Understanding Punjab: A Geo-Cultural, Civilizational And Literary Context

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Prof. Ravinder Singh, former Fellow, IIAS, Shimla & Professor, Department of Punjabi, Dyal Singh College, University of Delhi, New Delhi, is an eminent scholar in the fields of Indian Knowledge Traditions, Civilisational Studies, Punjabi Literary and Cultural Studies. He is now expanding his expertise in

Geo-Cultural and Civilizational Studies. With his academic conviction, he has authored more than 23 books in various fields of History, Criticism, Poetry and Travelogue. Beholding versatility, he has anchored several Punjabi Literary Programs at Doordarshan, Delhi and served as a News Reader in the Punjabi News Unit, All India Radio. He has been awarded the Dr. S. Radhakrishnan Gold Medal and the Dr. Bhai Veer Singh Gold Medal for his educational achievements. He has completed a collaborative project sponsored by ICSSR as Co-director and undertaken Major and Minor UGC research projects as Principal Investigator. He has published over 50 Research Papers in various National and International research journals and books & presented more than 120 papers at various International and National Conferences & Seminars. Presently, following the footsteps of his Guru, Prof. Kapil Kapoor, he is carrying the legacy forward by lecturing in the evolving field of Indian Knowledge Traditions, Sanatan Tradition of Dharma and Bhartiya Darshan during the workshops and refresher courses at various universities. His intellectual integrity with more than 29 years of teaching experience, has contributed to delivering new perspectives, methodology and understanding in academic and non-academic areas.

In modern times, the Indian knowledge tradition was marginalized and suppressed again on narrow ideological grounds. It has done considerable damage to identify essential features of our cultural and civilizational identity. It is the time to look afresh at the history of Punjab for the evolution of Punjabi identity through the ages.

Punjab is the geographical region which has provided the space for the evolution of this civilization. When we trace the history and identity of this region, it is important to move from present to past, in other words from present Punjab to Sapt Sindhu.

Punjab is not just five or six hundred years old, it has the longest history in the world of civilizations. Any civilization that has sprouted from a particular geographical region cannot be separated from the identity of its place of origin.

The Dharma conceptualization of socio-cultural order is very important to perceive the idea of Indianness in present times. Dharma represents the intellectual evolution of our civilization manifesting in each aspect of socio-cultural life.

The social reform movements created a dislocation in the traditional social order of Punjab. Initiated with the course of responding and resisting the Christian missionary's proselytizing activities, the Indian Dharma-centric social order disintegrated and began to form exclusive religious bodies. It also resulted in the loss of the fundamental Civilizational characteristics of Indianness like inclusiveness and pluralism.

In the present context, when we talk about Punjab and its social order, the prominent argument for discussion revolves around the Sikh identity.

Punjab has a long history of its rich heritage survived through literary traditions. Presently, Punjab's literary history does not talk about the roots of its tradition reaching ancient times. Punjabi as a language may have evolved in a few hundred years

as in its present form but it has a direct connection with Sanskrit. The Punjabi language developed through the Shauraseni, Prakrit and Apabhramsha in the medieval period. The present Punjabi language developed as an evolution from the earlier languages around the 11th century, with some influence from the pre-Indo-Aryan languages. Punjabi is primarily written in two scripts - Gurmukhi and Shahmukhi. The Gurmukhi alphabets are derived from the Landa alphabets that have roots in the Brahmi alphabet. That is how Punjabi in its present form evolved from the 11th century and with its unique script from the 15th century. However, the relation of the language and its script with the tradition of literature cannot be fixed to ascertain its beginning and progression. The evolution of language takes hundreds of years and it is hard to locate the particular time to differentiate it from its root language. Likewise, literature and its tradition is a continuous phenomenon; it can be located in its geo-cultural space only, not with linguistic factors. Literature, as an expression of socio-cultural living, has its roots in the civilization of a particular geo-cultural space. In this context, literature and

its tradition find their roots in the ancient civilization of India, which was Sapt Sindhu at that time and Punjab at present. Punjabi is one of the prominent modern Indian languages.

It has its origin in the classical Sanskrit language (or Vaidiki) in which Vedic knowledge texts were composed. In the words of eminent scholars like Bhai Jodh Singh, Sanskrit is, in a way, old Punjabi. Passing through various stages of natural development (like Prakrit and Apabhramsha), it continues to be a vehicle of literary creation and knowledge production apart from interpersonal communication. This rich heritage of knowledge runs from Rigveda in the classical era to Guru Granth Sahib in the middle ages in an identifiable manner. During the Middle Ages, Punjab passed through an unprecedented destabilizing political turmoil and plunder as a result of Turk-Mongol invasions. These invaders brought along with them an alien (Islamic/Abrahamic) civilization which tried to dominate and suppress the native Dharma traditions. The saint poets of the Bhakti movement and Sikh Gurus confronted the onslaughts of this civilization with the help of their spiritually inspired poetic discourse (Vani). The significance of these Saint-poets lies, in a way, in resisting colonization of the Indian mind. In modern times, this knowledge tradition was marginalized and suppressed again on narrow ideological grounds. It has done considerable damage to identify essential features of our cultural and civilizational identity. It is the time to look afresh at the history of Punjab for the evolution of Punjabi identity through the ages. Hopefully, this will help us in relocating our literary tradition in a proper geo-cultural and civilizational context.

Punjabi literary tradition has its roots in the land of five rivers (Punjab), Numerous races, tribes, clans and peoples have contributed to creating the uniqueness of Punjab's identity, which is purely pluralistic. It has a distinct socio-cultural identity that has been put to the test time and again. In the present time, when Punjab and its identity are at stake, it is pertinent to find the reasons and answers for this. Punjab has survived through the ages and it is struggling in the present time because of its shrinking political boundaries. Punjab lives beyond political boundaries. It is an entity of a geographical region of five rivers. For this reason, political boundaries failed to divide or eliminate the very core Identity of Punjabis. Punjab identifies itself with the Indic civilization based on its ancient knowledge tradition.

So the origin and development of the Punjabi language, literature and culture is primarily connected with a geographic region located in the north-western part of the Indian subcontinent, also referred to as Sapt Sindhu. This geographical region is considered to be the cradle of Indic Civilization, which is one of the most ancient and continuing civilizations of the world.

This civilization is a Dharma-centric and knowledge-oriented civilization. Here, the word Dharma stands for a universal moral order operating in the cosmos. It has given rise to four major Dharma traditions, namely, Sanatan Dharma, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism. The ideas of a permanent, self-dependent, ever-present, ultimate reality (Brahman-ब्रह्म), the impermanent, ever-changing, phenomenal world (Jagat जगत) and the living beings inhabiting this phenomenal world (Jiva-जीव) are the core concepts constructing the worldview of this civilization. Posting a fundamental unity of Jiva and Brahman, it presents a philosophy of life (Advaita-अद्वैत) in which realization of the ultimate reality (Moksha-मोक्ष) is the core concern of all beings. This philosophy of life defines and conceptualizes the relationship between the cosmos, nature and human beings in a harmonious manner. Thus, the core element of any civilization and its development is the Knowledge Tradition which constitutes its characteristics and uniqueness and differentiates from others in a very distinct manner. In the Indian context, Brahmanic and Non-Brahmanic ideas became the earliest traceable element on which two separate ideologies were evolving and constructing the sociology of mankind.

Vedic knowledge system delivered an explanation of Creation as Brahman and to learn about these schemas, the created one can experience it within in many ways.