Rivers of Punjab

Punjab is the land of five rivers in north west India and north east Pakistan. Punj means "five" and aab means "waters", so punjab means five waters. These five rivers that run through Punjab, having their originating source as various small lakes in Himalayas. If one were to go across the Punjab starting from Delhi and to Afghanistan, the rivers are in this order. Beas, Satluj, Ravi, Chenab and Jhelum. Beus, and Satluj merge into one river retaining the name Satluj at Harike near Ferozepur in Punjab just before crossing the border into west Punjab (Pakistan) and eventually merging into river Indus.

Area of Punjab that is between rivers of Beus and Satluj is called Doaba, major cities in this part of punjab are Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur and Nawanshahr. Majha is between Beus and Chenab and on both sides of Ravi, this part is called the heart of Punjab and cities include, Lahore, Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Sialkot, Kasur, Lyallpur(Faisalabad), Faridkot and Ferozepur. In Majha part of Punjab many new cities were developed by converting the forests into cultivating land and is called Bar, cities include Lyallpur (Faisalabad), Montgomery, etc. Area beyond Chenab river in North and around river Jhelum is called Pothohar, cities include Rawalpindi, Hasan Abdal, etc. Area between Ravi and Chenab river is called Rachna doab cities are Gujrat, Sargodha, etc. Area of Malwa is southern Punjab facing Rajasthan and East of river Beus, cities include Ludhiana, Patiala, Ambala, Karnal, Sangrur, Malerkotla, Shahabad, and Abohar.

Punjabi civilization is one of the oldest on earth, with its distinguished language, culture, food, attire, script, folklore, people, etc. Punjabi langauge has its originating source in Sanskrit (not Hindi or Urdu as many young Indian pakistanis believe), i.e. the family of Indo-European group of langauges which includes Persian and Latin. Punjab has always been land of great saints and fighters. In 450 B.C (2450 years ago) Alexander invaded Punjab and conquered a great Punjabi king named Porus whose kingdom was on the banks of river Chenab. He did not accepted defeat and asked Greek king to show him the same respect as kings. He was restored back to his throne by Alexander. Alexander returned to Greece right before crossing the river Beus, as his forces refused to fight. In his train we have a reliable resource that tells us about Punjab 2450 years ago. Not much different from today (except for the technology).

Since 1947, Punjab has been separated into an Indian state and a Pakistani province bearing the same name. The Indus River bounds the region in part of the west and the Yamuna River in part of the east. The five rivers that give Punjab its name, the Jhelum, the Chenab, the Ravi, the Sutlej, and the Beas, merge to form the Panjnad, which flows into the Indus. Except in the north, where there are forested mountains yielding salt and coal, the Punjab is a level alluvial plain. Rainfall is scant and irregular, but extensive irrigation systems using the waters of the great rivers have made possible enormous agricultural productivity. Wheat (by far the leading crop), millet, barley, cotton, and sugarcane are grown, and there are extensive fruit orchards. The Punjab has a large textile industry and much flour milling. Communications (by road, by rail, and on the rivers) are excellent. More than 60% of the population of Punjab is Sikh.