The Role of Punjabi Language in Self-identification of Punjabi
Community
By L. V. Khokhlova
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The aim of this paper is to analyze the
changing role of language factor in self-identification of Punjabi community
during British rule and beyond.
Punjabi community has main common features
that usually constitute ethnicity: shared territory, history, geography and
cultural roots. The basis of common cultural heritage is common language. There
are controversies among scholars concerning the earliest traces of Punjabi
language. The verses by Sheikh Farid found in the Adi Granth are usually
considered to be a clear link in the descent of modern Punjabi from Multani
dialect [Sekhon & Duggal 1992].
Some scholars ascribe ‘Shloke Shaikh Farid
ke’ incorporated into the Adi Granth to Farid-ud-din Ganj-i-Shakar (1173 –
1265), others attribute them to Farid Sani, the spiritual descendent of
Ganj-i-Shakar.
There is no unanimity over the life time of
Farid Sani as well. Sometimes it is fixed from 1450 to 1554, sometimes from
1450 to 1575. Some scholars argue that the ideas expressed by the author of
‘Shloke Shaikh Farid ke’ betray the first phase of influence of Vaishnava
Vedantic Bhakti (i.e. a period which begins from the middle of 15-th century.
[Sharda 1974; 107]. Besides that there is vivid Kabir’s influence on Baba
Farid’s compositions. As Kabir’s life-time is fixed from 1398 till 1520, it
seems most reasonable to attribute Sheikh Farid’s poetry to the period between
1450 and 1554.
As there exists no authentic documents
concerning the life of both sufi poets, only a careful analysis of the inner
structure of the verses – both from linguistic and ideological point of view –
may shed more light on this problem. 2 Pakistan Vision Vol 10 No 1
The
earliest available prose works in Punjabi are the Janam Sakhis, hagiographic
stories about life and teachings of the first Sikh Guru Nanak (1469-1539). The
earliest Janam Sakhis belong to the 17-th century [McLeod 1980]. They were
popular mostly in Sikh community, while Farid’s poetry, folk songs and Qissa stories constituted the common heritage of three main religious communities
of the Punjab – Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims.
The earliest Qissas were those of Heer and Ranjha composed by a Hindu Arora Damodar Gulati, and
of Mirza and Sahiban narrated by a Muslim Jat Pilu, both contemporaries of the
fifth Sikh Guru Arjun Dev (1563-1606). Most popular among Punjabis were the
love stories of Heer and Ranjha, Sassi and Punnu, Sohni and Mahival etc.
narrated by poets like Ahmed Yar (born in 1768), Kadir Yar (born in 1805), Amam
Baksh (1778 – 1863) and especially Waris Shah (1735 – 1784).
In spite of developed literary tradition,
Punjabi was never the state language of the province until independence.
Maharaja Ranjit Singh patronized Punjabi, but Persian continued to be the
language of the court. It is worth mentioning that literacy in the Sikh kingdom
was far more widespread than in other provinces.
On 5-th April 1849 Punjab stopped to exist
as a sovereign state. In 1857 the Govt. was taken from the East India Company’s
hands directly by the British crown. British government spread out a network of
telegraph and railways, developed irrigation. Between 1878 and 1918 the
irrigated area increased four-fold. The Punjab became not only the sword-arm,
but also the granary of India. Food began to be exported outside the Punjab.
English education brought new modern ideas
of democracy, human rights, individualism etc. These new ideas were spreading
quickly inside the newly created professional middle class. There appeared new
press free to criticize the government, inform and lead public opinion.
One might expect that propagation of new
methods of organizing the society on secular, politico-economic lines would
result in national consolidation of Punjabis, but instead they were
consolidating on religious basis.
It is not possible nowadays to interview
Punjabis of 17-th 19-th centuries asking them about their values hierarchy:
were they first of all Punjabis and then Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs or The Role of Punjabi Language in
Self-identification 3
vice versa. Most
probably they would not realize the importance of the controversy that was
imposed on the people in Modern times.
There exists a rather convincing theory
that national self-identification prevailed over religious one in the coastal
regions of South Asia like Gujarat and Bengal. The development of trade and
capitalist economic relations expedited awakening of national consciousness in
these regions. As for Central India, U.P, Punjab etc. self-identification on
religious basis remained for a long time more important for its population than
the national consciousness [Brass 1974]. That theory explains why language
movements leaded by aristocracy and intellectuals are never supported by masses
and destined to be defeated both in India and Pakistan, if they are not based
on religious platform. Examples are Siraiki movement in Pakistan, Rajasthani
and Maithili movements in India. On the contrary, religiously-based language
movements usually win. For example, the movement for a separate linguistic
state of Punjab in India was successful because it was supported by Sikh
masses.
Below I shall try to analyze several other
reasons for religious rather than ethnic orientation of Punjabis at the time of
the British rule and beyond.
One of the most important reasons is well
known: British pursued communal policies, supporting different religious
communities at different times.
After the mutiny of
1857 the privileged Muslims had been deprived of their power and position.
Their traditional occupations like land, civil and military service were no
longer available to them. Civil services were monopolized by the Hindus, in
most cases outsiders, the educated Hindus of Bengal and Madras. Military service
became a privilege of Sikhs whom the British Government supported as religious
community. The British Governor-General ordered that all Sikhs entering the
British army should receive the Pahul - a special ceremony of
purification and observe strictly the code of Sikh conduct. The
Governor-General also encouraged translation of the Sikh scripxure - Guru
Granth Sahib into English. This work was planned to be done at Government
expense and consultation with the Sikh authorities. 4 Pakistan Vision Vol 10 No 1
But by the
beginning of the 20-th century the British sympathies started changing. Various
strata of Hindu and Sikh societies were not satisfied with British rule.
Commercial classes suffered in competition with the West both in their internal
and external trade, intellectuals needed more liberties. Watching mostly Hindus
taking lead in Home Rule agitations as well as in artistic, spiritual and
educational movements, the British decided that the distrust of the Muslims
should be abandoned and they should be encouraged to oppose the growing Hindu
national movement.
The sympathies towards Sikhs also withdrew
by 1905. Creation of the anti-British Gadar party in 1913 made the British
Government even more suspicious of the Sikh community. Having transferred their
sympathies to the Muslims, the British supported the building of their own
political platform, the All-India Muslim League in 1906.
In Punjab itself the British also pursued
communal policies: since 1887 they supported the Muslim West Punjab in whose
prosperity the Sikh Jats participated only through migration and neglected the
famine-ridden East Punjab with Hindu and Sikh population.
Paradoxically, democratic reforms
strengthened religious consolidation of Indian population. Through the
Minto-Morley Reform of 1909, the British had enlarged the sphere of Indian
participation in the Government. As the result all communities fought to
increase their representation. When the Muslims got separate electorates (the
right to choose their representation) both at the centre and in the states
where they were in minority, the Sikh demanded similar rights and started
agitations when their demands were taken no notice of.
That does not mean that three main
religious communities of the Punjab were always hostile to each other. Vise
versa, they used to unite against the British, but political life in Punjab
under British rule was organized predominantly on religious basis. Sometimes
there appeared caste unions. Thus, the Jats Hindus and Muslims forged a common
political platform with the Jat Sikhs against non-Jat Hindus, Sikhs and
Scheduled castes. But there were no movements for joining up on ethnic,
national or language principle. The
Role of Punjabi Language in Self-identification 5
One more important
reason for communal consolidation of the population in Punjab was the onslaught
of Christianity, patronized by the new rulers. It was threatening the spiritual
heritage of every community and naturally caused ‘defensive’ reaction. Most endangered
was the Sikh community. Even Dalip Singh, the son of Ranjit Sing had been
converted into Christianity. At the same time the basics of Sikh religion had
been corrupxed by the resurgence of Brahmanism both at the time of Ranjit
Singh’s and at the time of British rule. The neo-Sikhs converted during Ranjit
Singh’s period were fast merging back into their ancient faith – Hinduism.
Under these
circumstances the Sikhs started the ‘Singh Sabha’ reform movement. It was
initiated in Amritsar in 1873. Its social basis initially consisted of big
landlords who were later joined by students and intellectuals; all of them were
inspired by the idea that strict measures should urgently be taken for
protecting the Sikh faith. Branches of ‘Singh Sabha’ were created in different
parts of Punjab, and very soon two main groups have emerged: the supporters of
Amritsar Sabha came to be known as ‘Traditional Khalsa’ (Sanatan Khalsa), and
the more radical group, based initially in Lahore, acquired the name of ‘True
Khalsa’ (Tat Khalsa ). The conservative Sanatan Sikhs considered the Sikhs and
their traditions as part of the wider Hindu world while their opponents, the
followers of Tat Khalsa, were of the opinion that Sikhs should be treated as
the community absolutely different from the Hindus. The main ideas of Tat
Khalsa Sikhs were perfectly expressed by Kahn Singh Nabha in his booklet ‘Ham
Hindu nahin’ – ‘We are not Hindus’ published in 1899. [Nabha 1981]. The author
insisted on separate Sikh identity and wrote that Sikhs should never observe
castes, visit the shrines belonging to followers of other religions and should
abstain from practicing non-Sikh rituals. Some famous Sikh writers and
reformists like Bhai Vir Singh, Bhai Jodh Singh etc. at the beginning of 20-th
century talked of the Sikhs as a qaum (nation).
Interestingly, the inspiration for all
reform movements in Sikhism came either from Sahjdhari Sikhs or recent converts
to Sikhism from Hinduism. Master Tara Singh (1885-1967) was a convert from
Hinduism while yet a student, his earlier name being Nanak Chand. 6 Pakistan Vision Vol 10 No 1
The
reformist movements in Hinduism were not only trying to defend their religion
by drawing demarcation lines between different religious communities, but also
organized campaigns against Muslims. The Arya Samaj campaigned in 1875 for Shudhi – re-conversion of Muslims, for ban on caw-slaughter etc. The metaphorical
language of many political leaders, including great Mahatma Gandhi, was
oriented towards Hindu mythology. Identifying swaraj and Ramraj whatever it
might mean for Mahatma, could easily hurt the Muslim sentiments.
Divided between
three religious communities, Punjabis spoke the same language which had no
official status. The department of Public Instruction opened by British in 1855
retained Persian as the language of records. Later Persian was replaced by
Urdu. Urdu became the medium of instruction for boys (old madarsas and maktibs
were continued) and the language of administration and justice at the lower
levels. The court munshis and the school teachers brought largely from U.P.
were quickly spreading Urdu in Punjab. The Arabic scripx and vocabulary were
already known to the educated elite. Since the time of Galiph Umar, the
educational policy of the Muslims towards their conquered lands did not put any
obstacles in the way of Muslim settlers and converts using local languages,
provided these were written in Arabic scripx. Arabic scripx was employed for
writing both in Urdu and in Punjabi by all communities, Gurmukhi – mostly by
Sikhs. It seems that the notion of scripx as religious symbol was not as
important at that time as it is nowadays. Some modern Sikh scholars do not
speak about sacred qualities of Gurmukhi, vise versa, refuting the common
belief that the Gurmukhi scripx was introduced by the second Sikh Guru Angad
Dev; they argue that it existed long before the first Sikh Guru Nanak and Guru
Nanak wrote an acrostic called the patti or tablet in Rag Asa in
which he used all the thirty five alphabets of Gurmukhi scripx with their
sound-values as these are current today.
This fact is supposed to prove that
Gurmukhi used to be the scripx used for writing in Punjabi and may be used
again by different communities. [Sekhon & Duggal 1992]
Later English became the language of High
court, High school and administration. Its spreading caused the arrival of more
newcomers - Bengali Babus. The
Role of Punjabi Language in Self-identification 7
Maharaja of Patiala
gave Punjabi the status of State language along with Urdu in 1911. It was in
1942 that the teaching of Punjabi was made compulsory in the primary and middle
schools in the state. The next landmark was the declaration of Punjabi as the
court language in the then PEPSU state in 19481. Punjabi was included in the Eighth Schedule
of the Constitution of India and came to be recognized as one of the fifteen
languages of the country. However, the controversy about the status of Punjabi
in the Punjab persisted until the creation of Punjabi Suba in 1966.
At the time of partition (in June 1947)
there were attempxs to seek the support of Gandhi for a Punjabi-speaking state
in India being carved out of what was soon going to be East Punjab. The first
sharp reaction of Gandhi was negative as he suspected the desire to form a Sikh
state. When told that no single community will be in majority in this state,
(the Muslims had not yet migrated to Pakistan) he calmed down and agreed to
discuss that proposal. But this offer was never taken up by the Sikhs with any
seriousness. Soon riots and the wholesale migration of the minorities from both
parts of Punjab as well as assassination of Mahatma Gandhi by a Hindu fanatic
on 30-rd January 1948 made this offer out of question.
Punjabi was denied the status of a state
language, mainly because the Punjab Hindus opxed for Hindi for political
reasons both at the Census and in the schools. A scheme called the Sachar
formula (Mr. Bhim Sen Sachar was then the Chief Minister of Punjab) was evolved
in the early years of freedom by which the study of both Punjabi and Hindi
became compulsory after the third primary stage, but the choice of the medium
of
1 The Patiala and East Punjab
States Union (PEPSU) was created out of the merger of several Punjabi
princely states on July 15, 1948, formally becoming a state
of India in 1950. The capital and principal city was Patiala, and the last
Maharaja of Patiala, Yadvindra Singh, served as Rajpramukh (equivalent
to the Governor) of the state during its short existence. On November 1, 1956, PEPSU was merged into Punjab state. Part of the former state of
PEPSU presently lie within the state of Haryana, which was separated from Punjab on 1 November 1966. 8 Pakistan Vision Vol 10 No 1
instruction was
left to the parents, the Hindus thus freely opxing for Hindi and Sikhs for
Punjabi. This divided the two communities further apart. Even the academic
world got divided on communal lines. In 1949, The Punjab University, dominated
by the Arya Samaaj elements, decided that Punjabi could not be considered a
‘fit’ medium of instruction, even if the Sikhs would (as they did) agree to
both Nagri and Gurmukhi as its scripxs. The Punjab became a battle ground for
the language issue.
In fact both sides were fighting on
communal basis. Akali Dal took little interest in the development of Punjabi
language. This statement may be proved by the fact that no one of the Sikh
scholars who really contributed to enriching Sikh literature like Bhai Vir
Singh, Bhai Jodh Singh, Prof Teja Singh etc. were ever nominated to the
S.G.P.C.
After many agitations launched by the Akali
Dal, a compromise called the Regional formula was finally accepxed by all
parties in 1956. The Punjab was divided into two regions – Punjabi and Hindi.
Punjabi became the sole medium in the Punjabi region and was to be compulsorily
taught in the Hindi region as well (and visa-versa). However, the Hindus never
opxed for it.
The Central Government could not agree to
form a linguistic state in Punjab because of strong Hindu opposition. J. L.
Nehru wrote in 1961 to Fateh Singh: [Singh Gopal 1979; 727].
‘It is not out of any discrimination
against the Punjab or distrust of the Sikhs that the process of forming a
linguistic state was not possible. … Punjabi was essentially the dominant
language of the Punjab state, common to both Hindus and Sikhs, though it is not
possible to accepx the principle of purely linguistic states in the case of
Punjab’.
It was on March 2, 1966 that the Congress
Working Committee passed a resolution about the division of the existing state
of Punjab and forming a new state with Punjabi as the state language. The
Punjab (State) Language Act 1967 declared Punjabi in Gurmukhi scripx as the
sole official language of the new Punjab State at all levels. Punjabi came to
be accepxed as a medium of instruction at the school and college stage. It is
allowed as alternative medium of examination for certain subjects at the
post-graduate level. The
Role of Punjabi Language in Self-identification 9
However, the
division did not demarcate the Punjabi-speaking areas from the Hindi-speaking
ones. It only demarcated the Sikh – dominated areas from the Hindu-populated
lands.
Pakistan was created according to the basic
principle ‘one nation (Muslim), one language (Urdu), one state (Pakistan)’.
Punjabis actively supported this principle. There were no serious ethnic
movements for widening the social functions of the mother tongue of Punjabis
who constitute the majority of population. One of possible explanations may be
that ethnic movements are usually based on grievances of the disadvantaged
groups concerning ethnic disparities, but Punjabi-speaking community is
anything but a disadvantaged ethnic group. Influential class of rich Punjabi
landlords, the largest in absolute numbers educated middle class, which
provides most of the personnel for white-collar professions and the pool for
recruitment into civil and military service – all that makes both general
public as well as political analysts consider Punjabis as a privileged group.
Prima facie Punjabi occupies
polar positions in Pakistan and in Indian Punjab. In the first case Punjabi
language has officially all necessary social functions, in the second – it is
used only in some radio and TV programs and by several writers and poets.
However, the state of Punjabi in Indian Punjab is not as brilliant as it might
be.
S. S. Deol [Deol] made a detailed analysis
of social background, language attitudes and motivation for choice of a
language for the degree of M.A. in English or Punjabi or Hindi. The respondents
comprised 253 post graduate students doing M.A. in English/Punjabi/Hindi at the
departments of English, Punjabi and Hindi at Punjab University Chandigarh,
Punjabi University Patiala and Guru Nanak Dev University Amritsar. Among those
who chose English as the medium of instruction 85,1% belonged to urban
population and 14,9 % – to rural. Children of the educated parents, students
from high income families, etc. usually preferred English, not Punjabi as the
medium of instruction as the latter would give less opportunities in finding
good jobs in future. The young people who were educated in English (most of
them had also graduated from English medium schools) would hardly read anything
in their mother tongue. At best they would listen to Punjabi songs and 10 Pakistan Vision Vol 10 No 1
talk in Punjabi
with their parents and friends. It seems that in case Punjabi in Pakistan
acquires the same social functions it has in India, the language attitudes of
the educated people inside the society would practically remain the same.
Concluding Remarks
The major tendency in academic research is
to regard ethnicity as composed of self-identification of a group, as well as
its external percepxion through others on the basis of different aspects, the
main of them being ancestry, culture, and language. Punjabis in India and
Pakistan still share belief in common descent and partially have common
cultural practices. Such branches of their culture as folklore and folk songs
have escaped division: for example, Qissa stories about Heer and Ranjha,
etc. are an inalienable part of their common culture.
At first sight Punjabi language represents
a rather unusual case of self-identifying feature: the powerful elite of the
community is not making enough efforts to preserve and develop its mother
tongue and widen its social functions. The situation is thus absolutely
different from what can be observed in the historical processes of national
development in Europe where in almost every country the developing bourgeoisie
has first of all made efforts to standardize and promote its mother tongue
converting it into the main means of communication at all levels and
facilitating through this the language functioning as an important tool of
national formation.
However, Punjabi example is not unique: the
same language attitudes of educated elite may be observed both in different
regions of South Asia and beyond, for example in the state of Tatarstan in
Russia. That means that the modern epoch of globalization has created a new
tendency in the processes of national development: ethnic groups usually start
language movements in case they feel economically and/or politically depressed
and hope to gain some privileges deemed to become the successful results of
this movement.
In case of privileged ethnic groups like
Punjabis in Pakistan the mother tongue still remains an integral part of the
process of self-identification (not being able to speak Punjabi actually means
to be an alien person) but at the same time little The Role of Punjabi Language in
Self-identification 11
importance is given
to widening of the social functions of the mother tongue.
Notes and References
Ahmed, Feroz. 1997. Ethnicity, State and
National Integration. Unpublished work serialized by Dawn, Karachi
Brass, P.R.1974. Language, Religion and
Politics in North India. London, New York, Cambridge university press.
Deol, Sukhdev Singh. 2006. Understanding
the Socio-economic, Socio-linguistic Situation and Social Psychology behind
Learning a Language in Punjab. Indian Journal of Applied Linguistics,
vol. 32, no 1&2, Jan-Dec.
Grewal, J.S. 1997. Historical
Perspectives on Sikh Identity. Patiala, Punjabi University.
McLeod, W.H. 1980. The B40 Janam-Sakhi.
Amritsar, Guru Nanak Dev University.
Nabha, Kahan Singh (Bhai). 1981 (reprint of
5-th ed.). Ham Hindu Nahin. Amritsar: Dharam Parchar Committee (SGPC).
Nizami, Khalid Ahmad. 1955. Life and
Times of Farid-ud-din Ganj-i-Shakar, Aligarh: Department of History, Muslim
University.
Sharda, S.R. 1974. Sufi Thought.
Delhi, Munshiram Manoharlal.
Sekhon, Sant Singh & Duggal, Kartar
Singh. 1992. History of Punjabi Literature. Delhi, Sahitya Academi.
Singh Gopal. 1979. History of the Sikh People New
Delhi, World Sikh University Press.
Source:
http://www.pu.edu.pk/psc/journal/PDF-FILES/Artical%20-%201.pdf
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