There
appears to be a lot of confusion regarding Gurmukhi
and Punjabi.
The assumption a lot of people seem to make is that there is a
language called Punjabi (what we use everyday) and there is the
language called Gurmukhi - the language used to write the Guru
Granth Sahib.
So is there two languages ??
Did the Guru's use different language called Gurmukhi??
The answer is No.
Before
going further ,apply some logic yourself, would you (if trying
to convey a message to a lot people) write the message in new
language , which everybody would have to learn before deciphering
the message , OR would you write in the most
commonly used language ??
Remember this - Punjabi is language
( what we speak). Gurmukhi is a script
(how we write punjabi ).
Punjabi is an Indian language which belongs to the outer-circle
of the Indo-Aryan languages and distantly related English being
a member of the same Indo-European language family. It
is a modern Indo-Aryan language spoken mainly in the Punjab states
of both India and Pakistan. It nearly resembles Hindi and Urdu.
There are 2 main scripts used , Punjabi speaking Muslims may write
Punjabi in the Perso-Arabic script (as used to write Urdu, writing
from right to left), this sometimes is referred to as Shahmukhi.
( I will try to get examples of this, if you have any please send
to me ).
Punjabi is also written using
Urdu and Hindi scripts.
Punjabi speaking Sikhs write Punjabi in the Gurmukhi script ,
which was developed by Guru Andgad dev ji.
Contrary to another popular belief , Guru ji did not invent Gurmukhi
from scratch , he modified the Landa (lahnda) script . He and
polished the landa script to reflect , pronunciation and the authentic
tonal expressions to what is known as Gurmukhi today. The Landa
had been around for centuries before the Guru Ji's.
However we must also remember that punjabi itself has evolved
along with time, as any language does. There will be differences
between 16th and 17th century and now.
Also did you also know that there are different dialects of Punjabi
?
Here is a brief outline of them.
Majhi
Spoken in the heart of Punjab i.e., Lahore , Sialkot, Gujaranwala,
Gurdaspur, Amritsar. Most of the population of Punjab lives in
this area and linguists also say that Majhi dialect is the "Tixali
boli" i.e., it has been influenced by all other dialects
Malwi
Spoken in the east Punjab area of Ludhiana, Ambala, Bathinda,
Ganganagar, Maleerkotla Fazilka, Ferozepur. This area (Malwa)
is the southern and central part of present day Indian Punjab.
Also includes the Punjabi speaking areas of Haryana, viz. Ambala,
Hissar, Sirsa, kurukhetra etc. (northern parts of Haryana mainly).
Doabi
Land between the rivers of Beas and Satluj is called Doaba. Do
Aaba lierally means "the land between two waters" in
persian. It includes Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur.
Pothohari
The area where Pothohari is spoken extends in the north from Kashmir
to as far south as Jehlum and Gujar Khan and includes the capital
of Pakistan, Islamabad. This dialect is similar to some extent
to the Hindko dialect of Punjabi which is spoken in Peshawar,
Nowshehra, Mansehra all these areas lie in the North West Frontier
Province of Pakistan where majority language is Pashto, but Hindko
speakers area also found in sizable numbers.
Jhangvi
The region where Jhangvi is spoken stretches from Khanewal to
Jhang and includes the cities of Faisalabad, Chiniot. Jhangvi
dialect is also called the ``Jangli'' dialect of Punjabi.
Multani
The dialect spoken in Multan, Bahawalpur, Khairpur, Daira Ghazi
Khan, Muzafar Garh i.e., southern deserts of Punjab is called
Multani (also Lehndi by some) and perhaps differs from Punjabi
more than any other dialect. Those who closely know the dialect
say that it is a very "mithi boli." This is the land
of Muslim Sufis, perhaps "Shah Shams Sabazwari" who
came to Multan in 1165 AD was the first in a long series of Sufis
to base themselves in Multan. Multani becomes more and more different
as you move down south, as the influence of Sindhi increases,
it is also known as Siraiki there. Siraiki itself is Sindhi word
and means northern.
| More
Information regarding Punjabi by Serjinder Singh |
| The cliche that Guru Angad
Dev ji made the Gurmukhi alphabet is patently false(It was
propagated by the enemies of Sikhism known as Handalis who
wrote the distorted biography of Guru Nanak Dev ji called
Janam Sakhi Bhai Bala).
If one reads that part of Guru Granth
Sahib which is known Patti one finds that this Gurbani
written by the first Guru ji mentions the letters of Gurmukhi
by the same names as we know them today. If Guru Angad Dev
ji made the Gurmukhi alphabet how Guru Nanak Dev ji could
have mentioned it in his bani several decades earlier. This
script known as Gurmukhi or literally the script used by
Gurmukhs existed long before.
Word Gurmukh did not necessarily refer
to Gursikhs alone at that period of time but was used by
Naths and Sidhs as well. Guru ji in his discussions with
the Sidhs use this word to address them as given in the
Guru Granth Sahib under the bani titled "Sidh Ghost".
All the relevant arguments in support of the above are given
in the text books of degree students in Punjab who study
the history of Punjabi language and script. In Ludhiana
district of Punjab there is a village named Hathoor. There
is a sacred well where pilgrims who were traders used to
visit and used to get some bricks with their names and details
of donations given laid on the inside wall. One of these
is written in Gurmukhi as we know it today and gives the
date which is in thirteenth century which is long
before Guru Nanak Dev ji. I am refering here to the script
which is Gurmukhi.
As far as the language is concerned
in Punjab the language that is and was spoken is called
Punjabi. Now this Punjabi was similar to the Punjabi that
we speak in our homes even now. One can read the Saloks
of Baba Farid in Guru Granth Sahib which even you born in
the west would be able to understand because these are in
Punjabi. Baba Farid lived during the thirteenth century
couple of centuries before Guru Nanak Dev ji. In their blind
chauvinistic aim to show that the Gurmukhi script belongs
only to Sikhs and not to rest of the Punjabis these bigots
have created hatred against non-sikhs and alienated them
from their own language and past and divided the population
of Punjab on religious lines.
The Majhi was
called Taxali Boli in earlier part of this century not because
it is influenced by other dialects. On the contrary it was
considered by some egoist intellectuals living around Lahore
and Amritsar that the dialect they speak should be considered
standard Punjabi or authentic Punjabi and other dialects
were ridiculed.
Word Taxal
means mint where authentic coins are made. So, Taxali Boli
like the authentic minted coins means authentic or standard
language. At present nobody subscribes to this view. Respect
shown for all dialects of Punjabi is same. In
addition to the dialects listed by you there are some more
viz. Puadhi which is spoken in the area between Chandigarh,
Patiala and Ropar near the foothills. Dogri or Pahari spoken
in Jammu and Mirpur area is also cosidered a dialect of
Punjabi.
|
Okay so far ?
The next argument usually seems
to be , why is Guru Granth Sahib so difficult to comprehend ,
so it cannot be same language ?
Well the language used in it is not uniform , it contains Hindi,
Braj Bhasha, Sanskrit, Marathi, Pharsee, Arabic and also the many
dialects of punjabi. Sometimes the words are pronounced the same
as an existing punjabi word yet the meaning maybe different due
to the origin of the word.
Furthermore as mentioned above any language is always in a state
of flux, constantly evolving.
| More
Information regarding Punjabi by Serjinder Singh |
| Regarding
the Gurmukhi script, it is derived from Brahmi used for Asoka's
edicts. The Landa script is by and large Gurmukhi script without
the vowel signs. In Panjabi word Landa means an animal that
has lost its tail. Thus the script which does not have its
Siharees or Biharees or Hora, Kanna etc is similar to an animal
without a tail. That is why it is called Landa. The Landa
script has been in use and still is used for writing accounts
in Bahee's by the traders in Punjab. Otherwise the Gurmukhi
script was known long before Guruji along with the vowel signs.
An Arab mathematician mentions in tenth
century of a mathematician from Punjanb whom he saw using
a single letter for each numeral whereas till then the Romans
and the Arabs had been using several letters for one numeral.
For instance, for three one wrote III and for eight VIII.
In Punjab at that time three was written as 3 which is nothing
but the first Gurmukhi letter of the Punjabi word tin for
three and 2 is the modified first letter of Punjabi word
Do(pronounced as though) for two. No one has noticed this
but I can show conclusively that all the nine numerals
(which are known as Arabic numerals in West, but Arabs call
them Hindsa, meaning brought from Hind or India)are the
different letters derived from the Punjabi count words.sucha
Ik, Do, Tin, Chaar, Punj etc. Indeed the Arab mathematicial
mentions the origin as Punjab of the Hindsas or numerals.
|
So remember Punjabi is a LANGUAGE
, Gurmukhi is SCRIPT
If you have any views
regarding this add them to discussion forum.
Many thanks to
Serjinder Singh
and also Muhammad Afzal
Upal for his information about punjabi dialects.
see Punjabi
home page
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