97-598: The Dharmarajika Stupa ( Punjabi , Urdu : دھرم راجک اسٹوپا ), also referred to as the Great Stupa of Taxila , is a Buddhist stupa near Taxila , Pakistan . It was built over the relics of the Buddha by Ashoka in the 3rd century BCE. The stupa, along with the large monastic complex that later developed around it, forms part of the Ruins of Taxila - which were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980. It
194-625: A domino effect , displacing other central Asian tribes in their path. According to these ancient sources, Modu Shanyu of the Xiongnu tribe of Mongolia attacked the Yuezhi (possibly related to the Tocharians , who lived in the eastern Tarim Basin ) and evicted them from their homeland between the Qilian Shan and Dunhuang c. 175 BCE. Leaving a few people behind, most of
291-483: A cylindrical piece of gold. Other reliquaries yielded gold jewelry and precious jewels, while others contained items from distant locations such as lapis lazuli from Afghanistan , pearls, and shells − reflecting the large trade networks operating from Taxila. Several coins of the Indo-Greek king Zoilos II were found under the foundation of such a 1st-century BCE stupa. The name Dharmarajika comes from Dharmaraja,
388-576: A descendant of Prakrit. Punjabi emerged as an Apabhramsha, a degenerated form of Prakrit, in the 7th century AD and became stable by the 10th century. The earliest writings in Punjabi belong to the Nath Yogi -era from 9th to 14th century. The language of these compositions is morphologically closer to Shauraseni Apbhramsa , though vocabulary and rhythm is surcharged with extreme colloquialism and folklore. Writing in 1317–1318, Amir Khusrau referred to
485-561: A group of nomadic people of Iranic Scythian origin who migrated from Central Asia southward into the northwestern Indian subcontinent : the present-day South Asian regions of Afghanistan , Pakistan , Eastern Iran and northern India . The migrations persisted from the middle of the second century BCE to the fourth century CE. The first Saka king in India was Maues/Moga (first century BCE) who established Saka power in Gandhara ,
582-500: A group of Sabalas. After Azes' death, Indo-Scythian rule in northwestern India ended with the rise of the Indo-Parthian ruler Gondophares late in the first century BCE. For the following decades, A number of minor Scythian leaders maintained themselves in local strongholds on the fringes of the loose Indo-Parthian empire over the next few decades, some paying allegiance to Gondophares I and his successors. Indo-Parthian rule
679-589: A liberal approach. Through Persian, Punjabi also absorbed many Arabic-derived words like dukān , ġazal and more, as well as Turkic words like qēncī , sōġāt , etc. After the fall of the Sikh empire , Urdu was made the official language of Punjab under the British (in Pakistani Punjab , it is still the primary official language) and influenced the language as well. In the second millennium , Punjabi
776-553: A name given to Buddha who was the true Dharma Raja (Lord of Law), according to Marshall. It is also believed that ‘Dharmarajika’ is derived from the word ‘Dharmaraja’, a title used by Mauryan emperor Ashoka. The stupa is also popularly known as Chir Tope , or "Scarred hill". The Dharmarajika Stupa lies about 3 kilometers east of the Taxila Museum , along the PMO Colony Road, northeast of Taxila Cantonment . The stupa
873-591: A project funded by a single patron. Additional stupas were built further along the northern portion of the site by various patrons, and date from the Indo-Scythian period. These stupas form a "Northern Avenue," that had several small shrines with devotional images, rendering the Northern Avenue a processional corridor. Devotional images were likely relegated to the periphery of the complex due to religious conservatives, who were hesitant to fully embrace
970-480: A significant role in the history of the subcontinent and nearby regions. The Indo-Scythian war was triggered by the nomadic flight of Central Asians from conflict with tribes such as the Xiongnu in the second century CE, which had lasting effects on Bactria , Kabul and the Indian subcontinent and Rome and Parthia in the west. Ancient Roman historians, including Arrian and Claudius Ptolemy , have mentioned that
1067-815: A specific state or ethnic group; Saka tribes were part of a cultural continuum of early nomads across Siberia and the Central Eurasian steppe lands from Xinjiang to the Black Sea. Like the Scythians whom Herodotus describes in book four of his History ( Saka is an Iranian word equivalent to the Greek Scythes , and many scholars refer to them together as Saka-Scythian), Sakas were Iranian-speaking horse nomads who deployed chariots in battle, sacrificed horses, and buried their dead in barrows or mound tombs called kurgans . The Saka of western India spoke
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#17327730101461164-464: A winged Indo-Scythian horseman riding a winged deer and being attacked by a lion. The Indo-Scythians seem to have supported Buddhism, with many of their practices continuing those of the Indo-Greeks. They had an active role in the dissemination of Buddhism beyond India. Several Indo-Scythian kings after Azes made Buddhist dedications in their name on plaques or reliquaries: Excavations at
1261-706: A word will be pronounced, and vice versa. Tone is often reduced or rarely deleted when words are said with emphasis or on their own as a form of more exact identification. Sequences with the consonant h have some additional gimmicks: The consonant h on its own is now silent or very weakly pronounced except word-initially. However, certain dialects which exert stronger tone, particularly more northern Punjabi varieties and Dogri , pronounce h as very faint (thus tonal) in all cases. E.g. hatth > àtth . The Jhangvi and Shahpuri dialects of Punjabi (as they transition into Saraiki ) show comparatively less realisation of tone than other Punjabi varieties, and do not induce
1358-482: Is a tendency with speakers to insert /ɪ̯/ between adjacent "a"-vowels as a separator. This usually changes to /ʊ̯/ if either vowel is nasalised. Note: for the tonal stops, refer to the next section about Tone. The three retroflex consonants /ɳ, ɽ, ɭ/ do not occur initially, and the nasals [ŋ, ɲ] most commonly occur as allophones of /n/ in clusters with velars and palatals (there are few exceptions). The well-established phoneme /ʃ/ may be realised allophonically as
1455-482: Is also debased; the silver content becomes lower and bronze content higher, an alloying technique suggesting a lack of wealth. The Mathura lion capital inscriptions attest that Mathura came under Saka control. The inscriptions refer to Kharahostes and Queen Ayasia , the "chief queen of the Indo-Scythian ruler of Mathura, satrap Rajuvula." Kharahostes was the son of Arta , as attested by his own coins. Arta
1552-436: Is always written as نگ . Like Hindustani , the diphthongs /əɪ/ and /əʊ/ have mostly disappeared, but are still retained in some dialects. Phonotactically , long vowels /aː, iː, uː/ are treated as doubles of their short vowel counterparts /ə, ɪ, ʊ/ rather than separate phonemes. Hence, diphthongs like ai and au get monophthongised into /eː/ and /oː/, and āi and āu into /ɛː/ and /ɔː/ respectively. The phoneme /j/
1649-580: Is believed that the Dharmarajika Stupa was built over the remains of an even older stupa that had been built by the Mauryan emperor King Ashoka in the 3rd century BCE The stupa was believed to have been reestablished in the 2nd century CE during the Kushan era in order to house relics of the Buddha , which may have been sourced from earlier monuments. Buddhist texts mention that frankincense
1746-469: Is generally of high quality, although the coins of Rajuvula deteriorate near the disintegration of Indo-Scythian rule c. 20 CE. A fairly high-quality, stereotypical coinage was continued by the Western Satraps until the fourth century. Indo-Scythian coinage is generally realistic, artistically between Indo-Greek and Kushan coinage. It has been suggested that its coinage benefited from
1843-570: Is identical to the Urdu alphabet , however various attempts have been made to create certain, distinct characters from a modification of the Persian Nastaʿlīq characters to represent Punjabi phonology , not already found in the Urdu alphabet . In Pakistan, Punjabi loans technical words from Persian and Arabic , just like Urdu does. Punjabi is the most widely spoken language in Pakistan ,
1940-442: Is known that the earlier core stupa contained a pathway for circumambulation that was made of plaster, and decorated with shell bangles in geometric patterns. The earlier stupa likely had four gates in axial directions. The site came under control of Persian Sassanid rule, and suffered a period of stagnation. Large-scale developments took place during the late Kushan and Kidarite era which added numerous monasteries and stupas to
2037-655: Is mentioned by Isidore of Charax in "The Parthian Stations". According to Isidore, they were bordered by Greek cities on the east ( Alexandria of the Caucasus and Alexandria of the Arachosians ) and the Parthian-controlled territory of Arachosia on the south: Beyond is Sacastana of the Scythian Sacae, which is also Paraetacena, 63 schoeni . There are the city of Barda and the city of Min and
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#17327730101462134-474: Is the largest of all stupas in the Taxila region, Surrounding the main mound is a passageway for pradakshina — the ancient practice of walking around a holy site. The stupa's large anda , or hemispherical mound, is damaged − though the plinth of the mound, known as the medhi , is still largely intact. The anda mound was made of ashlar stone. The stupa's harmika , or fence like structure built atop
2231-755: Is the most widely-spoken first language in Pakistan, with 88.9 million native speakers according to the 2023 Pakistani census , and the 11th most widely-spoken in India, with 31.1 million native speakers, according to the 2011 census . It is spoken among a significant overseas diaspora , particularly in Canada , the United Kingdom , the United States , Australia , and the Gulf states . In Pakistan, Punjabi
2328-452: Is very fluid in Punjabi. /j/ is only truly pronounced word-initially (even then it often becomes /d͡ʒ/), where it is otherwise /ɪ/ or /i/. Unusually for an Indo-Aryan language, Punjabi distinguishes lexical tones . Three tones are distinguished in Punjabi (some sources have described these as tone contours, given in parentheses): low (high-falling), high (low-rising), and level (neutral or middle). The transcriptions and tone annotations in
2425-629: Is widely used in the TV and entertainment industry of Pakistan, which is mainly produced in Lahore . The Standard Punjabi used in India and Pakistan have slight differences. In India, it discludes many of the dialect-specific features of Majhi. In Pakistan, the standard is closer to the Majhi spoken in the urban parts of Lahore. "Eastern Punjabi" refers to the varieties of Punjabi spoken in Pakistani Punjab (specifically Northern Punjabi), most of Indian Punjab ,
2522-709: Is written using the Shahmukhi alphabet , based on the Perso-Arabic script ; in India, it is written using the Gurmukhi alphabet , based on the Indic scripts . Punjabi is unusual among the Indo-Aryan languages and the broader Indo-European language family in its usage of lexical tone . The word Punjabi (sometimes spelled Panjabi ) has been derived from the word Panj-āb , Persian for 'Five Waters', referring to
2619-648: The Av- of Avon . The historical Punjab region , now divided between India and Pakistan, is defined physiographically by the Indus River and these five tributaries . One of the five, the Beas River , is a tributary of another, the Sutlej . Punjabi developed from Prakrit languages and later Apabhraṃśa ( Sanskrit : अपभ्रंश , 'deviated' or 'non-grammatical speech') From 600 BC, Sanskrit developed as
2716-802: The Mahābhāṣya , the Bṛhat Saṃhitā by Varāhamihira , the Kāvyamīmāṃsā, the Bṛhatkathāmañjarīi, and the Kathāsaritsāgara . They are described as part of a group of other warlike tribes from the northwest. There are references to the warring mleccha hordes of Sakas, Yavanas, Kambojas and Pahlavas in the Balakanda of the Ramayana . H. C. Raychadhury saw in these verses the struggles between
2813-573: The Butkara Stupa in Swat by an Italian archaeological team have yielded Buddhist sculptures thought to belong to the Indo-Scythian period. An Indo-Corinthian capital of a Buddhist devotee in foliage has been found which had a reliquary and coins of Azes buried at its base, dating the sculpture to c. 20 BCE. A contemporary pilaster of a Buddhist devotee in Greek dress has been found at
2910-465: The Hazara region , most of Azad Kashmir and small parts of Indian Punjab such as Fazilka . These include groups of dialects like Saraiki , Pahari-Pothwari , Hindko and the extinct Inku ; common dialects like Jhangvi , Shahpuri , Dhanni and Thali which are usually grouped under the term Jatki Punjabi; and the mixed variety of Punjabi and Sindhi called Khetrani . Depending on context,
3007-716: The Indus Valley , and other regions. The Indo-Scythians extended their supremacy over the north-western subcontinent, conquering the Indo-Greeks and other local peoples. They were apparently subjugated by the Kushan Empire 's Kujula Kadphises or Kanishka . The Saka continued to govern as satrapies , forming the Northern Satraps and Western Satraps . The power of the Saka rulers began to decline during
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3104-758: The Majha region of the Punjab. In India , Punjabi is written in the Gurmukhī script in offices, schools, and media. Gurmukhi is the official standard script for Punjabi, though it is often unofficially written in the Latin scripts due to influence from English , one of India's two primary official languages at the Union -level. In Pakistan, Punjabi is generally written using the Shahmukhī script, which in literary standards,
3201-810: The Saka language (also known as Khotanese), first documented in the Tarim Basin . During the Achaemenid conquest of the Indus Valley c. 515 BCE, the Achaemenid army was not Persian and the Saka probably participated in the invasion of northwest India. The Achaemenid army was composed of a number of ethnic groups who were part of the Achaemenid Empire . The army included Bactrians, Saka, Parthians , and Sogdians . Herodotus listed
3298-468: The White Huns . The location of the stupa and its monastic community about one kilometre outside of Sirkap is in conformity with the Buddha's recommendation that monasteries should be neither "too far" nor "too close" to adjacent towns. Three distinctive types of masonry in the buildings around the main stupa suggest the contributions of different periods to the building activity. Dharmarajika Stupa
3395-865: The Wusun and the Xiongnu . They were forced to move south, again displacing the Scythians (who migrated south towards Bactria and present-day Afghanistan and south-west towards Parthia . A tribe known to ancient Greek scholars as the Sacaraucae (probably from the Old Persian Sakaravaka , "nomadic Saka") and an allied people, the Massagetae , came into conflict with the Parthian Empire in Parthia between 138 and 124 BCE. The Sacaraucae-Massagetae alliance won several battles and killed
3492-409: The anda mound, has been lost. The stupa's southern gateway was initially considered the most important, though the construction of four smaller stupas (termed G7, G8, S7, Q1) to the west of the stupa indicate that this then likely became the preferred entrance for those performing circumambulation. Later constructions around the "Eastern Avenue" then shifted the preferred route for circumambulation to
3589-413: The h consonant itself and any voiced consonants appended with [h] (Gurmukhi: ੍ਹ "perī̃ hāhā" , Shahmukhi: ھ "dō-caśmī hē" ); usually ṛh , mh , nh , rh and lh . The five tonal plosives also become voiceless word-initially. E.g. ghar > kàr "house", ḍhōl > ṭṑl "drum" etc. Tonogenesis in Punjabi forfeits the sound of [h] for tone. Thus, the more [h] is realised, the less "tonal"
3686-715: The pointed hat typical of the Scythians . Kushan men seem to wear thick, rigid tunics, and are generally represented more simplistically. Indo-Scythian soldiers in military attire are sometimes represented in Buddhist friezes in Gandharan art, particularly in the Buner reliefs . They are depicted in loose tunics with trousers, with heavy, straight swords. They wear pointed hoods or the Scythian cap; this distinguishes them from
3783-503: The voiceless retroflex fricative [ʂ] in learned clusters with retroflexes. Due to its foreign origin, it is often also realised as [s] , in e.g. shalwār /salᵊ.ʋaːɾᵊ/ . The phonemic status of the consonants /f, z, x, ɣ, q/ varies with familiarity with Hindustani norms, more so with the Gurmukhi script, with the pairs /f, pʰ/ , /z, d͡ʒ/ , /x, kʰ/ , /ɣ, g/ , and /q, k/ systematically distinguished in educated speech, /q/ being
3880-726: The 1981 and 2017 censuses respectively, speakers of the Western Punjabi 's Saraiki and Hindko varieties were no longer included in the total numbers for Punjabi, which explains the apparent decrease. Pothwari speakers however are included in the total numbers for Punjabi. Punjabi is the official language of the Indian state of Punjab , and has the status of an additional official language in Haryana and Delhi. Some of its major urban centres in northern India are Amritsar , Ludhiana , Chandigarh , Jalandhar , Ambala , Patiala , Bathinda , Hoshiarpur , Firozpur and Delhi . In
3977-408: The 19th century from the Medieval Punjabi stage. Modern Punjabi has two main varieties, Western Punjabi and Eastern Punjabi , which have many dialects and forms, altogether spoken by over 150 million people. The Majhi dialect , which is transitional between the two main varieties, has been adopted as standard Punjabi in India and Pakistan for education and mass media. The Majhi dialect originated in
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4074-504: The 2011 census of India, 31.14 million reported their language as Punjabi. The census publications group this with speakers of related "mother tongues" like Bagri and Bhateali to arrive at the figure of 33.12 million. Punjabi is also spoken as a minority language in several other countries where Punjabi people have emigrated in large numbers, such as the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Canada. There were 670,000 native Punjabi speakers in Canada in 2021, 300,000 in
4171-431: The 2nd century CE after the Indo-Scythians were defeated by the Satavahana emperor Gautamiputra Satakarni . Indo-Scythian rule in the northwestern subcontinent ended when the last Western Satrap, Rudrasimha III , was defeated by the Gupta emperor Chandragupta II in 395 CE. The invasion of the northern Indian subcontinent by Scythian tribes from Central Asia, often referred to as the Indo-Scythian invasion, played
4268-446: The Buddha in his chapel at Dharmarajika in 78 CE. In 2016, 2 bone relics from the Dharmarajika Stupa were sent to Sri Lanka for one month. The relics were displayed at important shrines in Polonnaruwa , Colombo , Kandy , and Anuradhapura , and attracted 9.3 million visitors. 18 reliquary vessels were also recovered from smaller stupas surrounding the Dharmarajika Stupa that yielded a wide array of relics, including one that encased
4365-517: The Erythraean Sea describes the Scythian territories: Beyond this region ( Gedrosia ), the continent making a wide curve from the east across the depths of the bays, there follows the coast district of Scythia, which lies above toward the north; the whole marshy; from which flows down the river Sinthus , the greatest of all the rivers that flow into the Erythraean Sea, bringing down an enormous volume of water (...) This river has seven mouths, very shallow and marshy, so that they are not navigable, except
4462-404: The Hindus and the invading hordes of mleccha barbarians from the northwest beginning in the second century BCE, and fixed the date of the Ramayana around (or after) the 2nd century CE. The Mahabharata also alludes to the invasion of mixed hordes from the northwest, with prophetic verses that "...the Mlechha (barbaric) kings of the Shakas, Yavanas, Kambojas , Bahlikas ... shall rule
4559-440: The Indo-Greek practice (since Menander I ) of depicting gods forming the vitarka mudra with their right hand (like Zeus on the coins of Maues or Azes II ), the Buddhist lion on the coins of those two kings, or the triratana symbol on the coins of Zeionises . Other than coins, few works of art are known to indisputably represent Indo-Scythians. Several Gandharan sculptures show foreigners in soft tunics, sometimes wearing
4656-450: The Indo-Parthians, who wore a simple fillet over their bushy hair, and which is worn by Indo-Scythian rulers on their coins. With their right hand, some form the karana mudra to ward off evil spirits. In Gandhara, such friezes were used to decorate the pedestals of Buddhist stupas . They are contemporary with other friezes representing people in Greek attire, hinting at an intermixing of Indo-Scythians and Indo-Greeks. In another relief,
4753-419: The Indo-Scythians. Following military pressure from the Yuezhi (predecessors of the Kushana), some Indo-Scythians moved from Bactria to Lake Helmond (or Hāmūn) and settled in or near Drangiana ( Sigal ). The region came to be known as "Sakistana of the Skythian Sakai [ sic ]" towards the end of the first century BCE. The presence of the Saka in Sakastan in the first century BCE
4850-403: The Parthian kings Phraates II and Artabanus I . The Yuezhi tribes migrated east into Bactria after their defeat, from which they conquered northern India to establish the Kushan Empire . The Saka settled in Drangiana , a region of southern Afghanistan, western Pakistan and southern Iran which was then named Sakastan or Sistan . The mixed Scythian hordes who migrated to Drangiana and
4947-409: The Sai country (Central Asia) to Chipin. The Scythian groups who invaded India and established kingdoms included, in addition to the Saka, allied tribes such as the Medii , Xanthii , and Massagetae . These peoples were absorbed into mainstream Indian society. The Shakas were from the trans-Hemodos region—the Shakadvipa of the Puranas or the Scythia of classical writings. At the beginning of
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#17327730101465044-486: The Sai-Wang as the Śaka Murunda of Indian literature; murunda is synonymous with wang (king, master or lord). Bagchi interprets Wang as the king of the Scythians, but distinguishes the Sai Sakas from the Murunda Sakas. The Sai Scythians may have been Kamboja Scythians; the Sai-Wang were part of the Parama Kamboja kingdom of Transoxiana , and returned after being evicted from their ancestral land. Maues might have belonged to this group of Scythians who migrated from
5141-412: The United Kingdom in 2011, 280,000 in the United States and smaller numbers in other countries. Standard Punjabi (sometimes referred to as Majhi) is the standard form of Punjabi used commonly in education and news broadcasting , and is based on the Majhi dialect . Such as the variety used on Google Translate , Standard Punjabi is also often used in official online services that employ Punjabi. It
5238-514: The United States found no evidence of a separate falling tone following a medial consonant. It is considered that these tones arose when voiced aspirated consonants ( gh, jh, ḍh, dh, bh ) lost their aspiration. In Punjabi, tone is induced by the loss of [h] in tonal consonants. Tonal consonants are any voiced aspirates /ʱ/ and the voiced glottal fricative /ɦ/ . These include the five voiced aspirated plosives bh , dh , ḍh , jh and gh (which are represented by their own letters in Gurmukhi),
5335-408: The ancient Sakas ("Sakai") were nomadic people . The first rulers of the Indo-Scythian kingdom were Maues (c. 85–60 BCE) and Vonones (c. 75–65 BCE). The ancestors of the Indo-Scythians are thought to have been Saka ( Scythian ) tribes. One group of Indo-European speakers that makes an early appearance on the Xinjiang stage is the Saka (Ch. Sai). Saka is more a generic term than a name for
5432-567: The city of Palacenti and the city of Sigal ; in that place is the royal residence of the Sacae; and nearby is the city of Alexandria ( Alexandria Arachosia ), and six villages. From petroglyphs left by Saka soldiers at river crossings in Chilas and on the Sacred Rock of Hunza in Pakistan, Ahmad Hassan Dani and Karl Jettmar [ de ] have established the route across the Karakoram mountains used by Maues (the first Indo-Scythian king) to capture Taxila from Indo-Greek King Apollodotus II . The first-century CE Periplus of
5529-631: The devoicing of the main five tonal consonants ( bh , dh , ḍh , jh , gh ). The Gurmukhi script which was developed in the 16th century has separate letters for voiced aspirated sounds, so it is thought that the change in pronunciation of the consonants and development of tones may have taken place since that time. Some other languages in Pakistan have also been found to have tonal distinctions, including Burushaski , Gujari , Hindko , Kalami , Shina , and Torwali , though these (besides Hindko) seem to be independent of Punjabi. Indo-Scythian The Indo-Scythians (also called Indo-Sakas ) were
5626-453: The early Saka layer (layer number four, corresponding to the period of Azes I , in which a number of his coins were found). Several of them are toilet trays roughly imitative of finer Hellenistic examples found in earlier layers. Azes is connected to the Bimaran casket , one of the earliest representations of the Buddha. The reliquary was used for the dedication of a stupa in Bamiran, near Jalalabad in Afghanistan , and placed inside
5723-471: The earth un-righteously in Kali Yuga ..." A portion of Central Asian Scythians under Sai-Wang reportedly moved south, crossed the Pamir Mountains and entered Chipin (or Kipin) after crossing the Xuandu (懸度, Hanging Pass) above the valley of Kanda in Swat . Chipin has been identified by Pelliot, Bagchi, Raychaudhury and others as Kashmir , but other scholars identify it as Kafiristan . Sai-Wang established his kingdom in Kipin. Konow interprets
5820-484: The east, the Indian king Vikrama retook Ujjain from the Indo-Scythians and celebrated his victory by establishing the Vikrama era in 58 BCE. Indo-Greek kings again ruled and prospered after Maues, as indicated by the profusion of coins from Kings Apollodotus II and Hippostratos . In 55 BCE, under Azes I , the Indo-Scythians took control of northwestern India with their victory over Hippostratos. Excavations organized by John Marshall found several stone sculptures in
5917-471: The eastern side of the stupa. Before entering the main sacred areas, visitors to the shrine from Sirkap would pass through a large building, now termed building H, that would openly display relics. Visitors likely venerated the relics at building H before entering the main stupa area. The stupa was surrounded by a circle of smaller stupas which were built approximately 200 years after the main stupa's construction, and were likely constructed together as part of
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#17327730101466014-415: The eleventh-most widely spoken in India , and also present in the Punjabi diaspora in various countries. Approximate distribution of native Punjabi speakers (inc. Lahndic dialects ) (assuming a rounded total of 157 million) worldwide. Punjabi is the most widely spoken language in Pakistan , being the native language of 88.9 million people, or approximately 37% of the country's population. Beginning with
6111-423: The ethnicities of the Achaemenid army, which included Ionians (Greeks) and Ethiopians . These groups were probably included in the Achaemenid army which invaded India. Some scholars (including Michael Witzel ) and Christopher I. Beckwith suggested that the Shakya – the clan of Gautama Buddha – were originally Scythians from Central Asia, and the Indian ethnonym Śākya has
6208-420: The examples below are based on those provided in Punjabi University, Patiala 's Punjabi-English Dictionary . Level tone is found in about 75% of words and is described by some as absence of tone. There are also some words which are said to have rising tone in the first syllable and falling in the second. (Some writers describe this as a fourth tone.) However, a recent acoustic study of six Punjabi speakers in
6305-418: The far-north of Rajasthan and on the northwestern border of Haryana . It includes the dialects of Majhi , Malwai , Doabi , Puadhi and the extinct Lubanki . Sometimes, Dogri and Kangri are grouped into this category. "Western Punjabi" or "Lahnda" ( لہندا , lit. ' western ' ) is the name given to the diverse group of Punjabi varieties spoken in the majority of Pakistani Punjab ,
6402-407: The first century CE, Isidore of Charax notes their presence in Sistan. The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea (c. 70–80 CE) documents a Scythian district in the lower Indus Valley, with Minnagra its capital. Ptolemy (c. 140 CE) also documents an Indo-Scythia in south-western India which consisted of the Patalene and Surastrene (Saurashtra) territories. The second-century BCE Scythian invasion of India
6499-423: The first century CE, describes in Kharoshthi script the gift of a stupa with a relic of the Buddha by Nadasi Kasa (Rajuvula's queen). The capital also mentions the genealogy of several Indo-Scythian Mathura satraps. Rajuvula apparently eliminated Strato II (the last Indo-Greek king) c. 10 CE and took Sagala , his capital city. Coinage of the period, such as that of Rajuvula, tends to be crude. It
6596-405: The first millennium; Kathiawar and Gujarat were under Western Satrap rule until the fifth century. Rudradaman I 's exploits are inscribed in the Junagadh rock inscription . During his campaigns, Rudradaman conqured the Yaudheyas and defeated the Satavahana Empire . The Western Satraps were conquered by the Gupta emperor Chandragupta II (also known as Vikramaditya). Indo-Scythian coinage
6693-446: The five major eastern tributaries of the Indus River . The name of the region was introduced by the Turko-Persian conquerors of South Asia and was a translation of the Sanskrit name, Panchanada , which means 'Land of the Five Rivers'. Panj is cognate with Sanskrit pañca ( पञ्च ), Greek pénte ( πέντε ), and Lithuanian Penki , all of which meaning 'five'; āb is cognate with Sanskrit áp ( अप् ) and with
6790-442: The help of Greek coin-makers. Indo-Scythian coins continue Indo-Greek tradition by using the Greek alphabet on the obverse and Kharoshthi script on the reverse. A portrait of the king is absent, with depictions of the king on a horse (sometimes on a camel) or sitting cross-legged on a cushion instead. The reverse of their coins typically show Greek gods. Buddhist symbolism is present in Indo-Scythian coinage. The Indo-Scythians adopted
6887-540: The language spoken by locals around the area of Lahore as Lahauri . The precursor stage of Punjabi between the 10th and 16th centuries is termed 'Old Punjabi', whilst the stage between the 16th and 19th centuries is termed as 'Medieval Punjabi'. The Arabic and Modern Persian influence in the historical Punjab region began with the late first millennium Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent . Since then, many Persian words have been incorporated into Punjabi (such as zamīn , śahir etc.) and are used with
6984-629: The latter three arise natively. Later, the letters ਜ਼ / ز , ਸ਼ / ش and ਫ਼ / ف began being used in English borrowings, with ਸ਼ / ش also used in Sanskrit borrowings . Punjabi has also had minor influence from and on neighbouring languages such as Sindhi , Haryanvi , Pashto and Hindustani . Note: In more formal contexts, hypercorrect Sanskritized versions of these words (ਪ੍ਰਧਾਨ pradhān for ਪਰਧਾਨ pardhān and ਪਰਿਵਾਰ parivār for ਪਰਵਾਰ parvār ) may be used. Modern Punjabi emerged in
7081-602: The most rarely pronounced. The retroflex lateral is most commonly analysed as an approximant as opposed to a flap . Some speakers soften the voiceless aspirates /t͡ʃʰ, pʰ, kʰ/ into fricatives /ɕ, f, x/ respectively. In rare cases, the /ɲ/ and /ŋ/ phonemes in Shahmukhi may be represented with letters from Sindhi . The /ɲ/ phoneme, which is more common than /ŋ/, is written as نی or نج depending on its phonetic preservation, e.g. نیاݨا /ɲaːɳaː/ (preserved ñ ) as opposed to کنج /kiɲd͡ʒ/ (assimilated into nj ). /ŋ/
7178-450: The new practice of using imagery in religious practice. Unlike constructions at Sanchi , stupas around the Dharmarajika Stupa were built by individual donors, rather than as part of a communal effort. Early monastic cells near the stupa were built as a row of rooms, with a verandah , The verandah style was later dropped in favour of monastic living quarters surrounding quadrangles that were built immediately north, northeast, and east of
7275-437: The one in the middle; at which by the shore, is the market-town, Barbaricum . Before it there lies a small island, and inland behind it is the metropolis of Scythia, Minnagara ; it is subject to Parthian princes who are constantly driving each other out ... The Indo-Scythians established a kingdom in the northwest near Taxila , with two satraps : one at Mathura in the east, and the other at Surastrene ( Gujarat ) in
7372-626: The population moved west to the Ili River region. They displaced the Saka, who migrated south into Ferghana and Sogdiana . According to the Chinese historical chronicles (who call the Saka "Sai" 塞): "[The Yuezhi] attacked the king of the Sai, who moved a considerable distance to the south and the Yuezhi then occupied his lands." Sometime after 155 BCE, the Yuezhi were again defeated by an alliance of
7469-527: The preceding Mauryan layers or the succeeding Kushan layers. The palettes often depict people in Greek dress in mythological scenes; a few have Parthian dress (headbands over bushy hair, crossed-over jacket on a bare chest, jewelry, belt, baggy trousers), and fewer have Indo-Scythian dress (Phrygian hat, tunic and straight trousers). A palette found in Sirkap , now in the New Delhi Museum , shows
7566-476: The public. The site is famous for its bone relics – thought to be those of the Buddha, Much of the stupa's precious relics had been looted by the time it was discovered by Sir John Marshall. A silver casket containing a silver inscription was recovered from the stupa's chapel after discovery, The inscription is written in the ancient Kharosthi script that was once common throughout Gandhara, The inscription states that Urusaka of Noacha placed bone relics of
7663-547: The same origin as "Scythian". This would explain the strong Saka support of Buddhism in India. The Persians, the Saka and the Greeks may have participated in the later campaigns of Chandragupta Maurya to gain the throne of Magadha c. 320 BCE. The Mudrarakshasa says that after Alexander the Great 's death, Chandragupta Maurya used a Shaka - Yavana - Kamboja - Parasika - Bahlika alliance in his campaign to take
7760-665: The same spot, again suggesting a mingling of the populations. Reliefs at the same location show Indo-Scythians , with characteristic tunics and pointed hoods, with reliefs of standing Buddhas. The Indo-Scythians were named "Shaka" in India, a variation of the name "Saka" used by the Persians for Scythians. Shakas are mentioned in the Purāṇas , the Manusmṛti , the Rāmāyaṇa , the Mahābhārata ,
7857-540: The same type of soldiers are playing musical instruments and dancing; in Gandharan art, Indo-Scythians are typically depicted as reveling devotees. A number of stone palettes in Gandhara are considered representative of Indo-Scythian art. The palettes, which combine Greek and Iranian influences, often have a simple, archaic style. Stone palettes have only been found in archaeological layers corresponding to Indo-Greek, Indo-Scythian and Indo-Parthian rule, and are unknown in
7954-417: The site, and contained its own stupa in a small courtyard. Monastery M is connected to a long residential monastery, oriented in a roughly north-south direction. At the southern edge of this monastery are the remains of two stupas, now termed E1 and E2. E1 was built in a pre-existing cell, while E2 was a more elaborated stupa that contained a small passageway for circumambulation. Neither stupa was likely open to
8051-564: The site. The site was devastated by the White Huns in the 5th century CE, and then abandoned. Subsequent rulers, such as the Hun king Mihirakula , persecuted the region's Buddhists. Under his reign, over a thousand Buddhist monasteries throughout Gandhara are said to have been destroyed. The White Huns destroyed not only Taxilan sites, but also devastated nearby Peshawar . The stupa was excavated by Sir John Marshall in 1913. The stupa had been looted several times prior to Marshall's discovery, and
8148-474: The southwest. The presence of the Scythians in modern Pakistan and north-western India during the first century BCE was contemporaneous with the Indo-Greek kingdoms there, and they apparently initially recognized the power of the local Greek rulers. Maues first conquered Gandhara and Taxila in present-day Afghanistan and Pakistan c. 80 BCE, but his kingdom disintegrated after his death. In
8245-465: The standard literary and administrative language and Prakrit languages evolved into many regional languages in different parts of India. All these languages are called Prakrit languages (Sanskrit: प्राकृत , prākṛta ) collectively. Paishachi Prakrit was one of these Prakrit languages, which was spoken in north and north-western India and Punjabi developed from this Prakrit. Later in northern India Paishachi Prakrit gave rise to Paishachi Apabhraṃśa ,
8342-399: The stupa approximately 300 years after the stupa's construction. The northern monastery consisted of two courtyards that were each built around a large stupa. The smaller eastern courtyard is believed to have housed 13 monks. Monastery G, located immediately west of the stupa has at least 50 monastic cells, a stupa, and was likely multistoried. Monastery M in the extreme northwest section of
8439-545: The stupa with several coins of Azes. This may have happened during the reign of Azes (60–20 BCE), or slightly later. The Indo-Scythians were connected with Buddhism. In northern India, the Indo-Scythians conquered the Mathura region c. 60 BCE. Some of their satraps were Hagamasha and Hagana, who were followed by Rajuvula . The Mathura lion capital , an Indo-Scythian sandstone capital which dates to
8536-488: The surrounding regions later spread into north and south-west India via the lower Indus valley. They spread into Sovira , Gujarat, Rajasthan and north India, including kingdoms on the Indian mainland. The Arsacid emperor Mithridates II (c. 123–88/87 BCE) pursued an aggressive military policy in Central Asia and added a number of provinces to the Parthian Empire . This included western Bactria, which he seized from
8633-539: The terms Eastern and Western Punjabi can simply refer to all the Punjabi varieties spoken in India and Pakistan respectively, whether or not they are linguistically Eastern/Western. While a vowel length distinction between short and long vowels exists, reflected in modern Gurmukhi orthographical conventions, it is secondary to the vowel quality contrast between centralised vowels /ɪ ə ʊ/ and peripheral vowels /iː eː ɛː aː ɔː oː uː/ in terms of phonetic significance. The peripheral vowels have nasal analogues . There
8730-692: The third year of Kanishka (c. 130 CE), when they pledged allegiance to the Kushans. The Yuga Purana describes an invasion of Pataliputra by the Scythians during the first century BCE, after seven kings ruled in succession in Saketa following the retreat of the Yavanas. According to the Yuga Purana , the Saka king killed one-fourth of the population before he was slain by the Kalinga king Shata and
8827-814: The throne in Magadha and found the Maurya Empire . The Saka were the Scythians; the Yavanas were the Greeks , and the Parasikas were the Persians . During the second century BCE, a nomadic movement began among the Central Asian tribes. Recorded in the annals of the Han dynasty and other Chinese records, the movement began after the Yuezhi tribe was defeated by the Xiongnu and fled west; this created
8924-514: Was lexically influenced by Portuguese (words like almārī ), Greek (words like dām ), Japanese (words like rikśā ), Chinese (words like cāh , līcī , lukāṭh ) and English (words like jajj , apīl , māsṭar ), though these influences have been minor in comparison to Persian and Arabic. In fact, the sounds / z / (ਜ਼ / ز ژ ذ ض ظ ), / ɣ / (ਗ਼ / غ ), / q / (ਕ਼ / ق ), / ʃ / (ਸ਼ / ش ), / x / (ਖ਼ / خ ) and / f / (ਫ਼ / ف ) are all borrowed from Persian, but in some instances
9021-408: Was badly damaged. Marshall noted that a large trench, requiring tremendous effort, was built at some point in the past in order to loot the stupa's precious relics. By 1934, enough of the site had been uncovered that the site's scale could be appreciated. Human skeletons were discovered in the open area immediately south of the stupa, and may be the remains of monks who were killed during the invasion of
9118-629: Was gradually replaced with that of the Kushans , one of the five Yuezhi tribes who lived in Bactria for over a century and expanded into India during the late first century CE. The Kushans regained northwestern India c. 75 CE and the Mathura region c. 100 , where they prospered for several centuries. Indo-Scythians continued to hold the Sistan region until the reign of Bahram II (276–293 CE), and held several areas of India well into
9215-470: Was located near the ancient city of Sirkap , which also forms part of the Ruins of Taxila . Punjabi language Europe North America Oceania Punjabi , sometimes spelled Panjabi , is an Indo-Aryan language native to the Punjab region of Pakistan and India . It is one of the most widely spoken native languages in the world with approximately 150 million native speakers. Punjabi
9312-667: Was the brother of King Maues . The Indo-Scythian satraps of Mathura are sometimes called the Northern Satraps to distinguish them from the Western Satraps ruling in Gujarat and Malwa . After Rajuvula, several successors are known to have ruled as vassals of the Kushans . They include the "Great Satrap" Kharapallana and the satrap Vanaspara , who are known from an inscription discovered in Sarnath and dated to
9409-467: Was used during religious services at Dharmarajika, while the complex was paved with colourful glass tiles. Indo-Greek coins found at the site date from the 2nd century BCE, suggesting earliest possible establishment of a religious monument at the site. Small stupas that predate the main stupa are found throughout the Dharmarajika site, and surrounded an earlier core stupa in an irregular layout. It
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