ਪੰਜਾਬੀਆپنجابیاPunjabia

History

ਇਤਿਹਾਸاتہاسHistory

Punjab's past, told in order — hover an event to see it, click through to read it. Where evidence is strong we say so; where scholars disagree, we show you the debate.

Fifteen moments, in order

The timeline

  1. c. 2600 BCE Ancient Punjab The Indus cities of Punjab Harappa, on the old bed of the Ravi, becomes one of the two great cities of the Indus Valley Civilisation — planned streets, standardised bricks, and a script no one can yet read. Read the article →
    The Priest-King of Mohenjo-daro: a small steatite bust of a bearded man in a patterned robe.
    The “Priest-King” of Mohenjo-daro, steatite, c. 2000–1900 BCE — the most recognisable Indus artefact.
  2. 326 BCE Classical Punjab The Battle of the Hydaspes Alexander of Macedon defeats the local king Porus on the banks of the Jhelum — the easternmost great battle of his campaign, and Punjab's first well-documented meeting with the Greek world. Read the article →
    Nineteenth-century engraving of the captured king Porus brought before Alexander after the battle.
    Porus before Alexander after the Hydaspes — 19th-century engraving.
  3. 1469 Faith The creation of Sikhi Guru Nanak is born at Talwandi. Ten Gurus, one scripture, and — by 1699 — the Khalsa. Read the article →
    ੴ IK ONKAR — ONE DIVINE
    1469 — Guru Nanak's teaching begins with one word: One.
  4. c. 1500 Faith Guru Nanak settles at Kartarpur After years of travel, Guru Nanak gathers the first community of Sikhs on the Ravi — and langar, the shared free kitchen, and congregational worship take root. Read the article →
    Janamsakhi painting of Guru Nanak seated with companions.
    Guru Nanak in a Janamsakhi painting — devotional art, generations after his life.
  5. 1526 Mughal Punjab The Mughals take Punjab After years of raids across the five rivers, Babur defeats Sultan Ibrahim Lodi at Panipat. Punjab passes into the new Mughal Empire — and Lahore will grow into one of its greatest cities. Article coming soon
    Mughal miniature of the First Battle of Panipat, showing Babur's artillery and cavalry engaging the Lodi army.
    The First Battle of Panipat, from a 1598 manuscript of the Baburnama.
  6. 1604 Faith The Adi Granth at the Harmandir Sahib Guru Arjan compiles the first Sikh scripture and installs it in the new shrine at Amritsar — fixing the city as the spiritual centre of Sikhism. Read the article →
    Watercolour painting of the Golden Temple complex at Amritsar, 1854.
    The Harmandir Sahib, watercolour by William Carpenter, 1854.
  7. 1699 Faith The founding of the Khalsa At Anandpur on Vaisakhi, Guru Gobind Singh initiates the Panj Pyare — reshaping Sikh identity into a disciplined community of equals. Read the article →
    Lithograph of Guru Gobind Singh preparing amrit for the first five initiates of the Khalsa.
    Guru Gobind Singh prepares amrit for the Panj Pyare — lithograph.
  8. c. 1748 Between empires The rise of the misls As Mughal authority collapses and Afghan armies invade again and again, Sikh warbands organise into the misls — twelve confederated fighting brotherhoods under the Dal Khalsa that, by the 1770s, control most of Punjab. Article coming soon
    Painting of Jassa Singh Ahluwalia on horseback, attended by a fly-whisk bearer.
    Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, supreme commander of the Dal Khalsa — equestrian painting, c. 1859.
  9. 1801 The Sikh Empire Maharaja Ranjit Singh's empire A one-eyed teenager unites the misls and is crowned at Lahore — Punjab's first sovereign empire in centuries. Read the article →
    SHER-E-PUNJAB · LAHORE
    1801 — crowned Maharaja at Lahore; the empire will reach from the Sutlej to the Khyber.
  10. 1837 The Sikh Empire Hari Singh Nalwa at Jamrud The empire's greatest general dies holding the fort at the mouth of the Khyber Pass — and the frontier holds. Read the article →
    JAMRUD · THE KHYBER GATE
    1837 — the fort at Jamrud, where Nalwa made his last stand.
  11. 1849 The contested century The British annexation of the Punjab After the Second Anglo-Sikh War, the East India Company dissolves the Sikh Empire. The child Maharaja Duleep Singh is deposed; Punjab is the last major region to fall under British rule. Read the article →
    Chromolithograph portrait of the young Maharaja Duleep Singh in court dress and jewels.
    Maharaja Duleep Singh, chromolithograph, c. 1859 — the empire's last, exiled ruler.
  12. 1897 The contested century The Battle of Saragarhi Twenty-one soldiers of the 36th Sikhs hold a signalling post on the Samana Range against thousands of Orakzai and Afridi tribesmen, fighting to the last man — commemorated every 12 September as Saragarhi Day. Article coming soon
    Group photograph of Sikh soldiers of the 36th Sikhs regiment, taken in 1897.
    Men of the 36th Sikhs, photographed in 1897 — the year of Saragarhi.
  13. 1919 The contested century The Jallianwala Bagh massacre On Vaisakhi, troops under Brigadier-General Dyer fire on an unarmed crowd in an enclosed garden in Amritsar, killing hundreds — a turning point in the independence movement. Read the article →
    A preserved wall at the Jallianwala Bagh memorial, its bullet marks outlined.
    The bullet-marked wall preserved at the Jallianwala Bagh memorial, Amritsar.
  14. 1947 The contested century The Partition of Punjab A line drawn in five weeks divides the province between two new nations; millions cross it in both directions. Read the article →
    LAHORE AMRITSAR THE RADCLIFFE LINE · AUGUST 1947
    1947 — one province, two nations. Fifty kilometres between Lahore and Amritsar, and a border between them.
  15. 1951 Music The rise of Kuldeep Manak Born at Jalal, Bathinda. By the 1970s his kaliyan carry Punjab's oldest legends on the era's loudest voice. Read the article →
    THE TUMBI & THE KALI
    1951 — a voice is born in Bathinda that will define the kali for fifty years.

More events are on their way — Banda Singh Bahadur, the Ghallugharas, and Waris Shah's Heer among them. The timeline grows with every update.

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