History

Punjabi is an Indo-Aryan Language

Punjabi is an Indo-Aryan language like many 

other modern languages of South Asia. 

It is a descendant of Sauraseni Prakrit, 

which was the chief language of medieval northern India.

Punjabi emerged as an independent language

in the 11th century from the Sauraseni Apabhramsa. 

The literary tradition in Punjabi 

started with Fariduddin Ganjshakar (Baba Farid) (1173–1266), 

many ancient Sufi mystics and later Guru Nanak Dev ji, 

the first Guru of Sikhism. 

The early Punjabi literature was principally spiritual 

in nature and has had a very rich oral tradition.

The poetry written by Sufi saints has been 

the folklore of the Punjab and is still sung with 

great love in any part of Punjab.

Between 1600 and 1850, Muslim Sufi, 

Sikh and Hindu writers composed many works in Punjabi. 

The most famous Punjabi Sufi poet was Baba Bulleh Shah (1680–1757), 

who wrote in the Kafi style. Bulleh Shah practiced the 

Sufi tradition of Punjabi poetry 

established by poets like Shah Hussain (1538–1599),  

Sultan Bahu (1629–1691), 

and Shah Sharaf (1640–1724). 

His lifespan also overlapped with the legendary 

Punjabi poet Waris Shah (1722–1798), 

of Heer Ranjha fame. Waris Shah's rendition 

of the tragic love story of Heer Ranjha is among the most popular 

medieval Punjabi works. 

Other popular tragic love stories are Sohni Mahiwal,  

Mirza Sahiba and Sassi Punnun.  

Shah Mohammad's Jangnama is another

fine piece of poetry that gives an eyewitness

account of the First Anglo-Sikh War that took place

after the death of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.

The linguist George Abraham Grierson in his multivolume  

Linguistic Survey of IndiaPunjab region: (1904–1928) 

used the word "Punjabi" to refer to several languages

spoken in the the term "Western Punjabi" (ISO 639-3 pnb) 

covered dialects (now designated separate languages) 

spoken to the west of Montgomery and Gujranwala districts, 

while "Eastern Punjabi" referred to what is 

now simply called Punjabi (ISO 639-3 pan) 

After Saraiki, Pothohari, Hindko and 

(earlier categorized as "Western Punjabi") started to be

counted as separate languages, the percentage

of Pakistanis recorded as Punjabi speakers was reduced from 59% to 44%.

Although not an official language, 

Punjabi is still the predominant language of Pakistan.