The name Punjab comes from the Persian words 'Panj' & 'Aab' meaning five & water or the land of five rivers as in ancient times five rivers known as the Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Bipasha and Shatadru flowed through the state.

Situated in the north-west, the state of Punjab is bound by Jammu and Kashmir in the north, Himachal Pradesh in the north-east and Haryana and Rajas than in the south. Pakistan lies to the west of Punjab. Blessed with extremely fertile soil,
Punjab is watered by the rivers Beas, Sutlej, Ravi and Ghaggar It is also the land where one of the major Religions of India "SIKHISM" was born. Punjab today is one of the most affluent states of India. Agriculture, Industrial activities, dairy farming etc. are the mainstay of Punjab's economy.

The main language of Punjab is called "Punjabi". Punjabi is the 13th most spoken language in the world. It is spoken by more than one hundred million people in the world, the majority of them in India and Pakistan. A large number of Punjabis who
speak the language are settled in the United States,Canada, Britain, Malaysia,
Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, Fiji Island, and other countries.

Punjabi has a diverse and rich literary tradition of more than 800 years. One of
the Indo-Aryan languages, over the centuries it has been profoundly influenced
by Arabic and Persian during the period the Muslims ruled in India. It also
received a great impact of European languages such as English, German, French,
Dutch, Portuguese on its vocabulary in the early twentieth century.

The holy book of the Sikhs, Sri Guru Granth Sahib, is written in Gurmukhi
script, the writing system for the language developed and reformed by the
second Sikh Guru, Sri Guru Angad Dev Ji during the sixteenth century.