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September 21, 2003
Articles: Punjabi not Shahmukhi
PUNJABI is a language that has been in existence since pre- Sanskrit and pre-Vedic times. Punjabi is, however, a relatively recent name for this ancient language. Late Mohammed Asif Khan did extensive research on the word Punjab, and concluded that the first written evidence of the use of the word Punjab is to be found in the 12th century. He quotes some verses in Persian from Shah Ne’mat Allah Wali (1152AD) in support of his claim:
Punjab shehr Lahore hamm deraah jaat choon Kashmeer mulk Mansoor geerand ghaibana
He also refers to a portion of a letter in Persian from Shahab-ad-Din Ghauri (1193AD) to the Rajas in Hindustan:
Ba shumaa sulah kunem keh sarhind, Punjab wa Multan ba maa shud wa baqi mamaalik Hindustaan ba shumaa
Muslims now have a distinctly different and well-established script for writing Punjabi and it is very old. It is the same script in which Baba Farid left his writings for us (Baba Saheb reportedly died in about 1265, and was a contemporary of Maulana Rumi, d.1273). The Persian-based Punjabi script/Imla’ has a long history and has been used for centuries for writing Punjabi. A brief account of the history of this script can be found at
This is a historical fact that the official language during the Raj of Ranjeet Singh was Persian. Shahmukhi is an illogical misnomer for the written script, which is claimed to be the only one for Punjabi.
There is a very good reason why the Muslim Punjabis have adopted the script that they have. The nature of social forces in Pakistan is such that any suggestion of even remotely linking the written Punjabi language in Pakistan with Gurmukhi will hurt the larger cause of Punjabi in Pakistan. No one wants that to happen.
Users of a language are at many different levels. Expert linguists have to learn many different languages and scripts to do their job effectively. Late Mohammad Asif Khan, a Punjabi scholar, and Annemarie Schimmel, a German scholar, are two such excellent examples. But the majority of ordinary users of any language, and Punjabi is no exception, have much simpler needs and those needs are driven by social, cultural, religious and other regional factors specific to their environment.
