CULTURE

1511

History furnishes evidence that Punjab has

stood as a sentinel of India and been the venue of
many an attack and fierce battle from the earliest
times . The Ary ans , Persians, Greeks,
Scythians ,
Parthians, Kushans, Hunas and lately the Turks and
Mughals have been fighting many a decisive battle
in its plains and hills. Even in the recent decades,
we have borne the thrust of Pakistani incursions
twice. The ravages of time and man, have however,
wiped off many clues of our cultural heritage from
the surface of earth in this geogra,t:>hical unit.
Neverthless, the opulence of cultural heritage can
still be witnessed in the way of life of the people of
Punjab, their religious and other beliefs, their way
of thinking and doing.
Distinguishing Features and Cultural Life.-Hlstory
moulds the course of future. The racial and tribal
multiplicity in the Punjab, a sequel of historical
events, gave birth to an affluent composite cultural
tradition which has been characteristic of the
region. "The melange of races, tribes and cultures
in the Punjab together with its constant contact with
Central Asia and Western Asia tended to distinguish
it from the rest of India."

Repeated
attacks
are
responsible for
the
bellicose temperament of the Punja bis. Frequent and
rampant rapine and ransacking has made them
materialistic in outlook. Interminable . loot by the
Durranis during the eighteenth century gave birth to
the famous saying
"Khada peeta
lahe de rehnda Ahmed
Shahe da"
which is representative of the materialism
to
which
the
Punjab is
were
forced.
Po.lltical
instabilities and adventitous happenin13s have made
them practical in nature and resilient in outlook.
Regal debauchery, revelry and ravishment, conquerors
malversation and mal~easence has resulted in an
elasticity of morals and ideas. Economic redundance
has produced independent tendency and admixture
with the aliens has led to an imbibition of
assimilative spirit, liberal and progressive attitude. Thus, the distinctive qualities. of the Punjabis
such as bellicosity, broad-mindedness, resilience,
elasticity,
economic
. self-sufficiency,
liberality,
practicability, progressivism, pragmatism, materla-