Punjabi Hindus

Punjabi Hindusare adherents ofHinduismwho identifyethnically,linguistically,culturally, andgenealogicallyasPunjabisand are natives of thePunjab regionof theIndian subcontinent. Punjabi Hindus are the third-largest religious group of the Punjabi community, after thePunjabi Muslimsand thePunjabi Sikhs. While Punjabi Hindus mostly inhabit the Indian state ofPunjab, as well asHaryana,Himachal Pradesh,Delhi, andChandigarhtoday, many have ancestry across the greater Punjab region, which waspartitionedbetweenIndiaandPakistanin 1947.
Hinduismis the oldest recorded religion practiced by thePunjabi people.Thehistorical Vedic religionof theVedic period(1500–500 BCE) constituted the religious ideas and practices in Punjab, and centred primarily in the worship ofIndra, the Hindu god of heaven and lightning.The Vedic tribes moved further eastwards in the northernIndus Valleyand towards theGanges-Yamuna doabduring the late Vedic Period, and Brahminism developed out of the Vedic origins in theKurukshetraarea. The religion of the Vedic Period is one of the precursors of Hinduism, and the Vedic period ended when theHindu synthesisdeveloped out of the interaction between Brahminism,Sramanism, and local religions.
The bulk of theRigvedawas composed in the Punjab region between circa 1500 and 1200 BCE,while later Vedic scriptures were composed more eastwards, between theYamunaandGangesrivers. An ancient Indian law book called theManusmriti, developed byBrahminHindu priests, shaped Punjabi religious life from 200 BCE onward.
ProminentIndian nationalistsfrom Punjab, such asLala Lajpat Rai, belonged to theArya Samaj. The Arya Samaj, aHindu reformistsect was active in propagating their message in Punjab.In the early part of the 20th century, the Samaj and organisations inspired by it, such as Jat Pat Todak Mandal, were active in campaigning against caste discrimination.Other activities in which the Samaj engaged included campaigning for the acceptance ofwidow remarriageandwomen's education.
During thecolonial era, the practice ofreligious syncretismamong Punjabi Hindus andPunjabi Muslimswas noted and documented by officials in census reports:
Approximately 3 million Punjabi Hindus migrated fromWest PunjabandNorth-West Frontier Province(present-day Pakistan) toEast PunjabandDelhi(present-day India) during thePartition.
This split the former British province of Punjab between theDominion of Indiaand theDominion of Pakistan. The mostlyMuslimwestern part of the province became Pakistan'sPunjab province; the mostlySikhand Hindu eastern part became India's East Punjab state (later divided into the new states ofPunjab,HaryanaandHimachal Pradesh). Many Hindus and Sikhs lived in the west, and many Muslims lived in the east, and the fears of all such minorities were so great that the Partition saw many people displaced and much intercommunal violence. Some have described the violence in Punjab as a retributive genocide.
The newly formed governments had not anticipated, and were completely unequipped for, a two-way migration of such staggering magnitude, and massive violence and slaughter occurred on both sides of the new India-Pakistan border. Estimates of the number of deaths vary, with low estimates at 200,000 and high estimates at 2,000,000. The worst case of violence among all regions is concluded to have taken place in Punjab.
After the Partition, Sikh leaders and political parties demanded a"Punjabi Suba"(Punjabi Province) where Punjabi language written in theGurumukhiscript would be the language of the state in North India.
At the instigation of theArya Samaj, many Punjabi Hindus in present-day Ambala, Una, and Sirsa statedHindias their mother tongue in the censuses of 1951 and 1961. Some areas of the erstwhile East Punjab state where Hindi,Haryanvi, andWestern Pahari-speaking Hindus formed the majority, became part of the newly created states ofHaryanaandHimachal Pradeshwhere Hindi was declared the state language. This was in contrast with the primarily Punjabi-speaking locals in some regions of the newly created states.A direct result of the trifurcation of East Punjab into three states made Punjab a Sikh-majority state in India. Today, Punjabi Hindus make up approximately 38.5% population of present Punjab State of India.
In the Indian state ofPunjab, Punjabi Hindus make up approximately 38.5% of the state's population; numbering 10.7 million and are a majority in theDoabaregion. Punjabi Hindus form a majority in five districts of Punjab, namely,Pathankot,Jalandhar,Hoshiarpur,FazilkaandShaheed Bhagat Singh Nagardistricts.
During the 1947 partition, many Hindus fromWest PunjabandNorth-West Frontier Provincesettled in Delhi. Determined from 1991 and 2015 estimates, Punjabi Hindus form approximately 24 to 35 percent of Delhi's population;based on 2011 official census counts out of a total population of 16.8 million, this amounts to between 4 and 5.9 million people.
Punjabi Hindus form between approximately 8 and 10 percent ofHaryana's population and are very much influential in the state politics.Based on 2011 official census counts out of a total population of 25.4 million, this amounts to between 2.03 and 2.54 million people.
Following the large-scale exodus that took place during the 1947 partition, there remains a small Punjabi Hindu community in Pakistan today. According to the2017 Census, there are about 200,000 Hindus in Punjab province, forming approximately 0.2% of the total population.Much of the community resides in the primarily rural South Punjab districts ofRahim Yar KhanandBahawalpurwhere they form 3.12% and 1.12% of the population respectively,while the rest are concentrated in urban centres such asLahore.In 2006, the last functioning Hindu temple in Lahore, once the cultural capital of Punjabi Hindus, was destroyed to make way for a multi-story commercial building, and thus the millennia-old history of Hindus in Lahore came to an end.
Largediasporacommunities exist in many countries including inCanada, theGulf Countries,Australia, theUnited States, and theUnited Kingdom.
As in many other parts of India, Hinduism in Punjab has adapted over time and has become a synthesis of culture and history.
AsHindusbelieve that dharma is universal and evolves with time, many Hindus also value other spiritual paths and religious traditions. They believe that any traditions that are equally able to nurture one'sAtmanshould be accepted and taught. Hinduism itself encourages any being to reach their own self-realization in their own unique way either throughBhagavanor through other means of devotion and meditation.
The Punjabi Hindus continue heterogeneous religious practices in spiritual kinship with Sikhism. This not only includes veneration of theSikh gurusin private practice but also visits to Sikhgurdwarasin addition to Hindu temples.
According to Anjali Gera Roy, The Hindu Punjabis ofWestern Punjabsettled away from their ancestral homeland during 1947 partition, speak a hybrid language based onPunjabiandHindi(or Hindi with Punjabi accent).
Udasiis a religious sect of asceticsadhuscentered in Punjab Region. The Udasis were key interpreters of the Sikh philosophy and the custodians of important Sikh shrines until theAkali movement. They brought many converts into the Sikh fold during the 18th and the early 19th centuries.However, their religious practices border on a syncretism ofSikhismand Hinduism. When theSingh Sabha, dominated byTat KhalsaSikhs, redefined the Sikh identity in the early 20th century, the Udasimahantswere expelled from the Sikh shrines. Since then, the Udasis have increasingly regarded themselves as Hindus rather than Sikhs.
Numerous Punjabi Hindus areNanakpanthi, who revereGuru Nanakalongside their Hindu deities but without following the other gurus, and nor identify asSikhsin terms of religious affiliation; at the time of the 1891 census ofBritish Punjab, it has been estimated that, out of the 1,8 million Sikhs around 579,000 were Hindu Nanakpanthis, but in later classifications the definitions of "Hindu" and "Sikh" would be more precise and the Hindu Nanakpanthis would stop being counted as "Sikhs".
TheArya Samajwas aHindu reformistorganization founded in the 1870s byDayananda Saraswati, and while he was fromGujarat, the movement had a lot of influence among Punjabi Hindus, especially theKhatrisandAroras, the Arya Samajis being social reformers who aimed to promotemonotheismand were against what they called "supersititions" such as idolatry, wanted to rise the literacy rates (especially for women) and were fightingcaste discrimination.
Punjabi Hindu temples historically had various names depending on the associated denomination, such asShivala(Shaivisttemple),Devidwara(Shaktisttemple), orThakurdwara(Vaishnavisttemple).Thakurdwara complexes often had asamadh(samadhi) mausoleum dedicated to the founder of the temple and adharamsala(building for accommodating pilgrims and ascetics, such asbairagis).Devidwaras were devoted to the worship of thedevi(goddesses).Temples often have various deities as their central focus in the form of amurti(idol), with there being no general uniformity in this regard.Hindu worshipping practices at a temple are more individualistic in-nature rather than congregational.
The main room or area of a temple will house the deity in the form of a murti, with this space being known asgarbha griha(sanctum sanctorum), which is the "heart" or inner-most point of the temple.Also, there is a passageway that allows forcircuambulationof the garbha griha space, which is a requirement after prayers are given.Architecturally, there is usually a dome or spire structure built over the garbha griha.Another feature is a small passageway called theantrala(vestibule), which connects the garbha griha andmandapa(pillard hall) spaces together.The mandapa is a pavilion that allows the devotees to congregate.Temples are built on a raised, staired platform with one entryway, with the entrance-porch being called aardh-mandapa.