lahore, the capital of the Punjab Province of Pakistan, is the largest Punjabi-speaking city in the world. 86% of the population of Lahore is native Punjabi and Islamabad
10.
Punjabi culture
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The culture of the Punjab encompasses the spoken language, written literature, cuisine, science, technology, military warfare, architecture, traditions, values and history of the Punjabi people. The term Punjabi can mean both a person who lives in Punjab and also a speaker of the Punjabi language and this name originates from the Persian language panj, and ab. Combined together the word becomes Panjab or Punjab-land of the five rivers, indus River, and the five other rivers to the south that eventually all join it or merge into it later downstream in the Punjab valley. All the rivers start and flow out of the Himalayas and these other five rivers are Jhelum River, Chenab River, Ravi River, Beas River and Sutlej River. The culture of Punjab in the Middle Ages was extremely dependent upon an individuals caste, community, religion. An array of cultures can be found historically, the main cultures that arose in the Punjab during the Medieval Age at the beginning of this era was of strong Indo-Aryan dominance. The Brahmins and Khatris were once a group living in the Punjab who practised Hinduism. They were descended from the Vedic people who brought Indo-European language and their culture was based on their religious beliefs, which could be described as identical to that of Hindus living across North India today. The second strongest emergent cultural identity was Jat-Gujjar culture, based on pastoralism, agriculture and ancestor worship, most of the Western region are descended from Gujjars, whereas the Eastern region is ethnically Jat. Islamic traditions were incorporated into Punjabi Muslims lives, in the 20th century, the majority of the people are Sikhs practicing Sikhism since the 16th century. Due to the number of Punjabi people distributed throughout the world, especially Pakistan and India, many people are increasingly experiencing the culture. Glimpses of traditional Punjabi culture can be seen in the Western world (e. g. the U. S. the UK, the EU, Canada, Australia, Africa, naturally people influence each other wherever they settle and live. These immigrants influenced the people of Punjab and, in turn, were influenced by the prevailing culture of the Punjab. Bhangra is one of the many Punjabi musical art forms that is listened to in the west and is becoming a mainstream favourite. Punjabi music is used by musicians in many ways, such as mixing it with other compositions to produce award-winning music. In addition, Punjabi classical music is becoming popular in the west. Owing to the history of the Punjabi culture and of the Punjabi people there are many dances, normally performed at times of celebration, including harvests, festivals. The particular background of the dances can be non-religious and religious, the overall style can range from the high energy bhangra mens dance to the more reserved jhumar, the gidha womens dance
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History of Punjab
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The name Punjab is a xenonym/exonym and the first known mention of the word Punjab is in the writings of Ibn Batūtā, who visited the region in the 14th century. The term came into use in the second half of the 16th century, and was used in the book Tarikh-e-Sher Shah Suri. The first mentioning of the Sanskrit equivalent of Punjab, however, occurs in the great epic, the name is mentioned again in Ain-e-Akbari, written by Abul Fazal, who also mentions that the territory of Punjab was divided into two provinces, Lahore and Multan. Similarly in the volume of Ain-e-Akbari, the title of a chapter includes the word Panjnad in it. The Mughal King Jahangir also mentions the word Panjab in Tuzk-i-Janhageeri, Punjab, derived from Persian and introduced by the Turkic conquerors of India, literally means five waters, i. e. the Land of Five Rivers, referring to the five rivers which go through it. It was because of this that it was made the granary of British India, today, three of the rivers run exclusively in Punjab, Pakistan, while Himachal Pradesh and Punjab, India have the headwaters of the remaining two rivers, which eventually run into Pakistan. This is the home of the Gypsies, Ods and Sadhs. Here we saw past the pageant of Aryanism, Zoroastrianism, Hellenism, Buddhism, Islam, how did this land fare under each contact, under each cataclysm, under each fresh revolution in thought and deed. How in its blood and brain it received and integrated something of Greece, Persia, China and Tibet, Arabia, Egypt, Central, at its height, it boasted large cities like Harrapa. The civilisation declined rapidly after the 19th century BCE, the Vedic period is characterised by Indo-Aryan culture associated with the texts of Vedas, sacred to Hindus, which were orally composed in Vedic Sanskrit. It embodies a literary record of the development of ancient Punjab. Vedic society was tribal in character, a number of families constituted a grama, a number of gramas a vis and a number of clans a Jana. The Janas, led by Rajans, were in constant intertribal warfare, from this warfare arose larger groupings of peoples ruled by great chieftains and kings. As a result, a new philosophy of conquest and empire grew. King Sudas was supported by the Vedic Rishi Vasishtha, while his former Purohita the Rishi Viswamitra sided with the confederation of ten tribes, the Buddhist text Anguttara Nikaya mentions Gandhara and Kamboja among the sixteen great countries which had evolved in/and around Jambudvipa prior to Buddhas times. Gandhara and Kamboja are believed to have comprised the upper Indus regions and included Kashmir, eastern Afghanistan, michael Witzel terms this region as forming parts of the Greater Punjab. Buddhist texts also mention that this region especially the Kamboja was renowned for its quality horses & horsemen and has been regularly mentioned as the home of horses. Pāṇini was a famous ancient Sanskrit grammarian born in Shalātura, identified with modern Lahur near Attock in the Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan, one may infer from his work, the Ashtadhyayi, that the people of Greater Punjab lived prominently by the profession of arms
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Punjabi dialects
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Greater Panjabi is the series of dialects spoken in the region of Punjab in India and Pakistan. A distinction is made between Punjabi in the east and the diverse group of Lahnda in the west. The varieties of Greater Punjabi have a number of characteristics in common, Majhi is Punjabis prestige dialect because it is standard of written Punjabi. Malwai is spoken in the part of Indian Punjab and also in Bahawalnagar. Main areas are Ludhiana, Patiala, Ambala, Bathinda, Ganganagar, Malerkotla, Fazilka, Ferozepur, malwa is the southern and central part of present-day Indian Punjab. It also includes the Punjabi speaking northern areas of Haryana, viz. Ambala, Hissar, Sirsa, not to be confused with the Malvi language, which shares its name. Doabi is spoken in both the Indian Punjab as well as parts of Pakistan Punjab owing to migration of Muslim populace from East Punjab. The word Do Aabi means the land between two rivers and this dialect was spoken between the rivers of the Beas and the Sutlej in the region called Doaba. Pwadhi, Powadh, Puadh or Powadha is a region of Punjab, the part lying south, south-east and east of Rupnagar adjacent to Ambala District is Powadhi. Parts of Fatehgarh Sahib district, and parts of Patiala districts like Rajpura are also part of Powadh, the language is spoken over a large area in present Punjab as well as Haryana. The literary language of Lahnda speakers has traditionally been Standard Punjabi, Shahpuri dialect is mostly spoken in Pakistani Punjab. Its name is derived from former Shahpur District and it is spoken throughout a widespread area, spoken in Sargodha and Khushab Districts and also spoken in neighbouring Mianwali and Bhakkar Districts. It is mainly spoken on western end of Sindh River to Chennab river crossing Jehlam river, Jhangochi dialect is spoken in Pakistani Punjab throughout a widespread area, starting from Khanewal and Jhang at both ends of Ravi and Chenab to Hafizabad district. Former Layllpur and western half of Montgomary district used to speak this dialect, Pothohari is spoken in north Pakistani Punjab and Azad Kashmir. The area where it is spoken extends in the north from Muzaffarabad to as far south as Jhelum, Gujar Khan, Rawat and Rawalpindi, Murree Hills north of Rawalpindi, chibhali and Dhundi-Kairali dialects may be related. It is in a chain with Majhi and Hindko dialects of Punjabi. The diverse dialects of the furthest nortwestern areas of Greater Punjabi are known as Hindko, the central Hindko dialects comprise Ghebi, Awankari, Chacchi and Kohati. Peshawari, the divergent dialect spoken to the northwest in Peshawar, has used as a basis for a literary language
13.
Punjabi cinema
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Punjabi cinema, also known as Pollywood or Panjwood is the Punjabi language film industry of the Punjabi people of the world. While 20th-century Punjabi cinema had great influence of Pakistani-based Punjabi cinema, the first Punjabi film was made in Calcutta and was released in Lahore, provincial capital of the then-British province of Punjab. The Lahore film industry is known as Lollywood, a portmanteau of the words Lahore, as of 2009, the Punjabi film industry has produced between 900 and 1,000 films. The average number of releases per year in the 1970s was nine, in the 1980s, eight, in 1995, the number of films released was 11, it plummeted to seven in 1996 and touched a low of five in 1997. Since the 2000s Punjabi cinema has seen a revival with more every year with bigger budgets, homegrown stars. Mehra made the first Punjabi talkie film, Sheela, also known as Pind Di Kudi, young Noor Jehan was introduced as an actress and singer in this film. Sheila was made in the city of Calcutta and released in Lahore and it ran very successfully and was a hit across the province. Due to the success of film more producers started making Punjabi films. Mehra made his film, Heer Sial, with the assistance of M. M. This film had Noor Jehan and new artists Balo and M. Ismail, due to the vast Punjabi community in Lahore and Punjab, the area soon became a significant Punjabi-language film market. Studios opened up and many artists, producers, directors, and technicians from Bombay, prominent names were Shanta Apte, Motilal, Chandra Mohan, Hiralal, Noor Jehan, Mumtaz Shanti, Wali, Syed Attahullah Shah Hashmi, Krishna Kumar, and Shanker Hussain. Baldev Raj Chopra, later known as a director, got started in the industry in Lahore. Ramanand Sagar, also later a director, was associated with the Evening News, Syed Attahullah Shah Hashmi worked for the film newspaper Adakar. In 1947, the British province of Punjab was partitioned between India and Pakistan, west Punjab became part of Pakistan and East Punjab became part of India. This affected Punjabi cinema because most Muslim artists and directors moved to Pakistan, attempts were made to keep Punjabi cinema alive in this period. Filmmakers made films like Posti, Do Lachhian and Bhangra with some success but were not able to revive Punjabi cinema, songs from the films would run for months and years on the radio resulting in a long-term audience for the films. Post-partition, the trend of comedies continued, one of the hit comedies was Mulkh Raj Bhakhris Bhangra, starring Sundar and Nishi. It was remade by director Mohan Bhakhri as Jatti in 1980 with Mehar Mittal and Aparna Chowdhry, the music from the film was by Hansraj Behl with lyrics by Verma Malik
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Punjabi clothing
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In the ancient Punjab region, people wore cotton clothing. The tops for both sexes reached to the knees, a scarf was worn over the tops which would be draped over the left shoulder and under the right. A large sheet would be draped over one shoulder which would hang loose towards the knees. Both sexes wore a dhoti around the waist, modern Punjabi dress has retained this outfit but over its long history has added other forms of dress. Were manufactured in Hoshiarpur, Gurdaspur, Peshawar, Lahore, Multan, Amritsar, Ludhiana, Jhang, Shahpur, Jalandhar, Delhi, Gurgaon, Rohtak, Karnal, Rewari, Panipat etc. This cotton industry added to the richness of Punjabi clothing which exhibits Punjabs rich, various types of dresses are worn based on different Punjabi festivals, local events and ceremonies. Along with different traditional dresses special types of ornaments are very common. The use of the suthan in the Punjab region also called suthana in Punjabi is a survival of the ancient svasthana, svasthana referred to a lower garment which can be described as a type of trousers. The Punjabi suthan is a variation of the svasthana which can either be loose to above the ankles and tight around the ankles, or loose to the knees. The suthan is a male and female garment but its use is important in the Punjabi suthan suit whereby it is worn by women with a kurti or kurta. It is also a part of the Punjabi ghagra outfit, other variations include the choga and suthan combination. The kurta with its side slits in the Punjabi kurta can be traced to the 11th century C. E. female kurtaka worn in parts of north India. The kurtaka was a shirt, with sleeves extending from the shoulders, to the middle of the body, and had slashes on the left. This is the same as the modern Punjabi kurta which has side slits and is worn by women in the Punjab region as do men, the kurta also draws inspiration from the jama and the Punjabi angarkha. The kurta can be worn with a salwar, suthan, tehmat, lungi, dhoti, Punjabi ghagra, the Multani kurta is crocheted using designs of Multan. Local Ajrak prints are also used, a Phulkari kurta is emroidered using the Phulkari embroidery of the Punjab region. Bandhani tye-dyeing is popular in the Cholistan desert area of the Punjab region, bandhani patterns are used on kurtas. The traditional Punjabi kurta of the Punjab region is wide and falls to the knees and is cut straight, the modern version of the regional kurta is the Mukatsari kurta which originates from Muktsar in Punjab
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Punjabi cuisine
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Punjabi cuisine is associated with food from the Punjab region of India and Pakistan. This cuisine has a tradition of many distinct and local ways of cooking. One is a form of tandoori cooking that is now famous in other parts of India, UK, Canada. The local cuisine of Punjab is heavily influenced by the agriculture, locally grown staple foods form the major part of the local cuisine. Distinctively Punjabi cuisine is known for its rich, buttery flavours along with the extensive vegetarian, main dishes include Sarson da saag and makki di roti. Basmati rice is the variety of Punjab and many varieties of rice dishes have been developed with this variety. The cooked rice is known as Chol in the Punjabi language, Many vegetable and meat based dishes are developed for this type of rice. There are many styles of cooking in Punjab, in the villages many people still employ the traditional infrastructure for cooking purposes. This includes wood-fired and masonry ovens, in the past many people employed wood-burning stoves. But this method is dying out, one derivation from this type of cooking is the tandoori style of cooking commonly known as tandoor. In India, tandoori cooking is traditionally associated with Punjab as Punjabis embraced the tandoor on a regional level and this style of cooking became popular in the mainstream after the 1947 partition when Punjabis resettled in places such as Delhi. In rural Punjab, it is common to have communal tandoors, Punjab is a major producer of wheat, rice and dairy products. These products also form the diet of the Punjabi people. The state of Punjab has one of the highest capita usage of products in India. Therefore, dairy products form an important component of Punjabi diet, clarified butter, sunflower oil, paneer and butter are used in Punjabi cooking. Clarified butter is most often used as the variant ghee, some north Punjab villages have also developed a local cheese variant known as dhaag, but the tradition of making dhaag is dying out. Food additives and condiments are added to enhance the flavor of the food. The most common additives is vinegar, Food coloring as additive is used in sweet dishes and desserts
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Folk dances of Punjab
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Punjabi dances are an array of folk and religious dances of the Punjabi people indigenous to the Punjab region, straddling the border of India and Pakistan. The style of Punjabi dances ranges from high energy to slow and reserved. Some of the dances are secular while others are presented in religious contexts, the dances are typically performed at times of celebration, such as Harvest, Weddings, Melas like Lohri, Jashan-e-Baharan etc. at which everyone is encouraged to dance. Married Punjabi couples usually dance together, the husband dances in the style of male Punjabi dances, frequently with arms raised, and the wife dances in the style of female Punjabi dances. Main Punjabi folk dance for men or for all is Bhangda or Bhangra and for females is Giddha or Giddhah
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Punjabi festivals
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Punjabi Sikhs and Hindus celebrate a number of festivals. These are set on specific dates of the luni-solar Bikrami calendar, some Punjabi Muslims participate in the traditional festivals of the Punjab region, but this is controversial. Islamic clerics and some politicians have attempted to ban this participation because of the basis of the Punjabi festivals. The following is a list of Punjabi festivals, makar Sankranti is frequently known as Maghi by Punjabis. People visit the Gurdwara or the Mandir, the festival marks the increase in daylight and celebrated culturally by eating kheer. Sports festivals are held in the region, Lohri is a popular winter time Punjabi folk festival, celebrated primarily by Sikhs and Hindus from the Punjab region of Indian subcontinent. Basant Festival is a festival to welcome the spring. The traditional colour of the day is yellow and the dish of the day is saffron rice, holi is the spring festival of colours which is celebrated by throwing colours on each other. The festival is celebrated on the first day of the Punjabi lunar month of Chet, vaisakhi is the Punjabi new year and the harvest festival. Fairs are held throughout the Punjab on this day, raksha Bandhan in the Punjab is known as Rakhri and celebrated as a brothers and sisters day. Teeyan welcomes the monsoon season and the festival officially starts of the day of Teej, the seasonal festival involves women and girls dancing Gidha and visiting family. The following festivals are also harvest festivals, Lohri is the winter harvest of crops such as sugarcane, pulses. Vaisakhi is the spring harvest of wheat in the Punjab, traditionally, on the first day of Navratri people in Punjab sow pulses, cereals and other seeds in a pot which is watered for nine days at the end of which the seeds sprout. This custom is known as Khetri and it is very important to plant grains of barley in a pot. On the tenth day, the shoots are about 3 -5 inches in length, after saying prayers, these seedlings or the Khetri is submerged in water on Dussehra. This custom suggests a link to harvesting, the sowing and reaping of barley is symbolic of the first fruit. Accordingly, Punjabi farmers traditionally start to harvest the rice crops after Dussehra. Therefore, Dussehra doubles up as a festival and Diwali is also considered to be a harvest festival
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Music of Punjab
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Punjab is a region in South Asia, divided into two parts West Punjab and East Punjab. Punjabi music has a style of music, ranging from folk and Sufi to classical. Folk music of the Punjab is the music of Punjab produced using the traditional musical instruments like Tumbi, Algoze, Dhadd, Sarangi, Chimta. There is a range of folk songs for every occasion from birth to death including marriage, festivals, fairs. Folk music is perceived as the traditional music of Punjab. This aspect of music has shifted with time but the older categories of folk begin with the dhadi genre. The folk dhadi genre emphasizes stories of heroism and love stories, as exemplified by the ballads of the legendary romantic tales of Hir-Ranjha. Folk music is commonly used in various life-cycle events in the Punjab region. ”The lyrical content of many of these wedding songs have the paternal home depicted as a source of love and nurture, while the in-laws home is a source of tyranny. Folk music continues to be used as a tool and a way of locating identification. The notion of the traditional or folk music remains a part of Punjab society because it aids in the preservation of long-established customs. Life-cycle songs mostly “coincide with ritual occasions and they often mark stages in a ceremony”, for example, family members and friends sing these songs during wedding festivities, by doing so help protect the traditional rituals associated with each step of the marriage. Suhag or ghorian, which are sung for the bride and groom respectively, typically give praise to God, women typically sing these songs in a choral fashion and may also focus on the ideal groom and bride. Both song genres celebrate the emotion of joy specifically surrounding the wedding process, the ghorian emotes feeling of “pure joy and desire”, while the suhag is a “mixture of joy and grief”. There are also songs that are associated with each night of the wedding starting as far back as five nights before to spread turmeric paste on the bride and groom. By having these songs, Punjabi people continue to celebrate the cultural practices and have “transformed. With the subject of songs varying from praising God to simply discussing the qualms of an agrarian lifestyle. Because of this, folk music serves as a way to encourage this mixture that helps to break down social constructs. These include tappa, mahia, and dhola, professional performing communities in Punjab represent endogamous ethnic groups who generally occupy a lower-class status of service providers and are patronized by higher classes
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Punjabi Kabaddi
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Punjabi Kabaddi, also called Kauddi is a contact sport that originated in the Punjab region. The term Kabaddi may be derived from the Punjabi word Kauddi which is chanted to play Kabaddi or, it is derived from katta, in Lambi Kauddi there are 15 players with a cicular pitch of 15–20 feet. The players can run as far they can, the raider will say kauddi, kauddi throughout the attack. Saunchi Kauddi can best be described as being similar to boxing and it is popular in the Malwa area of Punjab. It is unlimited players with a playing pitch. A bamboo with a red cloth is dug into the ground which is paraded by the winner, in sauchi kabaddi, the raider will hit the defender but only on the chest. The defender will then hold the raiders wrist, a foul is declared if any other part of the body is grabbed. If the defender hold the raiders wrist and restricts his movement, if the raider loses the grip of the defender, then the raider will be the winner. The struggle will continue till he reaches the line or acknowledge the defeat and loses a point, or if he safely reaches the starting line. Kabaddi is the sport of the Punjab region and was referred to as Punjabi Kabaddi in India. However, with the formation of the states of Haryana and Punjab in India and this caused confusion and therefore, in 1978, the Amateur Circle Kabaddi Federation of India was formed and the syle of Kabaddi played in the Punjab region was named Circle Kabaddi. Punjab Circle kabaddi, also known as diarey wali Kabaddi incorporates the Kabaddi styles of the Punjab region. In the Punjab region, Kabaddi is played on a pitch of a diameter of 22 meters and an inner circle with a line through the middle of the pitch. There are two teams of 8 players, one on one raid, and no leaves the field. If 2 stopers attack a player, a foul is declared, Punjab style Kabaddi does not require the raider saying Kabaddi, Kabaddi throughout the raid. The game lasts for 40 minutes with a change in sides after 20 minutes. In the Punjab Circle Style form of Kabaddi, whenever any player is touched, he not go out of the court, but stays inside. This game is played on a time basis, i. e. the time is 30 sec
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Shahmukhi alphabet
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Shahmukhi is a Perso-Arabic alphabet used by Muslims in Punjab to write the Punjabi language. It is generally written in Nastaʿlīq calligraphic hand, Perso-Arabic is one of two scripts used for Punjabi, the other being Gurumukhi. It is used as the alphabet to write the Pothohari dialect in Indian Jammu. Shahmukhi is written right to left, while Gurmukhi is written from left to right. Below is the comparison of the two scripts, ex, ﷲ Allāh, كَچَّا Kachchā unripe. The Gurumukhi sounds ñ, ng, ṇ, nh are all written with ں nun ghunna, in initial and medial positions, the dot is retained. ے is only found in the position, when writing the sounds e or æ. There are three signs used when indicating a short vowel, َ, ُ, ِ, a, u, i. Examples, قَلَم qalam pen, گھُپ ghup dense, لِحاظ lihāż consideration At the beginning of a word, short vowels are written with the help of ا as follows, اِ, اُ, اَ. Long vowels are expressed with ے, ی, ا and و as follows, In Punjabi, there are many Arabic and Persian loanwords
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Gurmukhi script
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Gurmukhi is a Sikh script modified, standardized and used by the second Sikh Guru, Guru Angad. It is one of three used for the Punjabi language, the other being the Perso-Arabic Shahmukhi script used by Punjabi Muslims. The primary scripture of Sikhism, Guru Granth Sahib is written in Gurmukhī, modern Gurmukhī has thirty-eight consonants,10 vowel symbols, two symbols for nasal sounds, and one symbol which duplicates the sound of any consonant. In addition, four conjuncts are used, three subjoined forms of the consonants Rara, Haha and Vava, and one half-form of Yayya, use of the conjunct forms of Vava and Yayya is increasingly scarce in modern contexts. The Gurmukhi script has roots in the Brahmi script like most north Indian, notable features, It is an abugida in which all consonants have an inherent vowel. Diacritics, which can appear above, below, before or after the consonant they belong to, are used to change the inherent vowel, when they appear at the beginning of a syllable, vowels are written as independent letters. When certain consonants occur together, special symbols are used which combine the essential parts of each letter. Punjabi is a language with three tones. These are indicated in writing using the voiced aspirated consonants and the intervocalic h, there are two major theories on how the Proto-Gurmukhī script emerged in the 15th century. Singh, while quoting al-Birunis Tarikh al-Hind, says that the script evolved from Ardhanagari, al-Biruni writes that the Ardhanagari script was used in Bathinda and western parts of the Punjab in the 10th century. For some time, Bathinda remained the capital of the kingdom of Bhati Rajputs of the Pal clan, who ruled North India before the Muslims occupied the country. According to al-Biruni, Ardhanagari was a mixture of devanagari used in Ujjain and Malwa and Siddha Matrika or the last stage of Siddhaṃ script, a variant of the Śāradā script used in Kashmir. Siddh Matrika seems to have been the prevalent script for devotional writings in Punjab right up to the founding of Sikhism, pritam Singh has also traced the origins of Gurmukhī to the Siddha Matrika. Siddha Matrika along with its sister Takri alphabet has its origins in the script of Kashmir. His argument is that from the 10th century, regional differences started to appear between the script used in Punjab, the Hill States and Kashmir. The regional Śāradā script evolved from this stage until the 14th century, Indian epigraphists call this stage Devasesha, while Bedi prefers the name Pritham Gurmukhī or Proto-Gurmukhī. The Sikh gurus adopted proto-Gurmukhī to write the Guru Granth Sahib, other contemporary scripts used in the Punjab were Takri and the Laṇḍā scripts. The local Takri variants got the status of official scripts in some of the Punjab Hill States, after 1948, when Himachal Pradesh was established as an administrative unit, the local Takri variants were replaced by Devanagari
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Indian subcontinent
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Geologically, the Indian subcontinent is related to the land mass that rifted from Gondwana and merged with the Eurasian plate nearly 55 million years ago. Geographically, it is the region in south-central Asia delineated by the Himalayas in the north, the Hindu Kush in the west. Politically, the Indian subcontinent usually includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, sometimes, the term South Asia is used interchangeably with Indian subcontinent. There is no consensus about which countries should be included in each and it is first attested in 1845 to refer to the North and South Americas, before they were regarded as separate continents. Its use to refer to the Indian subcontinent is seen from the twentieth century. It was especially convenient for referring to the region comprising both the British India and the states under British Paramountcy. The term Indian subcontinent also has a geological significance and it was, like the various continents, a part of the supercontinent of Gondwana. A series of tectonic splits caused formation of basins, each drifting in various directions. The geological region called the Greater India once included the Madagascar, Seychelles, Antartica, as a geological term, Indian subcontinent has meant that region formed from the collision of the Indian basin with Eurasia nearly 55 million years ago, towards the end of Paleocene. The Indian subcontinent has been a particularly common in the British Empire. The region, state Mittal and Thursby, has also labelled as India, Greater India. The BBC and some sources refer to the region as the Asian Subcontinent. Some academics refer to it as South Asian Subcontinent, the terms Indian subcontinent and South Asia are sometimes used interchangeably. There is no accepted definition on which countries are a part of South Asia or Indian subcontinent. In dictionary entries, the term subcontinent signifies a large, distinguishable subdivision of a continent, the region experienced high volcanic activity and plate subdivisions, creating Madagascar, Seychelles, Antartica, Austrolasia and the Indian subcontinent basin. The Indian subcontinent drifted northeastwards, colliding with the Eurasian plate nearly 55 million years ago and this geological region largely includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The zone where the Eurasian and Indian subcontinent plates meet remains one of the active areas. The English term mainly continues to refer to the Indian subcontinent, physiographically, it is a peninsular region in south-central Asia delineated by the Himalayas in the north, the Hindu Kush in the west, and the Arakanese in the east
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Partition of India
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The Partition of India was the division of British India in 1947 which accompanied the creation of two independent dominions, India and Pakistan. The Dominion of India is today the Republic of India and Dominion of Pakistan, the partition involved the division of two provinces, Bengal and the Punjab, based on district-wise Hindu or Muslim majorities. It also involved the division of the British Indian Army, the Royal Indian Navy, the Indian Civil Service, the railways, and the central treasury, between the two new dominions. The partition was set forth in the Indian Independence Act 1947 and resulted in the dissolution of the British Raj, the two self-governing countries of India and Pakistan legally came into existence at midnight on 14–15 August 1947. The violent nature of the created an atmosphere of hostility. The term partition of India does not cover the secession of Bangladesh from Pakistan in 1971, nor the earlier separations of Burma and Ceylon from the administration of British India. It does not cover the incorporation of the enclaves of French India into India during the period 1947–1954, nor the annexation of Goa, other contemporaneous political entities in the region in 1947, Sikkim, Bhutan, Nepal, and The Maldives were unaffected by the partition. The Hindu elite of Bengal, among many who owned land in East Bengal that was leased out to Muslim peasants. The pervasive protests against Curzons decision took the form predominantly of the Swadeshi campaign led by two-time Congress president, Surendranath Banerjee, sporadically—but flagrantly—the protesters also took to political violence that involved attacks on civilians. The violence, however, was not effective, as most planned attacks were either preempted by the British or failed, the unrest spread from Calcutta to the surrounding regions of Bengal when Calcuttas English-educated students returned home to their villages and towns. Since Calcutta was the capital, both the outrage and the slogan soon became nationally known. In conjunction, they demanded proportional legislative representation reflecting both their status as rulers and their record of cooperating with the British. This led, in December 1906, to the founding of the All-India Muslim League in Dacca, although Curzon, by now, had resigned his position over a dispute with his military chief Lord Kitchener and returned to England, the League was in favour of his partition plan. In the three decades since that census, Muslim leaders across northern India, had intermittently experienced public animosity from some of the new Hindu political and social groups. In 1905, when Tilak and Lajpat Rai attempted to rise to positions in the Congress. It was not lost on many Muslims, for example, that the rallying cry, World War I would prove to be a watershed in the imperial relationship between Britain and India. Indias international profile would thereby rise and would continue to rise during the 1920s, back in India, especially among the leaders of the Indian National Congress, it would lead to calls for greater self-government for Indians. Secretary of State for India, Montagu and Viceroy Lord Chelmsford presented a report in July 1918 after a long fact-finding trip through India the previous winter
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Punjab Province (British India)
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Punjab, also spelled Panjab, was a province of British India. Most of the Punjab region was annexed by the East India Company in 1849 and it comprised five administrative divisions — Delhi, Jullunder, Lahore, Multan and Rawalpindi — and a number of princely states. The partition of India led to the province being divided into East Punjab and West Punjab, belonging to the newly created Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan respectively. The name of the region is a compound of two Persian words Panj and āb and was introduced to the region by the Turko-Persian conquerors of India, Punjab literally means Five Waters referring to the rivers, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Sutlej, and Beas. All are tributaries of the Indus River, the Chenab being the largest, moreover, the province as constituted under British rule also included a large tract outside these boundaries. Along the northern border, Himalayan ranges divided it from Kashmir, on the west it was separated from the North-West Frontier Province by the Indus, until it reached the border of Dera Ghazi Khan District, which was divided from Baluchistan by the Sulaiman Range. To the south lay Sindh and Rajputana, while on the east the rivers Jumna, following the victory, the East India Company annexed Punjab on 2 April 1849 and it was made part of the British Raj, at that time administered by the EIC. Lord Dalhousie constituted the Board of Administration by inducting into it the most experienced and seasoned British officers, the members include Sir Henry Lawrence, who had previously worked as British Resident at the Lahore Durbar. Henceforth the Punjab would provide Sikh and Punjabi sepoy regiments to the EICs armies in India and these soldiers would later help the British to put down the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Delhi was transferred from the North-Western Provinces to Punjab in 1859, the British colonial government took this action partly to punish the city for the important role that the last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah II, and the city as a whole played in the 1857 Rebellion. Sir John Lawrence, then Chief Commissioner, was appointed the first Lieutenant-Governor on 1 January 1859, the territory under the Lieutenant consisted of 29 Districts, grouped under 5 Divisions, and 43 Princely States. Each District was under a Deputy-Commissioner, who reported to the Commissioner of the Division, each District was subdivided into between three and seven tehsils, each under a tahsildar, assisted by a naib tahsildar. In 1866, the Judicial Commissioner was replaced by a Chief Court, the direct administrative functions of the Government were carried out through the Lieutinent-Governor through the Secretariat, comprising a Chief Secretary, a Secretary and two Under-Secretaries. They were usually members of the Indian Civil Service, by the late 19th century, however, the Indian nationalist movement took hold in the province. One of the most significant events associated with the movement was the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in 1919, British colonel Reginald Dyer ordered his troops to fire on a group of some 10,000 unarmed Indians who had convened to protest new anti-subversion regulations. In 1901 the frontier districts beyond the Indus were separated from Punjab and made into a new province, the first Punjab Legislative Council under the 1919 Act was constituted in 1921, comprising 93 members, seventy per cent to be elected and rest to be nominated. Some of the Indian ministers under the scheme were Sir Sheikh Abdul Qadir, Khan Bahadur Chaudhry Sir Shahab-ud-Din. The Government of India Act 1935 introduced provincial autonomy to Punjab replacing the system of dyarchy and it provided for the constitution of Punjab Legislative Assembly of 175 members presided by a Speaker and an executive government responsible to the Assembly
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States and union territories of India
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India is a federal union comprising twenty-nine states and seven union territories. The states and union territories are further subdivided into districts and further into smaller administrative divisions, the Constitution of India distributes the sovereign executive and legislative powers exercisable with respect to the territory of any State between the Union and that State. The Indian subcontinent has been ruled by different ethnic groups throughout its history. Between 1947 and 1950, the territories of the states were politically integrated into the Indian Union. The new Constitution of India, which came into force on 26 January 1950, the new republic was also declared to be a Union of States. The nine Part A states were Assam, Bihar, Bombay, Madhya Pradesh, Madras, Orissa, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal. The eight Part B states were former princely states or groups of states, governed by a rajpramukh, who was usually the ruler of a constituent state. The rajpramukh was appointed by the President of India, the Part B states were Hyderabad, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Bharat, Mysore, Patiala and East Punjab States Union, Rajasthan, Saurashtra, and Travancore-Cochin. The ten Part C states included both the former chief commissioners provinces and some states, and each was governed by a chief commissioner appointed by the President of India. The Part C states were Ajmer, Bhopal, Bilaspur, Coorg, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Cutch, Manipur, Tripura, the only Part D state was the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which were administered by a lieutenant governor appointed by the central government. The Union Territory of Puducherry was created in 1954 comprising the previous French enclaves of Pondichéry, Karaikal, Yanam, Andhra State was created on 1 October 1953 from the Telugu-speaking northern districts of Madras State. The States Reorganisation Act of 1956 reorganised the states based on linguistic lines resulting in the creation of the new states, as a result of this act, Madras State retained its name with Kanyakumari district added to from Travancore-Cochin. Andhra Pradesh was created with the merger of Andhra State with the Telugu-speaking districts of Hyderabad State in 1956, kerala was created with the merger of Malabar district and the Kasaragod taluk of South Canara districts of Madras State with Travancore-Cochin. The Laccadive Islands which were divided between South Canara and Malabar districts of Madras State were united and organised into the territory of Lakshadweep. Bombay State was enlarged by the addition of Saurashtra State and Kutch State, Rajasthan and Punjab gained territories from Ajmer and Patiala and East Punjab States Union respectively and certain territories of Bihar was transferred to West Bengal. Bombay State was split into the states of Gujarat and Maharashtra on 1 May 1960 by the Bombay Reorganisation Act. Nagaland was formed on 1 December 1963, the Punjab Reorganisation Act of 1966 resulted in the creation of Haryana on 1 November and the transfer of the northern districts of Punjab to Himachal Pradesh. The act also designated Chandigarh as a territory and the shared capital of Punjab
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Haryana
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Haryana is one of the 29 states in India, situated in North India. It was carved out of the state of East Punjab on 1 November 1966 on a linguistic basis. It stands 21st in terms of its area, which is spread about 44,212 km2, as of 2011 census of India, the state is eighteenth largest by population with 25,353,081 inhabitants. The city of Chandigarh is its capital while the NCR city of Faridabad is the most populous city of the state, Haryana is one of the most economically developed regions in South Asia, and its agricultural and manufacturing industries have experienced sustained growth since the 1970s. Since 2000, the state has emerged as the largest recipient of investment per capita in India and it is bordered by Punjab and Himachal Pradesh to the north, and by Rajasthan to the west and south. The river Yamuna defines its border with Uttar Pradesh. Haryana surrounds the countrys capital Delhi on three sides, forming the northern, western and southern borders of Delhi, consequently, a large area of south Haryana is included in the National Capital Region for purposes of planning for development. The name Haryana is found in the works of the 12th-century AD Apabhramsha writer Vibudh Shridhar, the name Haryana has been derived from the Sanskrit words Hari and ayana, meaning the Abode of God. However, scholars such as Muni Lal, Murli Chand Sharma, HA Phadke and Sukhdev Singh Chib believe that the name comes from a compound of the words Hari and Aranya. Vedic state of Brahmavarta is claimed to be located in a new research in south Haryana, manusmriti, a flood time document composed by Manu and Bhrigu is now dated 10,000 years old. Rakhigarhi village in the Hisar district is home to the largest and one of the oldest ancient Indus Valley Civilization sites, evidence of paved roads, a drainage system, a large-scale rainwater collection storage system, terracotta brick and statue production, and skilled metal working have been uncovered. According to archeologists, Rakhigarhi may be the origin of Harappan civilisation, the area that is now Haryana has been ruled by major empires of India. Panipat is known for three seminal battles in the history of India, in the First Battle of Panipat, Babur defeated the Lodis. In the Second Battle of Panipat, Akbar defeated the local Haryanvi Hindu Emperor of Delhi, hemu, had earlier won 22 battles across India from Punjab to Bengal defeating Mughals and Afghans. Hemu had defeated Akbars forces twice at Agra and Battle of Delhi in 1556 to become last Hindu Emperor of India with formal Coronation at Purana Quila in Delhi on 7th Oct.1556, in the Third Battle of Panipat, the Afghan king Ahmad Shah Abdali defeated the Marathas. Haryana state was formed on 1 November 1966, the commission delivered its report on 31 May 1966 whereby the then-districts of Hisar, Mahendragarh, Gurgaon, Rohtak and Karnal were to be a part of the new state of Haryana. Further, the tehsils of Jind and Narwana in the Sangrur district—along with Naraingarh, Ambala, the commission recommended that the tehsil of Kharad, which includes Chandigarh, the state capital of Punjab, should be a part of Haryana. However, only a portion of Kharad was given to Haryana
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Himachal Pradesh
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Himachal Pradesh is a state of India located in Northern India. It is bordered by Jammu and Kashmir on the north, Punjab and Chandigarh on the west, Haryana on the south-west, Uttarakhand on the south-east and by the Tibet Autonomous Region on the east. The name was coined from Sanskrit him snow and achal mountain, by Acharya Diwakar Datt Sharma, Himachal Pradesh is famous for its natural beauty, hill stations, and temples. Himachal Pradesh has been ranked fifteenth in the list of the highest per capita incomes of Indian states, many perennial rivers flow in the state, and numerous hydroelectric projects set up. Himachal produces surplus hydroelectricity and sells it to states such as Delhi, Punjab. Hydroelectric power projects, tourism, and agriculture form important parts of the states economy, the state has several valleys, and more than 90% of the population living in rural areas. Practically all houses have a toilet and 100% hygiene has been achieved in the state, the villages have good connectivity with roads, public health centres, and now with high-speed broadband. Shimla district has maximum urban population of 25%, according to a 2005 Transparency International survey, Himachal Pradesh was ranked the second-least corrupt state in the country, after Kerala. The history of the area that now constitutes Himachal Pradesh dates to the Indus valley civilisation that flourished between 2250 and 1750 BCE, tribes such as the Koili, Hali, Dagi, Dhaugri, Dasa, Khasa, Kinnar, and Kirat inhabited the region from the prehistoric era. During the Vedic period, several small republics known as Janapada existed which were conquered by the Gupta Empire. After a brief period of supremacy by King Harshavardhana, the region was divided into several local powers headed by chieftains and these kingdoms enjoyed a large degree of independence and were invaded by Delhi Sultanate a number of times. Mahmud Ghaznavi conquered Kangra at the beginning of the 10th century, timur and Sikander Lodi also marched through the lower hills of the state and captured a number of forts and fought many battles. Several hill states acknowledged Mughal suzerainty and paid tribute to the Mughals. The Gurkha people, a tribe, came to power in Nepal in the year 1768. They consolidated their power and began to expand their territory. Gradually, the Gorkhas annexed Sirmour and Shimla, under the leadership of Amar Singh Thapa, the Gurkha laid siege to Kangra. They managed to defeat Sansar Chand Katoch, the ruler of Kangra, however, the Gurkha could not capture Kangra fort which came under Maharaja Ranjeet Singh in 1809. After the defeat, the Gurkha began to expand towards the south of the state, however, Raja Ram Singh, Raja of Siba State, captured the fort of Siba from the remnants of Lahore Darbar in Samvat 1846, during the First Anglo-Sikh War
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Chandigarh
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Chandigarh is a city and a union territory of India that serves as the capital of the Indian states of Haryana and Punjab. As a union territory, the city is governed directly by the Union Government and is not part of either state, Chandigarh is bordered by the state of Punjab to the north, west and south, and to the state of Haryana to the east. Chandigarh is considered to be a part of the Chandigarh capital region or Greater Chandigarh, which includes Chandigarh, and it is located 260 km north of New Delhi,229 km southeast of Amritsar and just 116 km southwest of Shimla. Chandigarh was one of the planned cities in the post-independence India and is internationally known for its architecture. Most of the government buildings and housing in the city, were designed by the Chandigarh Capital Project Team headed by Le Corbusier, Jane Drew and Maxwell Fry. In 2015, an article published by BBC named Chandigarh as one of the cities of the world in terms of architecture, cultural growth. Chandigarh’s Capitol Complex was in July 2016 declared by UNESCO as World Heritage at the 40th session of World Heritage Conference held in Istanbul, UNESCO inscription was under “The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier an outstanding contribution to the Modern Movement”. The city tops the list of Indian States and Union Territories by per capita income followed by Haryana, the city was reported to be the cleanest in India in 2010, based on a national government study. The union territory also heads the list of Indian states and territories according to Human Development Index, in 2015, a survey by LG Electronics, ranked Chandigarh as the happiest city in India over the happiness index. The metropolitan of Chandigarh-Mohali-Panchkula collectively forms a Tri-city, with a population of over 2 million. The name Chandigarh is a portmanteau of Chandi and Garh, Chandi refers to Hindu Goddess Chandi, the warrior Avatar of Goddess Parvati, and Garh means home. The name is derived from Chandi Mandir, an ancient temple devoted to the Hindu Goddess Chandi, the logo of The City Beautiful derives from the City Beautiful movement that was a popular philosophy in North American urban planning during the 1890s and 1900s. Architect Albert Mayer, the planner of Chandigarh, lamented the American rejection of City Beautiful concepts. The phrase was used on as a logo in official publications in the 1970s, the city has a pre-historic past. Due to the presence of lake, the area has fossil remains with imprints of a variety of aquatic plants and animals, and amphibian life. As it was a part of the Punjab region, it had many rivers nearby where the ancient, so, about 8000 years ago, the area was also known to be a home to the Harappans. Chandigarh was the city of Indias first Prime Minister, Jawahar Lal Nehru. After the partition of India in 1947, the former British province of Punjab was split between East Punjab in India and West Punjab in Pakistan, the Indian Punjab required a new capital city to replace Lahore, which became part of Pakistan during the partition
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Delhi
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Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory of Delhi or NCT, is a city and a union territory of India. It is bordered by Haryana on three sides and by Uttar Pradesh to the east, the NCT covers an area of 1,484 square kilometres. According to 2011 census, Delhis city population was about 11 million, Delhis urban area is now considered to extend beyond the NCT boundary to include an estimated population of over 26 million people making it the worlds second largest urban area. As of 2016 recent estimates of the economy of its urban area have ranked Delhi either the top or second most productive metro area of India. Delhi is the second wealthiest city after Mumbai in India, with a wealth of $450 billion. Delhi has been inhabited since the 6th century BC. Through most of its history, Delhi has served as a capital of various kingdoms and it has been captured, ransacked and rebuilt several times, particularly during the medieval period, and modern Delhi is a cluster of a number of cities spread across the metropolitan region. New Delhi is jointly administered by the government of India and the local government of Delhi. Delhi is also the centre of the National Capital Region, which is a unique interstate regional planning area created by the National Capital Region Planning Board Act of 1985, Delhi ranks among the cities with the worst air pollution in the world. There are a number of myths and legends associated with the origin of the name Delhi, one of them is derived from Dhillu or Dilu, a king who built a city at this location in 50 BC and named it after himself. The coins in circulation in the region under the Tomaras were called dehliwal, according to the Bhavishya Purana, King Prithiviraja of Indraprastha built a new fort in the modern-day Purana Qila area for the convenience of all four castes in his kingdom. He ordered the construction of a gateway to the fort and later named the fort dehali, another theory suggests that the citys original name was Dhillika. The people of Delhi are referred to as Delhiites or Dilliwalas, the city is referenced in various idioms of the Northern Indo-Aryan languages. Dilli dilwalon ka shehr or Dilli Dilwalon ki meaning Delhi belongs to the large-hearted/daring, aas-paas barse, Dilli pani tarse, literally meaning it pours all around, while Delhi lies parched. An allusion to the sometimes semi-arid climate of Delhi, it refers to situations of deprivation when one is surrounded by plenty. The area around Delhi was probably inhabited before the second millennium BC, the city is believed to be the site of Indraprastha, the legendary capital of the Pandavas in the Indian epic Mahabharata. According to Mahabharata, this land was initially a huge mass of forests called Khandavaprastha which was burnt down to build the city of Indraprastha, the earliest architectural relics date back to the Maurya period, in 1966, an inscription of the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka was discovered near Srinivaspuri. Remains of eight cities have been discovered in Delhi
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Administrative units of Pakistan
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The administrative units of Pakistan consist of four provinces, one federal capital territory, two autonomous and disputed territories, and a group of federally administered tribal areas. Pakistan has three tiers of government, including 34 divisions,149 districts,588 sub-districts. The administrative units as of 2010 derived from the administrative units inherited from British India, from independence in 1947 to 1971, Pakistan had two wings separated by 1600 kilometres of Indian territory. The eastern wing comprised the province of East Bengal, which included the Sylhet District from the former British Raj province of Assam. The western wing was formed from three provinces, one Chief Commissioners Province, thirteen princely states, and parts of Kashmir. In 1948 the area around Karachi was separated from Sindh province to form the Federal Capital Territory, in 1950, NWFP was expanded to include the small states of Amb and Phulra and the name of West Punjab was changed to Punjab. The four princely states of southwest Pakistan formed the Baluchistan States Union in 1952, simultaneously, East Bengal was renamed East Pakistan, with Dhaka as the provincial capital. In 1960 the federal capital moved from Karachi to Rawalpindi and, later, in 1961 the Federal Capital Territory was merged into West Pakistan. The second military President, Yahya Khan, dissolved West Pakistan in 1970, East Pakistan became independent in December 1971 as the new country of Bangladesh. In 1974 the two last princely states were abolished and their territory merged with the Gilgit Agency to form the Northern Areas, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas were formed from parts of Hazara, districts of Peshawar, and Dera Ismail Khan in 1975. The status of the Islamabad area was changed to a territory in 1981. As of 2015 Gilgit-Baltistan is now a de facto province, north-West Frontier Province was renamed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2010. In August 2000, the divisions were abolished as part of a plan to local government. Many of the functions previously handled by the provinces have transferred to the districts. In 2008 the new government restored the former tier of divisions. Pakistans administrative units are as follows, *Disputed with India, the provinces are subdivided into 34 divisions, which are subdivided into 149 districts called zillahs. Zillahs are further subdivided into 588 sub-districts called tehsils, the term tehsil is used everywhere except in Sindh province, where the term taluka predominates. Tehsils may contain villages or municipalities, Pakistan has over five thousand local governments
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Islamabad Capital Territory
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The Islamabad Capital Territory is one of the two federal territories of Pakistan. It includes Islamabad, the city of Pakistan, and covers an area of 1,165.5 km2 of which 906 km2 is Islamabad proper. It is represented in the National Assembly by two constituencies, namely NA-48 and NA-49, in 1960, land was transferred from the Rawalpindi District of the Punjab province for the purpose of establishing Pakistans new capital. The remainder of the territory is now subdivided into five zones, with Zone I designated to house all residential, industrial, Punjab is located to the south of the ICT, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is located to the north west. Islamabad was designed and built to be a capital for Pakistan. It was established in 1960, on the orders of then President General Ayub Khan, Islamabad nestles against the backdrop of the Margalla Hills at the northern end of Potohar Plateau. Its climate is healthy, relatively free, plentiful in water resources. It is a modern and carefully planned city with wide roads and avenues, many public buildings and well-organised bazaars, markets. Islamabad is situated between the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab but Islamabad is not a part of any province, the federal Government of Pakistan controls it and is one of the two federal Territories of Pakistan which is directly governed by the Federal Government of Pakistan. Islamabad Capital Territory comprises Islamabad city and surrounding rural areas, the rural area consists of 23 Union Councils, comprising some 133 villages, and city area has 27 Union Councils. The table below lists the 50 Union Councils, each Union Council is named after the main town. The city is divided into eight basic types, Administrative zone, Diplomatic Enclave zone, Residential Areas, Educational Sectors, Industrial Sectors, Commercial Areas, Rural Areas. Each sector has its own shopping area, a green belt, the population of the city is around 1,950,000 people of which 66% is urban. It has an area of about 910 square kilometres, the city lies at latitudes 33°49 north and longitudes 72°24 east with altitudes ranging from 457 to 610 meters. The climate of Islamabad has a subtropical climate, with five seasons, Winter, Spring, Summer, Rainy Monsoon. The hottest month is June, where average highs routinely exceed 38 °C, wettest month is July, with heavy rainfalls and evening thunderstorms with the possibility of cloudburst and flooding. Islamabads micro-climate is regulated by three reservoirs, Rawal, Simli, and Khanpur Dam. The latter is located on the Haro River near the town of Khanpur, Simli Dam is 30 kilometres north of Islamabad
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Balochistan
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Balochistan is an arid desert and mountainous region in south-western Asia. It comprises the Pakistani province of Balochistan, Iranian province of Sistan and Baluchestan, Balochistan borders the Pashtun region to the north, Sindh to the east, Punjab to the northeast, and Persian regions to the west and northwest. South of its coastline, including the Makran Coast, are the Arabian Sea. The name Balochistan is generally believed to derive from that of the Baloch people, the term Baloch does not appear in pre-Islamic sources. It is likely that the Balochs were known by other name at their place of origin. The Suffix -stān is a Persian word meaning place, johan Hansman relates the term Baloch to Meluḫḫa, the name by which the Indus Valley Civilisation is believed to have been known to the Sumerians and Akkadians in Mesopatamia. Meluḫḫa disappears from the Mesopotamian records at the beginning of the second millennium B. C, however, Hansman states that a trace of it in a modified form, as Baluḫḫu, was retained in the names of products imported by the Assyrians. Al-Muqaddasī, who visited the capital of Makran Bannajbur, states that it was populated by people called Balūṣī, leading Hansman to postulate Baluch as a modification of Meluḫḫa and Baluḫḫu. Asko Parpola relates the name Meluḫḫa to Indo-Aryan words mleccha and milakkha/milakkhu etc. which do not have an Indo-European etymology even though they were used to refer to non-Aryan people. Taking them to be proto-Dravidian in origin, he interprets the term as meaning either a proper name milu-akam or melu-akam, meaning high country, historian Romila Thapar also interprets Meluḫḫa as a proto-Dravidian term, possibly mēlukku, and suggests the meaning western extremity. A literal translation into Sanskrit, aparānta, was used to describe the region by the Indo-Aryans. During the time of Alexander the Great, the Greeks called the land Gedrosia and its people Gedrosoi, the earliest evidence of human occupation in what is now Balochistan is dated to the Paleolithic era, represented by hunting camps and lithic scatters, chipped and flaked stone tools. The earliest settled villages in the date to the ceramic Neolithic. These villages expanded in size during the subsequent Chalcolithic, when interaction was amplified and this involved the movement of finished goods and raw materials, including chank shell, lapis lazuli, turquoise, and ceramics. By 2500 BCE, the now known as Pakistani Balochistan had become part of the Harappan cultural orbit. From the 1st century to the 3rd century CE, the region was ruled by the Pāratarājas, the dynasty of the Pāratas is thought to be identical with the Pāradas of the Mahabharata, the Puranas and other vedic and Iranian sources. These coins are found in Loralai in todays western Pakistan. Herodotus in 450 BCE described the Paraitakenoi as a tribe ruled by Deiokes, arrian describes how Alexander the Great encountered the Pareitakai in Bactria and Sogdiana, and had them conquered by Craterus
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Pashtunistan
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Pashtunistan is the geographic region inhabited by the indigenous Pashtun people of modern-day Afghanistan and Pakistan. Alternative names historically used for the region included Afghānistān and Pashtūnkhwā, Pashtunistan borders Punjab to the east, Persian and Turkic speaking regions to the west and north, Kashmir to the northeast, and Balochistan to the south. For administrative division in 1893, Mortimer Durand drew the Durand Line and this porous line that runs through the center of the Pashtun region forms the modern border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Thus it is clear that for this reason the people of the call their home in their own language Afghánistán. But it occurs to me, that when, under the rule of Muhammadan sovereigns, Musulmáns first came to the city of Patná, and dwelt there, the very concept of Pakhtunistan was taken from the old word Pakhtunkhwa. The British were using Pathanistan for Pakhtunistan in the beginning, depending on the source, the ethnic Pashtuns constitute 42-60% of the population of Afghanistan. In neighboring Pakistan they constitute 15.42 percent of the 190 million population, in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan, Pashto speakers constitute above 73 percent of the population as of 1998. In recent age, people of the Western world have explored the area. Arab Muslims arrived in the 7th century and began introducing Islam to the native Pashtun people, some of the Arabs settled in the Sulaiman Mountains, the Pashtunistan area later fell to the Turkish Ghaznavids whose main capital was at Ghazni, with Lahore serving as the second power house. The Ghaznavid Empire was then taken over by the Ghorids from todays Ghor, the army of Genghis Khan arrived in the 13th century and began destroying Persian-speaking cities in the north while the Pashtun territory was defended by the Khilji dynasty of Delhi. In the 14th and 15th century, the Timurid dynasty was in control of the cities and towns. During the Delhi Sultanate era, the region was ruled by Turkic dynasties from Delhi, an early Pashtun nationalist was the warrior-poet Khushal Khan Khattak, who was imprisoned by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb for trying to incite the Pashtuns to rebel against the rule of the Mughals. However, despite sharing a language and believing in a common ancestry. The eastern parts of Pashtunistan was ruled by the Mughal Empire, during the early 18th century, Pashtun tribes led by Mirwais Hotak successfully revolted against the Safavids in the city of Kandahar. In a chain of events, he declared Kandahar and other parts of what is now southern Afghanistan independent, by 1738 the Mughal Empire had been crushingly defeated and their capital sacked and looted by forces of a new Iranian ruler, the military genius and commander Nader Shah. Besides Persian, Turkmen, and Caucasian forces, Nader was also accompanied by the young Ahmad Shah Durrani, and 4,000 well trained Pashtun troops from what is now Afghanistan and North-west Pakistan. The famous couplet by Ahmad Shah Durrani describes the association the people have with the city of Kandahar. Translation, I forget the throne of Delhi when I recall the mountain peaks of my beautiful Pukhtunkhwa, the last Afghan Empire was established in 1747 and united all the different Pashtun tribes as well as many other ethnic groups
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Kashmir
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Kashmir is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term Kashmir denoted only the valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal mountain range. In the first half of the 1st millennium, the Kashmir region became an important centre of Hinduism and later of Buddhism, later still, in the ninth century, in 1339, Shah Mir became the first Muslim ruler of Kashmir, inaugurating the Salatin-i-Kashmir or Swati dynasty. Kashmir was part of the Mughal Empire from 1586 to 1751 and that year, the Sikhs, under Ranjit Singh, annexed Kashmir. The Sanskrit word for Kashmir was, the Nilamata Purana describes the Valleys origin from the waters, a lake called Sati-saras. A popular, but uncertain, local etymology of Kashmira is that it is land desiccated from water, an alternative, but also uncertain, etymology derives the name from the name of the sage Kashyapa who is believed to have settled people in this land. Accordingly, Kashmir would be derived from either kashyapa-mir or kashyapa-meru, the Ancient Greeks called the region Kasperia which has been identified with Kaspapyros of Hecataeus and Kaspatyros of Herodotus. Kashmir is also believed to be the country meant by Ptolemys Kaspeiria, Cashmere is an archaic spelling of present-Kashmir, and in some countries it is still spelled this way. In the Kashmiri language, Kashmir itself is known as Kasheer, the Buddhist Mauryan emperor Ashoka is often credited with having founded the old capital of Kashmir, Shrinagari, now ruins on the outskirts of modern Srinagar. Kashmir was long to be a stronghold of Buddhism, as a Buddhist seat of learning, the Sarvāstivādan school strongly influenced Kashmir. East and Central Asian Buddhist monks are recorded as having visited the kingdom, in the late 4th century CE, the famous Kuchanese monk Kumārajīva, born to an Indian noble family, studied Dīrghāgama and Madhyāgama in Kashmir under Bandhudatta. He later became a translator who helped take Buddhism to China. His mother Jīva is thought to have retired to Kashmir, vimalākṣa, a Sarvāstivādan Buddhist monk, travelled from Kashmir to Kucha and there instructed Kumārajīva in the Vinayapiṭaka. Karkota Empire was a powerful Hindu empire, which originated in the region of Kashmir and it was founded by Durlabhvardhana during the lifetime of Harshavardhan. The dynasty marked the rise of Kashmir as a power in South Asia, avanti Varman ascended the throne of Kashmir on 855 A. D. establishing the Utpala dynasty and ending the rule of Karkota dynasty. According to tradition, Adi Shankara visited the pre-existing Sarvajñapīṭha in Kashmir in the late 8th century or early 9th century CE, the Madhaviya Shankaravijayam states this temple had four doors for scholars from the four cardinal directions. The southern door of Sarvajna Pitha was opened by Adi Shankara, abhinavagupta was one of Indias greatest philosophers, mystics and aestheticians. He was also considered an important musician, poet, dramatist, exegete, theologian, and logician – a polymathic personality who exercised strong influences on Indian culture
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Hindi Belt
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The Hindi Belt or Hindi Heartland is a loosely defined linguistic region in north-central India where varieties of Hindi in the broadest sense are widely spoken. Hindi, in the sense, is that part of the Indo-Aryan dialect continuum that lies within the cultural Hindi Belt in the northern plains of India. In the words of Masica, these are the regional languages of the Hindi area. Hindi in this sense is an ethnic rather than a linguistic concept. As defined in the 1991 census, Hindi has a broad, the name Hindi is thus ambiguous. This is an area bounded on the northwest by Punjabi, on the west by Sindhi, on the south by Gujarati, Marathi and Odia, on the east by Maithili and Bengali, and on the north by Nepali. Linguistically, the varieties of this area can be considered separate languages rather than dialects of a single language, in the narrow sense, the Hindi languages proper, Hindi can be equated with the Central Zone Indic languages. These are conventionally divided into Western Hindi and Eastern Hindi, an even narrower definition of Hindi is that of the official language, Modern Standard Hindi or Manak Hindi, a standardised register of Hindustani, one of the varieties of Western Hindi. Standardised Hindustani—including both Manak Hindi and Urdu—is historically based on the Khariboli dialect of 17th-century Delhi and these figures do not count 52 million Indians who considered their mother tongue to be Urdu. Much of the Hindi spoken outside of the subcontinent is quite distinct from the Indian standard language, most Pakistani speakers, and some Muslim Indian speakers, call their version of Hindustani Urdu rather than Hindi or Hindustani. Religious proponents both of Hindi and of Urdu often contend that they are two separate languages despite their mutual intelligibility, mauritian Hindi is spoken in Mauritius. It is based on Bhojpuri and influenced by French, sarnami is a form of Bhojpuri with Awadhi influence. It spoken by Surinamese of Indian descent, fiji Hindi is a derived form of Awadhi, Bhojpuri and including many English and native Fijian words. It is spoken by Fijians of Indian descent, Trinidad Hindi is based on Bhojpuri and is spoken in Trinidad and Tobago by people of Indian descent. South African Hindi is based on Bhojpuri and is spoken in South Africa by people of Indian descent, the region has a predominantly subtropical climate, with cool winters, hot summers and moderate monsoons. The climate does vary with latitude somewhat, with winters getting cooler and it can vary significantly with altitude, especially in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. The Hindi Heartland supports about a third of Indias population and occupies about a quarter of its geographical area, the population is concentrated along the fertile Ganges plain in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Bihar. Over years political development in some of states are dominated by caste based politics
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Rajasthan
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Rajasthan is Indias largest state by area. Elsewhere it is bordered by the other Indian states, Punjab to the north, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to the northeast, Madhya Pradesh to the southeast, and Gujarat to the southwest. Rajasthan is also home to two national reserves, the Ranthambore National Park in Sawai Madhopur and Sariska Tiger Reserve in Alwar. The state was formed on 30 March 1949 when Rajputana – the name adopted by the British Raj for its dependencies in the region – was merged into the Dominion of India. Its capital and largest city is Jaipur, also known as Pink City, other important cities are Jodhpur, Udaipur, Bikaner, Kota and Ajmer. Parts of what is now Rajasthan were partly part of the Vedic Civilisation, kalibangan, in Hanumangarh district, was a major provincial capital of the Indus Valley Civilization. Matsya Kingdom of the Vedic civilisation of India, is said to roughly corresponded to the state of Jaipur in Rajasthan. The capital of Matsya was at Viratanagar, which is said to have named after its founder king Virata. Bhargava identifies the two districts of Jhunjhunu and Sikar and parts of Jaipur district along with Haryana districts of Mahendragarh, bhargava also locates the present day Sahibi River as the Vedic Drishadwati River, which along with Saraswati River formed the borders of the Vedic state of Brahmavarta. Manu and Bhrigu narrated the Manusmriti to a congregation of seers in this area only, the Indo-Scythians invaded the area of Ujjain and established the Saka era, marking the beginning of the long-lived Saka Western Satraps state. Gurjars ruled for many dynasties in this part of the country, up to the tenth century almost the whole of North India, acknowledged the supremacy of the Gurjars with their seat of power at Kannauj. The Gurjar Pratihar Empire acted as a barrier for Arab invaders from the 8th to the 11th century, the chief accomplishment of the Gurjara Pratihara empire lies in its successful resistance to foreign invasions from the west, starting in the days of Junaid. Majumdar says that this was acknowledged by the Arab writers. He further notes that historians of India have wondered at the progress of Muslim invaders in India. Traditionally the Rajputs, Jats, Meenas, REBARI, Gurjars, Bhils, Rajpurohit, Charans, Yadavs, Bishnois, Sermals, PhulMali, all these tribes suffered great difficulties in protecting their culture and the land. Millions of them were killed trying to protect their land, a number of Gurjars had been exterminated in Bhinmal and Ajmer areas fighting with the invaders. Meenas were rulers of Bundi, Hadoti and the Dhundhar region, hem Chandra Vikramaditya, the Hindu Emperor, was born in the village of Machheri in Alwar District in 1501. Hem Chandra was killed in the battlefield at Second Battle of Panipat fighting against Mughals on 5 November 1556, maharana Pratap of Mewar resisted Akbar in the famous Battle of Haldighati and later operated from hilly areas of his kingdom
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Sindh
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Sindh /sɪnd/ is one of the four provinces of Pakistan, in the southeast of the country. Historically home to the Sindhi people, it is locally known as the Mehran. It was formerly known as Sind until 1956, Sindh is the third largest province of Pakistan by area, and second largest province by population after Punjab. Sindh is bordered by Balochistan province to the west, and Punjab province to the north, Sindh also borders the Indian states of Gujarat and Rajasthan to the east, and Arabian Sea to the south. Sindhs climate is noted for hot summers and mild winters, the provincial capital of Sindh is Pakistans largest city and financial hub, Karachi. Sindh has Pakistans second largest economy with Karachi being its capital hosts the headquarters of several multinational banks. Sindh is home to a portion of Pakistans industrial sector. The remainder of Sindh has an agriculture based economy, and produces fruit, food consumer items, Sindh is also the centre of Pakistans pharmaceutical industry. Sindh is known for its culture which is strongly influenced by Sufism. Several important Sufi shrines are located throughout the province which attract millions of annual devotees, Sindh also has Pakistans highest percentage of Hindu residents. Karachi and other centres of Sindh have seen ethnic tensions between the native Sindhis and the Muhajirs boil over into violence on several occasions. Sindh is home to two UNESCO World Heritage Sites - the Historical Monuments at Makli, and the Archaeological Ruins at Moenjodaro, the word Sindh is derived from the Sanskrit language and is adapted from the Sanskrit term Sindhu which literally means river hence a reference to Indus River. Spelling of its name as Sind was discontinued in 1988 by an amendment passed in Sindh Assembly. The Greeks who conquered Sindh in 325 BC under the command of Alexander the Great rendered it as Indós, the ancient Iranians referred to everything east of the river Indus as hind from the word Sindh. When the British arrived in the 17th century in India, then ruled by the Maratha Empire, they applied the Greek version of the name Sindh to all of South Asia, calling it India. The name of Pakistan is actually an acronym in which the letter s is derived from the first letter in Sindh, Sindhs first known village settlements date as far back as 7000 BCE. Permanent settlements at Mehrgarh, currently in Balochistan, to the west expanded into Sindh and this culture blossomed over several millennia and gave rise to the Indus Valley Civilization around 3000 BCE. The primitive village communities in Balochistan were still struggling against a difficult highland environment and this was one of the most developed urban civilizations of the ancient world
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Islam
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Islam is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion which professes that there is only one and incomparable God and that Muhammad is the last messenger of God. It is the worlds second-largest religion and the major religion in the world, with over 1.7 billion followers or 23% of the global population. Islam teaches that God is merciful, all-powerful, and unique, and He has guided mankind through revealed scriptures, natural signs, and a line of prophets sealed by Muhammad. The primary scriptures of Islam are the Quran, viewed by Muslims as the word of God. Muslims believe that Islam is the original, complete and universal version of a faith that was revealed many times before through prophets including Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses. As for the Quran, Muslims consider it to be the unaltered, certain religious rites and customs are observed by the Muslims in their family and social life, while social responsibilities to parents, relatives, and neighbors have also been defined. Besides, the Quran and the sunnah of Muhammad prescribe a comprehensive body of moral guidelines for Muslims to be followed in their personal, social, political, Islam began in the early 7th century. Originating in Mecca, it spread in the Arabian Peninsula. The expansion of the Muslim world involved various caliphates and empires, traders, most Muslims are of one of two denominations, Sunni or Shia. Islam is the dominant religion in the Middle East, North Africa, sizable Muslim communities are also found in Horn of Africa, Europe, China, Russia, Mainland Southeast Asia, Philippines, Northern Borneo, Caucasus and the Americas. Converts and immigrant communities are found in almost every part of the world, Islam is a verbal noun originating from the triliteral root s-l-m which forms a large class of words mostly relating to concepts of wholeness, submission, safeness and peace. In a religious context it means voluntary submission to God, Islām is the verbal noun of Form IV of the root, and means submission or surrender. Muslim, the word for an adherent of Islam, is the active participle of the verb form. The word sometimes has connotations in its various occurrences in the Quran. In some verses, there is stress on the quality of Islam as a state, Whomsoever God desires to guide. Other verses connect Islām and dīn, Today, I have perfected your religion for you, I have completed My blessing upon you, still others describe Islam as an action of returning to God—more than just a verbal affirmation of faith. In the Hadith of Gabriel, islām is presented as one part of a triad that also includes imān, Islam was historically called Muhammadanism in Anglophone societies. This term has fallen out of use and is said to be offensive because it suggests that a human being rather than God is central to Muslims religion
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Sikhism
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Sikhism, or Sikhi, is a panentheistic religion that originated in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent during the 15th century. It is one of the youngest of the world religions. Sikhism has 25-28 million adherents worldwide and is the ninth-largest religion in the world, Sikhism is based on the spiritual teachings of Guru Nanak, the first Guru, and the ten successive Sikh gurus. Guru Nanak established Kartarpur around 1520 and gathered the original core of the Sikh Panth there, an Indian religion, Sikhism rejects claims that any particular religious tradition has a monopoly on Absolute Truth. Sikhism emphasizes simran, that can be expressed musically through kirtan or internally through Nam Japo as a means to feel Gods presence, hand in hand, secular life is considered to be intertwined with the spiritual life. He also established the system of the langar, or communal kitchen, Guru Hargobind, the sixth Sikh Guru, established the political/temporal and spiritual realms to be mutually coexistent. The development of Sikhism was influenced by the Bhakti movement, however, Sikhism developed while the region was being ruled by the Mughal Empire. Two of the Sikh gurus – Guru Arjan and Guru Tegh Bahadur, the Islamic era persecution of Sikhs triggered the founding of the Khalsa, as an order for freedom of conscience and religion. A Sikh is expected to embody the qualities of a Sant-Sipāhī – a saint-soldier, the majority of Sikh scriptures were originally written in Gurmukhī alphabet, a script standardised by Guru Angad out of Laṇḍā scripts used in North India. Adherents of Sikhism are known as Sikhs, which means students or disciples of the Guru, the anglicized word Sikhism is derived from the Punjabi verb Sikhi, with roots in Sikhana, and Sikhi connotes the temporal path of learning. Sikhism is a religion and states that there is one supreme entity holding control of the entire universe. This entity is referred to as Ik Onkar, the basis of Sikhism lies in the teachings of Guru Nanak and his successors. The essence of Sikh teaching is summated by Guru Nanaks words, Sikh teaching emphasizes the principle of equality of all humans and rejects discrimination on the basis of caste, creed, and gender. Sikh principles encourage living life as a householder, Sikhism is a monistic form of monotheistic religion. In Sikhism, the concept of God is Vāhigurū—is shapeless, timeless, and invisible, niraṅkār, akaal, the beginning of the first composition of Sikh scripture is the figure 1—signifying the universality of God. It states that God is omnipresent and infinite with power over everything, Sikhs believe that before creation, all that existed was God and Gods hukam. God in Sikhism is known as Ik Onkar, the One Supreme Reality or the all-pervading spirit and this spirit has no gender in Sikhism, though translations may present it as masculine. It is also Akaal Purkh and Nirankar, in addition, Nanak wrote that there are many worlds on which it has created life
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Hinduism
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Hinduism is a religion, or a way of life, found most notably in India and Nepal. Hinduism has been called the oldest religion in the world, and some practitioners and scholars refer to it as Sanātana Dharma, scholars regard Hinduism as a fusion or synthesis of various Indian cultures and traditions, with diverse roots and no founder. This Hindu synthesis started to develop between 500 BCE and 300 CE following the Vedic period, although Hinduism contains a broad range of philosophies, it is linked by shared concepts, recognisable rituals, cosmology, shared textual resources, and pilgrimage to sacred sites. Hindu texts are classified into Shruti and Smriti and these texts discuss theology, philosophy, mythology, Vedic yajna, Yoga, agamic rituals, and temple building, among other topics. Major scriptures include the Vedas and Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, prominent themes in Hindu beliefs include the four Puruṣārthas, the proper goals or aims of human life, namely Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha, karma, samsara, and the various Yogas. Hindu practices include such as puja and recitations, meditation, family-oriented rites of passage, annual festivals. Some Hindus leave their world and material possessions, then engage in lifelong Sannyasa to achieve Moksha. Hinduism prescribes the eternal duties, such as honesty, refraining from injuring living beings, patience, forbearance, self-restraint, Hinduism is the worlds third largest religion, with over one billion followers or 15% of the global population, known as Hindus. The majority of Hindus reside in India, Nepal, Mauritius, the Caribbean, the word Hindu is derived from the Indo-Aryan/Sanskrit word Sindhu, the Indo-Aryan name for the Indus River in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent. The term Hindu in these ancient records is a geographical term, the Arabic term al-Hind referred to the people who live across the River Indus. This Arabic term was taken from the pre-Islamic Persian term Hindū. By the 13th century, Hindustan emerged as an alternative name of India. It was only towards the end of the 18th century that European merchants and colonists began to refer to the followers of Indian religions collectively as Hindus. The term Hinduism, then spelled Hindooism, was introduced into the English language in the 18th-century to denote the religious, philosophical, because of the wide range of traditions and ideas covered by the term Hinduism, arriving at a comprehensive definition is difficult. The religion defies our desire to define and categorize it, Hinduism has been variously defined as a religion, a religious tradition, a set of religious beliefs, and a way of life. From a Western lexical standpoint, Hinduism like other faiths is appropriately referred to as a religion, in India the term dharma is preferred, which is broader than the western term religion. Hindu traditionalists prefer to call it Sanatana Dharma, the study of India and its cultures and religions, and the definition of Hinduism, has been shaped by the interests of colonialism and by Western notions of religion. Since the 1990s, those influences and its outcomes have been the topic of debate among scholars of Hinduism, Hinduism as it is commonly known can be subdivided into a number of major currents
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Christianity
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Christianity is a Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, who serves as the focal point for the religion. It is the worlds largest religion, with over 2.4 billion followers, or 33% of the global population, Christians believe that Jesus is the Son of God and the savior of humanity whose coming as the Messiah was prophesied in the Old Testament. Christian theology is summarized in creeds such as the Apostles Creed and his incarnation, earthly ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection are often referred to as the gospel, meaning good news. The term gospel also refers to accounts of Jesuss life and teaching, four of which—Matthew, Mark, Luke. Christianity is an Abrahamic religion that began as a Second Temple Judaic sect in the mid-1st century, following the Age of Discovery, Christianity spread to the Americas, Australasia, sub-Saharan Africa, and the rest of the world through missionary work and colonization. Christianity has played a prominent role in the shaping of Western civilization, throughout its history, Christianity has weathered schisms and theological disputes that have resulted in many distinct churches and denominations. Worldwide, the three largest branches of Christianity are the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the denominations of Protestantism. There are many important differences of interpretation and opinion of the Bible, concise doctrinal statements or confessions of religious beliefs are known as creeds. They began as baptismal formulae and were expanded during the Christological controversies of the 4th and 5th centuries to become statements of faith. Many evangelical Protestants reject creeds as definitive statements of faith, even agreeing with some or all of the substance of the creeds. The Baptists have been non-creedal in that they have not sought to establish binding authoritative confessions of faith on one another. Also rejecting creeds are groups with roots in the Restoration Movement, such as the Christian Church, the Evangelical Christian Church in Canada, the Apostles Creed is the most widely accepted statement of the articles of Christian faith. It is also used by Presbyterians, Methodists, and Congregationalists and this particular creed was developed between the 2nd and 9th centuries. Its central doctrines are those of the Trinity and God the Creator, each of the doctrines found in this creed can be traced to statements current in the apostolic period. The creed was used as a summary of Christian doctrine for baptismal candidates in the churches of Rome. Most Christians accept the use of creeds, and subscribe to at least one of the mentioned above. The central tenet of Christianity is the belief in Jesus as the Son of God, Christians believe that Jesus, as the Messiah, was anointed by God as savior of humanity, and hold that Jesus coming was the fulfillment of messianic prophecies of the Old Testament. The Christian concept of the Messiah differs significantly from the contemporary Jewish concept, Jesus, having become fully human, suffered the pains and temptations of a mortal man, but did not sin
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Jainism
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Jainism, traditionally known as Jain Dharma, is an ancient Indian religion belonging to the śramaṇa tradition. The central tenet is non-violence and respect all living beings. The three main principles of Jainism are ahimsa, anekantavada and aparigraha, followers of Jainism take five main vows, ahimsa, satya, asteya, brahmacharya and aparigraha. Jain monks and nuns observe these vows absolutely whereas householders observe them within their practical limitations, self-discipline and asceticism are thus major focuses of Jainism. The word Jain derives from the Sanskrit word jina, a human being who has conquered all inner passions like attachment, desire, anger, pride, greed, etc. is called Jina. Followers of the path practiced and preached by the jinas are known as Jains, Parasparopagraho Jivanam is the motto of Jainism. Jains trace their history through a succession of teachers and revivers of the Jain path known as Tirthankaras. In the current era, this started with Rishabhdeva and concluded with Mahavira, Jains believe that Jainism is eternal and while it may be forgotten, it will be revived from time to time. The majority of Jains reside in India, with 6-7 million followers, Jainism is smaller than many other major world religions. Outside of India, some of the largest Jain communities are present in Canada, Europe, Kenya, the UK, Suriname, Fiji, contemporary Jainism is divided into two major sects, Digambara and Śvētāmbara. Namokar Mantra is the most common and basic prayer in Jainism, major Jain festivals include Paryushana and Daslakshana, Mahavir Jayanti, and Diwali. The principle of ahimsa is the most fundamental and well-known aspect of Jainism, the everyday implementation of the principle of non-violence is more comprehensive than in other religions and is the hallmark for Jain identity. Jains believe in avoiding harm to others thoughts, speech. According to the Jain text, Purushartha Siddhyupaya, killing any living being out of passions is hiṃsā, Jains extend the practice of nonviolence and kindness not only towards other humans but towards all living beings. For this reason, vegetarianism is a hallmark of Jain identity, if there is violence against animals during the production of dairy products, veganism is encouraged. Jainism has an elaborate framework on types of life and includes life-forms that may be invisible. Therefore, after humans and animals, insects are the living being offered protection in Jain practice. For example, insects in the home are often escorted out instead of killed, Jainism teaches that intentional harm and the absence of compassion make an action more violent
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listen), /-ˈdʒæb/, /ˈpʌndʒɑːb/, /-dʒæb/), also spelled Panjab (land of "five rivers");[1] Punjabi: پنجاب (Shahmukhi); ਪੰਜਾਬ (Gurumukhi), is a geographical and cultural region in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of eastern Pakistan and northern India. Not being a political unit, the boundaries of the region are ill-defined and focus on historical accounts.
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