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88-607: Arora is a community of Punjab and Sindh , comprising both Hindus and Sikhs . The name is derived from their ancestral place Aror , Sindh . In 712, the Arora people are said to have left Aror and started to settle in the cities of Punjab , mainly in South Punjab . However, according to W. H. McLeod , many Aroras originally came from the Pothohar area in North Punjab. Historically,
176-573: A hostile relationship with the Kingdom of Taxila which was ruled by his extended family. When the armies of Alexander crossed the Indus in its eastward migration, probably in Udabhandapura , he was greeted by the ruler of Taxila, Omphis . Omphis had hoped to force both Porus and Abisares into submission leveraging the might of Alexander's forces and diplomatic missions were mounted, but while Abisares accepted
264-463: A king would treat another king". Despite the apparently one-sided results, Alexander was impressed by Porus and chose to not depose him. Not only was his territory reinstated but also expanded with Alexander's forces annexing the territories of Glausaes, who ruled to the northeast of Porus' kingdom. After Alexander's death in 323 BCE , Perdiccas became the regent of his empire, and after Perdiccas's murder in 321 BCE , Antipater became
352-674: A portion of Bactria , while Chandragupta granted Seleucus 500 elephants. The chief of the Mauryan military was also always a Yaudheyan warrior according to the Bijaygadh Pillar inscription, which states that the Yaudheyas elected their own chief who also served as the general for the Mauryans. The Mauryan military was also made up vastly of men from the Punjab Janapadas. Chandragupta's rule
440-654: A power until the Ghurid conquest of Lahore by Muhammad of Ghor in 1186, deposing the last Ghaznavid ruler Khusrau Malik . Following the death of Muhammad of Ghor in 1206 by Punjabi assassins near the Jhelum river, the Ghurid state fragmented and was replaced in northern India by the Delhi Sultanate . The Tughlaq dynasty's reign formally started in 1320 in Delhi when Ghazi Malik assumed
528-723: A widespread influenza epidemic disrupted Punjabi society. In 1919, Colonel Reginald Dyer ordered troops under command to fire on a crowd of demonstrators, mostly Sikhs in Amritsar . The Jallianwala massacre fueled the Indian independence movement . Nationalists declared the independence of India from Lahore in 1930 but were quickly suppressed. When the Second World War broke out, nationalism in British India had already divided into religious movements. Many Sikhs and other minorities supported
616-836: Is Punjabi , which is written in India with the Gurmukhi script, and in Pakistan using the Shahmukhi script. The Punjabi language has official status and is widely used in education and administration in Indian Punjab, whereas in Pakistani Punjab these roles are instead fulfilled by the Urdu language. Several languages closely related to Punjabi are spoken in the various parts of the region. Dogri , Kangri , and other western Pahari dialects are spoken in
704-688: Is a forward caste socially, educationally and economically. It was reported that "despite of being uprooted from their homeland", Arora community has high literacy rate . An economic survey conducted by Maharishi Dayanand University states that Arora/Khatri people have good representation both in government as well as private sector. They are both in business, services and other fields. They are "economically well-off and not dependent on money-lending or shopkeeping". They are engaged as " doctors , engineers , administrators and are represented in white-collar jobs ". The Arora were divided in two main sub groups, namely Hindu Arora and Sikh Arora depending upon
792-538: Is a period of heavy rainfall, providing water for crops in addition to the supply from canals and irrigation systems. The transitional period after the monsoon season is cool and mild, leading to the winter season, when the temperature in January falls to 5 °C (41 °F) at night and 12 °C (54 °F) by day. During the transitional period from winter to the hot season, sudden hailstorms and heavy showers may occur, causing damage to crops. The major language
880-771: Is a point of controversy". According to Ethne K. Marenco, the Jat Sikhs were placed at the top in the Sikh caste hierarchy, above the Khatri and Arora Sikhs. In contrast, per the Hindu traditions, "the Khatris and Aroras were accorded Kshatriya status", while "the status of the Jat Sikhs was equated with that of Shudras". Majority of the male members of the Arya Samaj in the late 19th century Punjab came from
968-444: Is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent , comprising areas of modern-day eastern- Pakistan and northwestern - India . Punjab's major cities are Lahore , Faisalabad , Rawalpindi , Gujranwala , Multan , Ludhiana , Amritsar , Sialkot , Chandigarh , Shimla , Jalandhar , Patiala , Gurugram , and Bahawalpur . Punjab grew out of the settlements along the five rivers, which served as an important route to
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#17328548588571056-710: The Mahabharata are chronicled as being fought in what is now the state of Haryana and historic Punjab. The Gandharas , Kambojas , Trigartas , Andhra , Pauravas , Bahlikas ( Bactrian settlers of the Punjab), Yaudheyas , and others sided with the Kauravas in the great battle fought at Kurukshetra . According to Fauja Singh and L. M. Joshi: "There is no doubt that the Kambojas, Daradas, Kaikayas, Andhra, Pauravas, Yaudheyas, Malavas, Saindhavas, and Kurus had jointly contributed to
1144-552: The Arora caste in India. After the conquest of Aror by the Arabs, the Aroras that went back North, towards Lahore, are called Uttaradhi Arora. Uttaradhi (Punjabi), Dakhanadhi (Gujarati Lohana) and Dahre (Sindhi) are sub-groups of the Arora people based on territorial differentiations. 2 . The glossary of tribes and castes in punjab This article about an Indian ethnicity or social group
1232-656: The British Raj , in some parts of Punjab their population was so high that they had to seek employment outside their traditional occupations shopkeeping, accountancy and money-lending For the Hindu merchant castes, Agarwal Banias, Khatris and Aroras, Timber trade was also one of the trades they followed before 1900. However, since 1900 the smallest merchant sect, the Suds, started this trade and later dominated it in eastern Punjab. The Amritsar Gazetteer says: Aroras trace their origin from
1320-564: The Indo-Aryan migrations that overran the region in waves between 1500 BCE and 500 BCE . Frequent intertribal wars stimulated the growth of larger groupings ruled by chieftains and kings, who ruled local kingdoms known as Mahajanapadas . The rise of kingdoms and dynasties in the Punjab is chronicled in the ancient Hindu epics, particularly the Mahabharata . The epic battles described in
1408-624: The Jagannath Temple, Puri , and forced Raja Gajpati of Jajnagar in Orissa to pay tribute. He also laid siege to the Kangra Fort and forced Nagarkot to pay tribute. During this time, Tatar Khan of Greater Khorasan attacked Punjab, but he was defeated and his face slashed by the sword given by Feroz Shah Tughlaq to Raja Kailas Pal who ruled the Nagarkot region in Punjab. Khizr Khan established
1496-562: The Lower Himalayan Range between those two rivers. 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 and Tibet . 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
1584-540: The Near East as early as the ancient Indus Valley civilization , dating back to 3000 BCE , followed by migrations of the Indo-Aryan peoples . Agriculture has been the chief economic feature of the Punjab and formed the foundation of Punjabi culture . The Punjab emerged as an important agricultural region, especially following the Green Revolution during the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s, and has been described as
1672-690: The Partition of India in 1947, the Punjab Province encompassed the present Indian states and union territories of Punjab , Haryana , Himachal Pradesh , Chandigarh , and Delhi , and the Pakistani regions of Punjab , and Islamabad Capital Territory . The predominant ethnolinguistic group of the Punjab region are the Punjabi people , who speak the Indo-Aryan Punjabi language . Punjabi Muslims are
1760-623: The Punjab region . With the help of the small Janapadas of Punjab, he had gone on to conquer much of the North West Indian subcontinent. He then defeated the Nanda rulers in Pataliputra to capture the throne. Chandragupta Maurya fought Alexander's successor in the east, Seleucus when the latter invaded. In a peace treaty, Seleucus ceded all territories west of the Indus and offered a marriage, including
1848-723: The Punjabis ". Per Sikhism, the Arora are divided into four territorial groups: the Uttarādhīs from the north, the Ḍakhaṇās from the south, the Dāhrās from the West and the Sindhīs, from Sindh . The Dāhrās and Ḍakhaṇās are sometimes classed as one groups. Aror is the ancestral town of the Arora community. Little is known about the city's history prior to the Arab invasion in the 8th century CE. The Sauvira Kingdom
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#17328548588571936-552: The Sayyid dynasty , the fourth dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate after the fall of the Tughlaqs . Following Timur 's 1398 sack of Delhi , he appointed Khizr Khan as deputy of Multan ( Punjab ). He held Lahore, Dipalpur, Multan and Upper Sindh. Khizr Khan captured Delhi on 28 May 1414 thereby establishing the Sayyid dynasty. Khizr Khan did not take up the title of sultan , but continued
2024-615: The Shravan Ashtmi fair. Citations Bibliography Punjab Europe North America Oceania Punjab ( / p ʌ n ˈ dʒ ɑː b , - ˈ dʒ æ b , ˈ p ʊ n -/ ; Punjabi: [pə̞ɲˈdʒäːb] ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb ), also known as the Land of the Five Rivers, is a geopolitical, cultural , and historical region in South Asia. It
2112-650: The Sulaiman Range . To the south lay Sindh and Rajputana , while on the east the rivers Jumna and Tons separated it from the United Provinces . In total Punjab had an area of approximately 357 000 km square about the same size as modern day Germany, being one of the largest provinces of the British Raj. It encompassed the present day Indian states of Punjab , Haryana, Chandigarh , Delhi, and some parts of Himachal Pradesh which were merged with Punjab by
2200-533: The University of Toronto anthropologist, Nicola Mooney, the Aroras are of Kshatriya varna, along with the Khatris. Similarly, Grant Evans describes Arora as a "sub-group of the Khatri jati of the Kshatriya Varna". According to one legend, the Aroras are of Kshatriya stock, but dissociated themselves from the other Kshatriyas and escaped prosecution by Parashurama , calling themselves aur (someone else). In
2288-941: The Yaudheya , Trigarta Kingdom , Audumbaras , Arjunayanas , and Kuninda Kingdom . In the 5th and 6th centuries CE, Punjab faced devastating Hunnic invasions, yet the Vardhana dynasty emerged triumphant, ruling over Northern India . The 8th century CE witnessed the Hindu Shahis rise, known for defeating the Saffarid dynasty and the Samanid Empire . Concurrently, the Tomara dynasty and Katoch Dynasty controlled eastern Punjab, resisting Ghaznavid invasions. Islam took hold in Western Punjab under Ghaznavid rule. The Delhi Sultanate then succeeded
2376-605: The province of Punjab . Eventually, a Lieutenant Governorship was formed in Lahore as a direct representative of the Crown . In British India, until the Partition of India in 1947, the Punjab Province was geographically a triangular tract of country of which the Indus River and its tributary the Sutlej formed the two sides up to their confluence, the base of the triangle in the north being
2464-629: The " breadbasket of both India and Pakistan." Punjab's history is a tapestry of conflict, marked by the rise of indigenous dynasties and empires. Following Alexander the Great 's invasion in the 4th century BCE, Chandragupta Maurya allied with Punjabi republics to establish the Maurya Empire . Successive reigns of the Indo-Greek Kingdom , Kushan Empire , and Indo-Scythians followed, but were ultimately defeated by Eastern Punjab Janapadas such as
2552-683: The 19th century, Maharajah Ranjit Singh established the Sikh Empire based in the Punjab. The empire existed from 1799, when Ranjit Singh captured Lahore , to 1849, when it was defeated and conquered in the Second Anglo-Sikh War . It was forged on the foundations of the Khalsa from a collection of autonomous Sikh misls . At its peak in the 19th century, the Empire extended from the Khyber Pass in
2640-445: The 9th century, the Hindu Shahi dynasty originating from the region of Oddiyana , replaced the Taank kingdom, ruling Western Punjab along with eastern Afghanistan. The tribe of the Gakhars / Khokhars , formed a large part of the Hindu Shahi army according to the Persian historian Firishta . The most notable rulers of the empire were Lalliya, Bhimadeva and Jayapala who were accredited for military victories. Lalliya had reclaimed
2728-421: The All-India meeting in 1936, held by the Khatris at Lahore (Pakistan), it was decided that the Aroras, Soods and Bhatias were Khatri for all intents and purposes. And, as such, they should be admitted to the Khatri stock. This interpretation did not find much favour then, but with the lapse of time, it has almost been accepted. Uttaradhi (north), Dakhanadhi (south) and Dahre (west) are three major sub-groups of
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2816-450: The Arora and Khatri merchant castes. In Punjab, the Kshatriya castes who were hierarchically higher than the Aroras and Khatris had been disempowered and thus the Brahmins who had lost their patrons had to turn to these merchant castes. Christophe Jaffrelot explains the attraction of these trading castes to the Arya Samaj as a means of social mobility associated with their prosperity during the British rule. He cites N.G.Barrier to show that
2904-632: The Arora people based on territorial differentiations. Before the independence of India, Arora used to marry in their own sub-group i.e. Uttradhi, Dakkhna or Dahra but after the independence, spheres of permissible arranged matrimonial alliances were widened to include other sub-groups of Arora. British ethnographer Denzil Ibbetson observed that Arora-Khatris were centered in Multan and Derajat (region consisting of Dera Ismail Khan and Dera Ghazi Khan ) which are now part of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa regions of modern-day Pakistan. They conducted business throughout Afghanistan and Central Asia . In
2992-419: The Arora section of the Khatri community had been principally found in West Punjab , in the districts to the south and west of Lahore . Scott Cameron Levi, believes that they are a "sub-caste of the Khatris". After Partition of India , Punjabis who migrated from erstwhile West Punjab were mostly Khatris and Aroras. Studies reveal that "Arora Khatri, Bedi, Ahluwalia etc. are some of the important castes among
3080-664: The Aroras did not constitute a sizeable population in the district. With the migration of the non-Muslim population from Pakistan to India in 1947, they settled here, though in small numbers. The Aroras were generally settled in West Punjab (Pakistan) and in the Firozepur District. Their representation in the eastern districts of the Punjab was not notable. Whatever be their origin, the fact is that they resemble Khatris in certain traits. They are also divided into many groups and castes, Uchanda, Nichanda, etc., but in social life, these groups are of no importance. They intermarry in their groups like others. They also intermarry among Khatris. In
3168-421: The British for administrative purposes (but excluding the former princely states which were later combined into the Patiala and East Punjab States Union ) and the Pakistani regions of the Punjab , Islamabad Capital Territory and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa . In 1901 the frontier districts beyond the Indus were separated from Punjab and made into a new province: the North-West Frontier Province . Subsequently, Punjab
3256-399: The Durrani rulers to carry out military expeditions in India. Moreover, the disappointed princes of India "encouraged Zaman Shah Durrani to invade the subcontinent and overthrow the British" in 1798. To restrict the Afghans in Punjab, Hindu Diwan Kaura Mal Arora "died while fighting against the army of Ahmed Shah Durrani on March 6, 1752". He was the Governor of Multan and had also served as
3344-474: The Ghaznavids in which the Tughlaq dynasty and Sayyid dynasty Sultans are described as Punjabi origin. The 15th century saw the emergence of the Langah Sultanate in south Punjab, acclaimed for its victory over the Lodi dynasty . After the Mughal Empire's decline in the 18th century, Punjab experienced a period of anarchy. In 1799 CE, the Sikh Empire established its rule, undertaking conquests into Kashmir and Durrani Empire held territories, shaping
3432-552: The Hindus, who promised a secular multicultural and multireligious society, and Muslim leaders in Lahore passed a resolution to work for a Muslim Pakistan, making the Punjab region a center of growing conflict between Indian and Pakistani nationalists. At the end of the war, the British granted separate independence to India and Pakistan, setting off massive communal violence as Muslims fled to Pakistan and Hindu and Sikh Punjabis fled east to India. The British Raj had major political, cultural, philosophical, and literary consequences in
3520-403: The Indian subcontinent. Muhammad bin Tughlaq died in March 1351 while trying to chase and punish people for rebellion and their refusal to pay taxes in Sindh and Gujarat . After Muhammad bin Tughlaq's death, the Tughlaq empire was in a state of disarray with many regions assuming independence; it was at this point that Firuz Shah Tughlaq , Ghazi Malik's nephew, took reign. His father's name
3608-501: The Khatris. It is said that Khatris are Khatris of Lahore and Multan, whereas Aroras are Khatris of Aror, modern Rori and Sukkar (Sind) in Pakistan. There is a street in Amritsar named as ‘Arorianwali Gali’. The Aroras seem to have settled in Amritsar during the time of Maharaja Ranjit Singh or even earlier. It is presumed that they migrated to Amritsar from Lahore to which place they might have originally migrated from Sind or Multan. The Hoshiarpur Gazetteer says: Before independence,
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3696-566: The Minister of Lahore twice. Earlier, he led the Lahore Darbar and "made a joint-attack on Multan in 1749", along the Sikhs led by Jassa Singh. Post his victory over Multan, "Diwan Kaura Mall was given the title of Maharaja Bahadur" by the Mughals. Prior to the British colonial rule, Aroras were one of the three main money-lending castes of Punjab. The Aroras were often subjected to oppression and humiliation by peasant communities in muslim-dominated areas of Punjab. Socially discriminatory laws were also passed against them. According to Sugata Bose , it
3784-416: The Mughal era, Saadullah Khan , born into a family of Punjabi agriculturalists belonging to the Thaheem tribe from Chiniot remained grand vizier (or Prime Minister) of the Mughal Empire in the period 1645–1656. Other prominent Muslims from Punjab who rose to nobility during the Mughal Era include Wazir Khan , Adina Beg Arain , and Shahbaz Khan Kamboh . The Mughal Empire ruled the region until it
3872-402: The Province of the Punjab be partitioned. After voting on both sides, partition was decided and the existing Punjab Legislative Assembly was also divided into West Punjab Legislative Assembly and the East Punjab Legislative Assembly. This last Assembly before independence, held its last sitting on 4 July 1947. Historically, Lahore has been the capital of the Punjab region and continues to be
3960-520: The Punjab was known as Sapta Sindhu in the Rigveda or Hapta Hendu in Avesta , translating into "The Land of Seven Rivers", with the other two being Indus and Kabul . The ancient Greeks referred to the region as Pentapotamía ( Greek : Πενταποταμία ), which has the same meaning as that of Punjab. The Punjab region is noted as the site of one of the earliest urban societies, the Indus Valley Civilization which flourished from about 3000 BCE and declined rapidly 1,000 years later, following
4048-529: The Punjab, including the establishment of a new system of education. During the independence movement , many Punjabis played a significant role, including Madan Lal Dhingra , Sukhdev Thapar , Ajit Singh Sandhu , Bhagat Singh , Udham Singh , Kartar Singh Sarabha , Bhai Parmanand , Choudhry Rahmat Ali , and Lala Lajpat Rai . At the time of partition in 1947, the province was split into East and West Punjab. East Punjab (48%) became part of India, while West Punjab (52%) became part of Pakistan. The Punjab bore
4136-432: The Shahi ally Lawik, Bhimadeva mounted a combined attack around 963 CE. Abu Ishaq Ibrahim was expelled from Ghazna and Shahi-Lawik strongholds were restored in Kabul and adjacent areas. This victory appears to have been commemorated in the Hund Slab Inscription (HSI). The Turkic Ghaznavids in the tenth century overthrew the Hindu Shahis and consequently ruled for 157 years in Western Punjab, gradually declining as
4224-423: The Timurids of Kabul. The last ruler of the Sayyids, Ala-ud-Din , voluntarily abdicated the throne of the Delhi Sultanate in favour of Bahlul Khan Lodi on 19 April 1451, and left for Badaun, where he died in 1478. In 1445, Sultan Qutbudin, chief of Langah (a Jat Zamindar tribe), established the Langah Sultanate in Multan after the fall of the Sayyid dynasty . Husseyn Langah I (reigned 1456–1502)
4312-411: The battle-ground, in memory of his horse , who died soon after the battle. Later, tetradrachms would be minted depicting Alexander on horseback, armed with a sarissa and attacking a pair of Indians on an elephant. Porus refused to surrender and wandered about atop an elephant, until he was wounded and his force routed. When asked by Alexander how he wished to be treated, Porus replied "Treat me as
4400-466: The brunt of the civil unrest following partition , with casualties estimated to be in the millions. Another major consequence of partition was the sudden shift towards religious homogeneity occurred in all districts across Punjab owing to the new international border that cut through the province. This rapid demographic shift was primarily due to wide scale migration but also caused by large-scale religious cleansing riots which were witnessed across
4488-461: The census of 1951, Aroras that were settled in Punjab returned their caste names as Khatris, Arora Khatris, Arorae, Rore, Aror, Rora Khatris, Arore, Aror Khatris etc. Some of the Aroras simply returned their caste names with Arora sub-caste names such as Arya, Ahuja, Batheja, Bathla,Kukreja, Chawla, Chhabra, Dang, Juneja,Taneja, Upneja, Wadhwa etc. According to the Commission Reports by Justice Gurnam Singh (1990) and Justice K.C. Gupta (2012), Arora
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#17328548588574576-415: The diverse and complex history of Punjab. The boundaries of the region are ill-defined and focus on historical accounts and thus the geographical definition of the term "Punjab" has changed over time. In the 16th century Mughal Empire the Punjab region was divided into three, with the Lahore Subah in the west, the Delhi Subah in the east and the Multan Subah in the south. Under the British Raj until
4664-430: The economy of Punjab, particularly for agriculture in the region. Climate is not uniform over the whole region, as the areas adjacent to the Himalayas generally receive heavier rainfall than those at a distance. There are three main seasons and two transitional periods. During the hot season, from mid-April to the end of June, the temperature may reach 49 °C (120 °F). The monsoon season , from July to September,
4752-459: The empire expand to most of the Indian subcontinent, its peak in terms of geographical reach. He attacked and plundered Malwa , Gujarat , Lakhnauti , Chittagong , Mithila and many other regions in India. His distant campaigns were expensive, although each raid and attack on non-Muslim kingdoms brought new looted wealth and ransom payments from captured people. The extended empire was difficult to retain, and rebellions became commonplace all over
4840-458: The fiction of his allegiance to Timur as Rayat-i-Ala (vassal) of the Timurids - initially that of Timur, and later his son Shah Rukh . After the accession of Khizr Khan, the Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Sindh were reunited under the Delhi Sultanate, where he spent his time subduing rebellions. Punjab was the powerbase of Khizr Khan and his successors as the bulk of the Delhi army during their reigns came from Multan and Dipalpur . Khizr Khan
4928-400: The heroic tradition and composite culture of ancient Punjab." The earliest known notable local king of this region was known as King Porus , who fought the famous Battle of the Hydaspes against Alexander the Great . His kingdom spanned between rivers Hydaspes ( Jhelum ) and Acesines ( Chenab ); Strabo had held the territory to contain almost 300 cities. He (alongside Abisares ) had
5016-410: The historical Punjab region during the Sikh Empire: After Ranjit Singh's death in 1839, the empire was severely weakened by internal divisions and political mismanagement. This opportunity was used by the East India Company to launch the First and Second Anglo-Sikh Wars . The country was finally annexed and dissolved at the end of the Second Anglo-Sikh War in 1849 into separate princely states and
5104-428: The last major region of the Indian subcontinent to be annexed by the British Empire . The Sikh Empire ruled the Punjab until the British annexed it in 1849 following the First and Second Anglo-Sikh Wars . Most of the Punjabi homeland formed a province of British India, though a number of small princely states retained local rulers who recognized British authority. The Punjab with its rich farmlands became one of
5192-498: The majority government, come from Arora community. McLeod notes that marriages between Aroras and the Khatris are common. According to the University of Utah sociologist, Bam Dev Sharda, in the "status allocation in village India", the Aroras are considered a mercantile caste belonging to the Vaishya varna - like the Khatris, Agarwal , Bania and Ahluwalia , and they claim " twice-born " status. So does historian Kenneth Jones by citing Denzil Ibbetson 's study. According to
5280-474: The majority in West Punjab (Pakistan), while Punjabi Sikhs are the majority in East Punjab (India). Other religious groups include Hinduism , Christianity , Jainism , Zoroastrianism , Buddhism , and Ravidassia . The name Punjab is of Persian origin, with its two parts ( پنج , panj , 'five' and آب , āb , 'water') being cognates of the Sanskrit words पञ्च , pañca , 'five' and अप् , áp , 'water', of
5368-459: The most important colonial assets. Lahore was a noted center of learning and culture, and Rawalpindi became an important military installation. Most Punjabis supported the British during World War I , providing men and resources to the war effort even though the Punjab remained a source of anti colonial activities. Disturbances in the region increased as the war continued. At the end of the war, high casualty rates, heavy taxation, inflation, and
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#17328548588575456-411: The most populous city in the region, with a population of 11 million for the city proper. Faisalabad is the 2nd most populous city and largest industrial hub in this region. Other major cities are Rawalpindi , Gujranwala , Multan , Ludhiana , Amritsar , Jalandhar , and Chandigarh are the other cities in Punjab with a city-proper population of over a million. The climate has significant impact on
5544-409: The new regent. According to Diodorus , Antipater recognized Porus's authority over the territories along the Indus River . However, Eudemus , who had served as Alexander's satrap in the Punjab region, treacherously killed Porus. Chandragupta Maurya , with the aid of Kautilya , had established his empire around 320 BCE . The early life of Chandragupta Maurya is not clear. Kautilya enrolled
5632-411: The north-central and northeastern parts of the region, while Bagri is spoken in south-central and southeastern sections. Meanwhile, Saraiki is generally spoken across a wide belt covering the southwest, while in the northwest there are large pockets containing speakers of Hindko and Pothwari . Uttaradhi Arora The Uttaradhi Arora literally the Northern Aroras , are a major subgroup of
5720-485: The opinion of a "Ford-Maxwell Professor of South Asian Studies" at Syracuse University , the merchant-type castes such as the Rajasthani Baniyas, Agarwals, Guptas, Mittals, Goels are twice born castes. However in Punjab, there is a large number of merchant type jatis, "Arora" being their generic name, both Hindu and Sikh, and they are not twice-born . Yet they share about the same status in the wide regional ranking". He calls this "deferred caste denial" which he explains as
5808-399: The peasantry and urban middle classes, the Hindus were the most active National Congress supporters, the Sikhs flocked to the Akali movement whilst the Muslims eventually supported the Muslim League . Since the partition of the sub-continent had been decided, special meetings of the Western and Eastern Section of the Legislative Assembly were held on 23 June 1947 to decide whether or not
5896-455: The philosophy of the Arya Samaj founder, Dayananda Saraswati , was responsible for the aspirations of these Vaishya castes from Punjab to higher status: Dayananda's claim that caste should be determined primarily by merit not birth, opened new paths of social mobility to educated Vaishyas who were trying to achieve social status commensurate with their improving economic status In a study of cultural geography and pilgrimage in India , it
5984-460: The region at the time. According to historical demographer Tim Dyson , in the eastern regions of Punjab that ultimately became Indian Punjab following independence, districts that were 66% Hindu in 1941 became 80% Hindu in 1951; those that were 20% Sikh became 50% Sikh in 1951. Conversely, in the western regions of Punjab that ultimately became Pakistani Punjab , all districts became almost exclusively Muslim by 1951. The geographical definition of
6072-448: The religion pursued. Punita Arora became the first lady Lieutenant General of the Indian Army in 2004. As of 2009, many Aroras were prominent shopkeepers in several cities of Punjab including Amritsar . McLeod adds that they played prominent role in the Singh Sabha movement . Aroras such as Vir Singh and Mehtab Singh were influential within the Sikh community. In the 2022 Punjab Legislative Assembly election , 11 legislatures in
6160-428: The rule that "hierarchy persists in the Hindu mind even where caste is denied in any of the senses and by any of the strategies adumbrated". In the opinion of a Professor of Sociology at Lucknow University (India), "every Hindu is supposed to have a caste" and Aroras (including its sub-castes) are identified as a sub-division of the Khatris . It is noted that "whether Khattris belong to Kshatriya varna or Vaishya varna
6248-503: The same meaning. The word pañjāb is thus calque of Indo-Aryan "pañca-áp" and means "The Land of Five Waters", referring to the rivers Jhelum , Chenab , Ravi , Sutlej , and Beas . All are tributaries of the Indus River , the Sutlej being the largest. References to a land of five rivers may be found in the Mahabharata , in which one of the regions is named as Panchanada ( Sanskrit : पञ्चनद , romanized : pañca-nada , lit. 'five rivers'). Earlier,
6336-532: The submission, Porus refused. This led Alexander to seek for a face-off with Porus. Thus began the Battle of the Hydaspes in 326 BCE; the exact site remains unknown. The battle is thought to be resulted in a decisive Greek victory; however, A. B. Bosworth warns against an uncritical reading of Greek sources that were exaggerated. Alexander later founded two cities— Nicaea at the site of victory and Bucephalous at
6424-600: The term "Punjab" has changed over time. In the 16th century Mughal Empire it referred to a relatively smaller area between the Indus and the Sutlej rivers. At its height in the first half of the 19th century, the Sikh Empire spanned a total of over 200,000 sq mi (520,000 km ). The Punjab was a region straddling India and the Afghan Durrani Empire . The following modern-day political divisions made up
6512-549: The territory at and around Kabul between 879 and 901 CE after it had been lost under his predecessor to the Saffarid dynasty . He was described as a fearsome Shahi. Two of his ministers reconstructed by Rahman as Toramana and Asata are said to of have taken advantage of Amr al-Layth 's preoccupation with rebellions in Khorasan, by successfully raiding Ghazna around 900 CE. After a defeat in Eastern Afghanistan suffered on
6600-693: The throne under the title of Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq after defeating Khusrau Khan at the Battle of Lahrawat . During Ghazi Malik's reign, in 1321 he sent his eldest son Jauna Khan, later known as Muhammad bin Tughlaq , to Deogir to plunder the Hindu kingdoms of Arangal and Tilang (now part of Telangana ). His first attempt was a failure. Four months later, Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq sent large army reinforcements for his son asking him to attempt plundering Arangal and Tilang again. This time Jauna Khan succeeded and Arangal fell, it
6688-449: The west to western Tibet in the east, and from Mithankot in the south to Kashmir in the north. It was divided into four provinces: Lahore , in Punjab, which became the Sikh capital; Multan , also in Punjab; Peshawar ; and Kashmir from 1799 to 1849. Religiously diverse, with an estimated population of 3.5 million in 1831 (making it the 19th most populous country at the time ), it was
6776-516: The young Chandragupta in the university at Taxila to educate him in the arts, sciences, logic, mathematics, warfare, and administration. Megasthenes ' account, as it has survived in Greek texts that quote him, states that Alexander the Great and Chandragupta met, which if true would mean his rule started earlier than 321 BCE . As Alexander never crossed the Beas River , so his territory probably lay in
6864-560: Was Rajab (the younger brother of Ghazi Malik) who had the title Sipahsalar . His mother Naila was a Punjabi Bhatti princess (daughter of Rana Mal) from Dipalpur and Abohar according to the historian William Crooke . The southern states had drifted away from the Sultanate and there were rebellions in Gujarat and Sindh, while "Bengal asserted its independence." He led expeditions against Bengal in 1353 and 1358. He captured Cuttack , desecrated
6952-727: Was an ancient kingdom of the lower Indus Valley mentioned in Late Vedic literature. Roruka (Aror), capital of the Sauvira Kingdom, is mentioned as an important trading center in early Buddhist literature. In the Chachnamah, members of the Brahman group were noted in the city of Aror. Aror was the capital of the Arora dynasty, which was followed by the Rai dynasty and then the Brahman dynasty . In 711, Aror
7040-541: Was captured by the army of Umayyad general Muhammad ibn al-Qasim . On 13 April 1752, Lahore and Multan in Punjab were ceded to Ahmad Shah Durrani after the fall of Kaura Mal in the battlefield and retreat of Adina Beg . Afghanistan was the conduit for the trade between Central Asia and India . Grain trade in Afghanistan was in the hands of the Hindu Punjabi Arora/Khatris. Reportedly, they gave loans to
7128-637: Was divided into four natural geographical divisions by colonial officials on the decadal census data: The struggle for Indian independence witnessed competing and conflicting interests in the Punjab. The landed elites of the Muslim, Hindu and Sikh communities had loyally collaborated with the British since annexation, supported the Unionist Party and were hostile to the Congress party–led independence movement. Amongst
7216-401: Was only "'when British rule freed him from restraint and armed him with the power of the law ... [that] he became as oppressive as he had been submissive'". The Aroras were often good farmers, and also engaged in metalworking, goldsmithery, and weaving. Pettigrew notes that in the 19th century, the Aroras were working as shopkeepers and small traders within the Sikh community in Punjab. During
7304-514: Was recorded that "Khatri-Aroras are surely among the most numerous Hindu caste groups" in the areas of Punjab and Delhi. Khatri-Arora along with Brahmans and Mercantile castes "dominated the total mass of pilgrims" at Badrinath Dham. Similarly, the total number of pilgrims at Haridwar and Jwalaji were also predominated by the Khatri-Arora. At Chintapurni pilgrim, the Arora was found to be numerically dominant pilgrim group particularly during
7392-740: Was renamed to Sultanpur, and all plundered wealth, state treasury and captives were transferred from the captured kingdom to the Delhi Sultanate.The Muslim aristocracy in Lukhnauti (Bengal) invited Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq to extend his coup and expand eastwards into Bengal by attacking Shamsuddin Firoz Shah , which he did over 1324–1325 CE, after placing Delhi under control of his son Ulugh Khan, and then leading his army to Lukhnauti. Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq succeeded in this campaign. After his father's death in 1325 CE, Muhammad bin Tughlaq assumed power and his rule saw
7480-625: Was severely weakened in the eighteenth century. As Mughal power weakened, Afghan rulers took control of the region. Contested by the Marathas and Afghans, the region was the center of the growing influence of the misls , who expanded and established the Sikh Confederacy as the Mughals and Afghans weakened, ultimately ruling the Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa , and territories north into the Himalayas . In
7568-629: Was succeeded by his son Mubarak Shah after his death on 20 May 1421. Mubarak Shah referred to himself as Muizz-ud-Din Mubarak Shah on his coins, removing the Timurid name with the name of the Caliph, and declared himself a Shah. He defeated the advancing Hoshang Shah Ghori , ruler of Malwa Sultanate and forced him to pay heavy tribute early in his reign. Mubarak Shah also put down the rebellion of Jasrath Khokhar and managed to fend off multiple invasions by
7656-476: Was the second ruler of Langah Sultanate. He undertook military campaigns in Punjab and captured Chiniot and Shorkot from the Lodis. Shah Husayn successfully repulsed attempted invasion by the Lodis led by Tatar Khan and Barbak Shah , as well as his daughter Zeerak Rumman. The Mughals came to power in the early 16th century and gradually expanded to control all of the Punjab from their capital at Lahore . During
7744-538: Was very well organised. The Mauryans had an autocratic and centralised administration system, aided by a council of ministers, and also a well-established espionage system. Much of Chandragupta's success is attributed to Chanakya , the author of the Arthashastra . Much of the Mauryan rule had a strong bureaucracy that had regulated tax collection, trade and commerce, industrial activities, mining, statistics and data, maintenance of public places, and upkeep of temples. In
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