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Contents-IUS Journal 2016 January – December 2016, Vol. 18, No. 1 THE ORIGIN OF THE PUNJABI LANGUAGE: AR TIC LE ITS PROGRESS AND EXPANSION ABSTRACT Prof Devinder Singh Chahal, PhD Institute for Understanding Sikhism The theory that the Punjabi language is one of the Laval, Quebec, H7W 5L9 branches of ‘Apabrahmsa’ (vernacular language) being Email: [email protected] derived from the so-called ‘Prakrit’, which was derived from ‘Sanskrit’, has been widely accepted by Sikh theo- INTRODUCTION logians, linguists and historians. This status of the Pun- jabi language as Apabrahmsa, makes the Sikhs and Currently, the Punjabi language is not considered to be others to avoid writing and speaking in Punjabi. This one of the ancient languages of India. Sikh theologians, paper will disprove the above theory by discussing the researchers, and historians go back only to the me of historical background of the development of the ‘Indo- Sufi Sheikh Farid of 12 th century, whose verses (bani), European Languages’, especially in the area currently wrien in Punjabi, have been incorporated into the Aad called the Punjab. The language which developed in the Guru Granth Sahib (AGGS) [1]. Nevertheless, according Punjab after the arrival of the Aryans from 4,000 to 1,000 BCE is called ‘Proto-Indo-Aryan language’. In this to the Kwintessenal website, the Punjabi language is paper, Proto-Indo-Aryan language is called ‘Proto- considered to be an ancient language. The exact date Punjabi’ since it developed in the Punjab. When Proto- when it started cannot be esmated but the ancestors of Indo-Aryan or just Proto-Punjabi was used to write the the Punjabis have been known to have inhabited the sacred granths of Jainism and Buddhism it was called Indus Valley as far back as 2,500 BCE [2]. ‘Pali’ by the Buddhists. However, the same ‘Proto- Punjabi’ was named ‘Punjabi’ around 500 CE by the Persians and was used by the Sufi Sheikh Farid to dis- It is invariably understood that the Persians named the seminate his message to the people of Punjab - the land land of five rivers as ‘Punjab’ and the people of this land of five rivers, during the 12 th century CE. Subsequently, were named ‘Punjabi’ and their language was also almost all Bhagats of India, Guru Nanak and Sikh Gu- named ‘Punjabi’ [3]. Darius (521 BCE), Seleucus / rus, who succeeded to the ‘House of Nanak’, used that Seleucid (305 BCE), Kushan (145 BCE), Kanishka (78 CE) ‘Punjabi language’ to write their verses (bani). from Persia ruled the Punjab [4] but when the Persians named the land of five rivers as ‘Punjab’ is not known. However, this same land of five rivers was also called by This paper was prepared for the World Punjabi Sammelan another name, Pentapotamia, by the Greeks during their to be held at Baba Banda Singh Bahadur Engineering kingdom around 100 BCE, because of the five rivers that ran College Fatehgarh Sahib, Punjab on February 5-6, 2016 through it [5]. by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, Am- ritsar. It was postponed second time and was announced On the other hand, the protagonists of ‘Sanskrit’ have to be held on June 26-27, 2016. It was again postponed published large amounts of literature to convince linguists third time to be held positively on September 25-26, 2016 that ‘ Sanskrit ’ is the oldest language of India (and as such is at Anadpur Sahib. Originally this conference was to be Mother of all Indian languages), to the extent the claim is held on October 23-24, 2015. Keeping in view the uncer- made that even Greek, Lan, etc. also originated from tainty this paper is being reproduced in the Understanding Sanskrit. Some call it the language of God. In this Sikhism: The Research Journal for the readers interested propaganda the name of the language developed by the to know about the origin of Punjabi language and its use Aryans, who started to sele in present day Punjab from in the Aad Guru Granth Sahib . 4,000 to 1,000 BCE [6], is lost in anquity. Similarly, in the IUSCANADA.COM page 11 UNDERSTANDING SIKHISM – The Research Journal context of this debate, the arrival of ‘Apabrahmsa’ – the corrupt or non- The so-called Prakrit connued to the Aryans in India, has also become standardized language. The irony is develop on its own unl 1000 CE, a controversial debate [7]. that the Sanskrit propagandists having progressed under the completely kept the linguists of influence of different regions of India The Sikh linguists, theologians and India in the dark about the real and assumed various names; Magdhi, historians accept that the Punjabi name of language developed in the Shourshani and Maharashtri were the language belongs to ‘Apabhramsa’ (a land of five rivers, the Punjab. major languages. vernacular language: the everyday language spoken by a people as In fact the language of the Rig Veda, Concept of Sikh Scholars disnguished from their literary wrien around 1,500 BCE, was not It appears that in Sikhism Prof Sahib language.) derived from the so-called “Vedic Prakrit” nor “Old Sanskrit” Singh [9] was the first Sikh theologian ‘Prakrit’, which was derived from but the spoken language of the to discuss the origin of the languages ‘Sanskrit’. Punjab developed on the arrival of of India in 1939: the Indo-Aryans and there was no • He said that the language of the Now the queson to be resolved is: word, “Prakrit” or “Sanskrit” at that Veda is called “Old Sanskrit”; this What was that language, which was me. The word “Sanskrit” was implies that the language in India developed a er the arrival of Aryans coined by Panini around 400 BCE started as Sanskrit right from the in the Punjab? when he arranged the spoken beginning. language of the Punjab people • He further said that the scholars of HISTORICAL BACKGROUND under 3,995 rules of grammar. The Vedic me called it “First Prakrit”; The Concept of the Protagonists of spoken language of the people was however, the word, Prakrit, is not Sanskrit named “Prakrit”. Therea er, all the found in the Vedas. The general concept established by Vedas, which were wrien in so- • He says that by the me of Ashoka the protagonists of Sanskrit is as called “Prakrit”, were translated the Great (304-232 BCE) this follows: into “Sanskrit”. Sanskrit remained language was called “Second the language of the few elite but Prakrit” or “Pali” in which the Around 400 BCE, Panini [8], a the so-called Prakrit connued to sacred granths of Buddhism were grammarian from Shalatula near progress and remained the spoken wrien. But he failed to menon Aock, now in Pakistan, synthesized language of the people. As the so- that Mahavira (599-527 BCE) and a new language from the language called Prakrit moved towards other Gautama Buddha (563-480 BCE) spoken by the people of the land of regions of India where it changed a appeared before Ashoka and they seven rivers from Sindh to Sarswa lot and started to be called by used the spoken language (not so- then called Septa Sindhvaha (Septa different names according to the called Prakrit) of the people for Sindhu) [3]. A er giving it a region or a er the name of group of spreading their messages. The grammacal form he named it peoples. These different languages irony is that Padam has not given ‘Sanskrit ’. The language spoken by were denigrated by the protagonists any name to the language spoken the people at that me was termed of Sanskrit by labelling them as by the people before and during ‘Prakrit’ which means without “Apabrahmsa”, the vernacular or the Vedic me. grammar, vernacular and vulgar. languages of ignorant people. • Prof Sahib Singh connued to write Although the Vedas were wrien in that during the me of “Second the so-called Prakrit, Sanskrit Sanskrit never became the spoken Prakrit” other languages appeared: propagandists started to call that language of the people of the Magdhi, Shourshani and language of the Vedas ‘Vedic Punjab and rest of India, Around Maharashtri. But the protagonists’ Sanskrit’ or ‘Old Sanskrit’ and the 500 BCE Mahavira and the Buddha of Sanskrit named such languages language which was put into a were using the spoken language of “Apabrahmsa” - denigrated definite grammar rule was named people, so-called Prakrit. The languages. ‘Classical Sanskrit’. On the other hand Buddhists called this language • Prof Sahib Singh did not menon the language spoken by the people, “Pali”. the me of the origin of the ‘Prakrit’, was further downgraded by Punjabi language in his study of the modern scholars who named it grammar of the languages used in page 12 IUSCANADA.COM January – December 2016, Vol. 18, No. 1 the Aad Guru Granth Sahib. Mahatma Buddha (563-383) a new informaon about the origin of the • Many linguists fell into the trap of language developed which was Punjabi language. However, they the protagonists of Sanskrit and called “Pali”. It is guessed that Pali have idenfied a large number of accepted their term “Parkrit” for was constructed around 477 BCE by Indian languages belonging to the natural language spoken by the the scholars of Buddhism. “Modern Indo Aryan languages” and people and the other term Therea er, their sacred granths the Punjabi is one of them. “Apabrahmsa” for the various were wrien in Pali, the spoken dialects of natural languages language of Punjab people, but not It appears that up to 2014, the old spoken by the people in different in Sanskrit, the language of concept, propagated by protagonists regions of India. Brahmans (p 57). of Sanskrit, prevailed among Sikh scholars. I frankly admit here that I In 1954, 15 years a er Prof Sahib Padam had extensively dealt with am unaware of the existence of any Singh’s work of 1939, Principal Satbir the importance of so-called Prakrit work regarding the origin of Punjabi Singh Padam [10], wrote an extensive by poets, who preferred to write in language done by the Punjabi study of the origin of these Prakrit rather than Sanskrit since University, Paala, or any other languages.
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