FOLKLj THE SOHINDER SINGH BEDI «5t / J \ • ft i * i o / r<)f D */«. "W* *t **a *<#f <*a FOLKLORE OF THE PUNJAB \ i folklore of India FOLKLORE OF THE PUNJAB Sohinder SinghjBedi • National Book Trust, India \ V First Edition 1971 (Saka 1893) Second Reprint 1991 (Saka 1913) © Sohinder Singh Bedi, 1971 Rs. 23.00 Published by the Director, National Book Trust, India, A-5, Green Park, New Delhi-110016 f -*» CONTENTS LIST OP ILLUSTRATIONS ' Chapter I The Region and the People) i II Myth and Mythology III Magic and Religion IV Customs and Traditions , V Fairs and Festivals f VI Punjabi Language and Dialects VII Oral Literature VIII Folk Music and Dances , APPENDIX BIBLIOGRAPHY ? INDEX • / LI&T OF ILLUSTRATIONS A Rural Scene The Jewellery a Punjabi Girl is fond of A Nihang Singh in Traditional Costume I A Sister Tying Rakhi on the Wrist of Her Brother, A Holi Scene An Image of Sanjhi Devi • A Wandering Minstrel i A Giddha Dancer Close-up of a Bhangra Dancer ABhangra Dance A Piece of Folk-art A Scene from a Folk-dance Folk-artists at Work \ I r CHAPTER I THE ^REGION AND THE PEOPLE / "PUNJAB"—the land of five rivers—is proud of its ancient heritage. This is the cradle and breeding-place-of the Vedic culture of the Aryans. Rishis and munis composed the earliest hymns of the oldest book "in the world, the Rig Veda, on the banks of its rivers. Excavations of Harappa and Rupar reveal that even before the Aryans, a great civilization flourished here. Some historians believe that the Punjab was the1 original home of all Indo-Aryan tribes,;and it was from here that they branched out into .the outside world. The Punjab has been the gateway to India for ages. Until the 18th century all foreign invaders—the Aryans, the Persians, the Greeks, the Scythians, the Parthians, the Huns, the Turks and the Mongols—came to India through the north-west, and the brave Punjab .had .always to bear the brunt of the foreign invasions. Consequently, a great part of the Punjabi's life was spent in fighting and gaining perfection in the art of warfare, and in building up his physique. It was, therefore, natural for the Punjabis to become a sturdy, exuberant and adventurous people, ever ready to-fight and lay down their lives for their freedom. This rightly earned for this land the honour of being called 'The Sword Arm of India*. The boundaries of the Punjab "have kept changing under poli­ tical pressures. During the time of the Aryans, its boundaries stretched from the Saraswati in the east to the Indus in the west, and included the other five rivers, viz., the Sutlej, the Beas, the Ravi, the Chenab and the Jhelum. It was then called 'Sapt Sindhu*, or. the land of seven rivers. Later, during the time of the Muslims, it came to be called 'Punjab*, the land of five rivers, because the Saraswati became"extinct and the Indus only marked the region's;;western boundary. The word 'Punjab* is a compound of two Persian words: 'Panj*, that is five, and ' Aab*, I 2 FOLKLORE OF THE PUNJAB that is water.' 'Punjab' thus meanra land where five rivers flow. These five rivers originate from the northern mountains of India and spread over the land like the out-stretched fingers of a hand. In the east the Sutlej and the Beas merge into each other; in the west the Ravi, the Chenab and the Jhelum join, and thereafter all the five of them merge at Panchnad to be ultimately delivered into the Indus. Before India's independence, the Punjab was a Vast territory. In the north it stretched upto the Sivalik range of the Himalay­ as, and in the west the Indus separated it from the North-West Frontier Province. In the south it touched the province of Sindh, and in the east it terminated in Rajputana. In 1947 the province was partitioned. The eastern part of the Punjab fell to the share of India and its western region became part of Pakistan. The frontier ran almost along the eastern banks of the Ravi,lexcept where it ^deflects* towards the east in order to separate Lahore from India. Only three rivers—the Sutlej, the Ravi and the Beas—were left in the new Punjab. The other boundaries of the Punjab remained the same. Later, some other States of the Punjab, known as Pepsu (Patiala and East Punjab States Union), were merged with the main State. Once again in 1966 the Punjab was reconstituted on language basis and a separate State of Haryana was created. The hilly areas of the Punjab, like Simla and Kangra, became part of Himachal Pra­ desh. The present Punjab is comparatively a small region com­ prising the districts of Hoshiarpur, Jullundur, Ludhiana, Feroze- pur, Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Bhatinda, Kapurthala, Patiala, Sangrur and Rupar. .It has Haryana to its east, Pakistan to its west, Himachal Pradesh to its north and Rajasthan to its south. The plains of the undivided Punjab were divided into five doabs, a 'doab', being the territory between two rivers and^gener- ally named after them. The present Punjab has only two doabs —Doab Bist, which is named after Sutlej and Beas and Doab Bari, which is the tract between the Beas and the Ravi. A part of the Bari Doab is now in, Pakistan. The Punjab is now divided into three geographical regions, viz., Malwa, Majha and Doaba. / THE REGION AND THE PEOPLE Malwa is to the east of the Sutlej and comprises Ferozepur, Ludhiana, Patiala, Bhatinda and Sangrur. Majha lies in the doab between the rivers Ravi and Beas-cum-Sutlej and includes the districts of Amritsar and Gurdaspur. Doaba is the tract lying between the rivers Beas and Sutlej and is known as Bist Doab. It includes the districts of Jullundur, Hoshiarpur and Kapurthala. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND The Punjab, the cradle of one of the most ancient civilisations of the world, has played a vital role in shaping the history of India. Excavations at Harappa and Rupar have revealed that by the end of the 4th millennium B.C., when most of the countries of the world were passing through a dark age, a fairly well-deve­ loped civilisation, with skilfully planned brick-built towns, flourished in the Punjab. The civilisation of Harappa was destroyed by the successive waves of Aryans, who were the nomadic and pastoral people of Central Asia. They first settled in the valley of the Punjab which has been rightly called as the cradle of their early,civilisa- tion. The history of the Rig-Vedic period is to a very large extent the early history of the Punjab. Ti The land was repeatedly subjected to foreign invasions. In the 5th century1 B.C. a portion of it was annexed by the Persian king Darius. In 326 B.C. Alexander invaded it but its inhabi­ tants offered the Greek soldiers such .bitter resistance that they refused to move beyond the Beasf and Alexander had to give up his long-cherished dreams of conquering India. * Chandra- gupta Maurya availed himself of the chaotic conditions prevail­ ing in the Punjab after the death of Alexander and set up his rule there. The Mauryan Empire, which lasted over a hundred and fifty years, had among its monarchs Ashoka (273-232 B.C.) who is recognised as one of the great figures in world history. In his times Taxila, his capital, was a famous seat of learning where scholars from all parts of Asia flocked for knowledge. / 4 FOLKLORE OF THE PUNJAB Kautilya (Chanakya), the author of the-famous Arthashastra, was a noted scholar of this university. During the next nine centuries (2nd century B.C. to 7th century A.D.) the Punjab was invaded,: by successive waves of the Scythians, the Kushans (or Yue-chis), the Huns, and a few other Asian tribes. Vimakapas, who is known as Raja Sirkap in the Punjab's legendary lore, and Kanishka were notable monarchs of the Kushan dynasty, while Toramana and Mehrkul were notable monarchs of the Huns. Between the 7th and 11th centuries A.D., the Punjab was divided into small principalities ruled by Rajput princes. During the next seven centuries (11th century A.D. to 18th [fcenturyj A.D.) it .remained subjected to the rule,, of the Muslims.* Their incursions started in the first quarter of the 11th century., .Between 1000 A.D. and 1027 A.D. Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni invaded India seventeen times, with the object of plundering and destroying the Hindu temples. Every time the Punjab had to bear the brunt of his invasions. In 1192 A.D. Mohammed Ghori mounted an invasion and was successful in setting up Muslim rule in India. After the Ghori dynasty, the Punjab, along with the rest of India, was ruled by various Muslim dynasties—the Slaves (1206-1288)?/the Khiljis (1288-1321), the Tughlaks (1321-1413), the. Sayyads (1414-1450), and the Lodis (1450-1526). In 1526 A.D. Babar defeated the Lodi Sultanate of Delhi at Panipat and established the Mughal dynasty. The Mughal Emperors took special interest in the Punjab, and, fox some time, Lahore was their headquarters. * But when the Mughal empire ceased to be an effective poli­ tical powep, the Punjab once again had to face the incursion of Nadir Shah, followedH>y successive invasions of Ahmed Shah Durrani..1 Both plundered it and created once again a scare of .insecurity in the minds; of the Punjabis., During Mughal supremacy, a new spiritual ;and social order emerged, which gave birth to a new religious community—the , Sikhs.