what are punjabis??

[sbutalia]

im just curious of what people would classify us... because some of us look arab some look afghan some look persian some look south asian... some well look just plain med... i know there have been many invasions but if anyone has any other information or general classifications it would help.. thanks..

[cocacola]

Punjabis are mixed race. The area has been a melting pot for generations and the people are a blend of various tribes/invaders who settled there.
Their looks vary.









The woman

[buddyrydell]

The variation found among Punjabis is much more than I thought. Gee, a few of those Punjabis are not that different from me in appearance. Many people have green eyes too. The predominant elements seem to be South Asian, Irano-Afghan, and eastern Mediterranean.

[Springa]

Can't people take their own pics with webcams without making Zoolander faces?

[pconroy]

buddyrydell said:

The variation found among Punjabis is much more than I thought. Gee, a few of those Punjabis are not that different from me in appearance. Many people have green eyes too. The predominant elements seem to be South Asian, Irano-Afghan, and eastern Mediterranean.

I dated a Punjabi - Jat Sikh - once and she looked very like Norah Jones:



She was short with an hour-glass figure and very hot looking. She said that her Dad had reddish-brown hair and green eyes.

[sublime]

The rich and fertile land of the Punjab was the meeting ground of different people and races. Its population descends from various stocks and consists of heterogeneous racial elements. In ancient times it was mostly inhabited by a race whom the Aryans later called Dasyus. They were pushed towards the south by the Indo-Aryans. But a small section of Dasyus remained in the Punjab. Later on, the Persians, the Greeks, the Parthians, the Scythians, the Kushans, the Huns, the Turks, the Mongols and the Afghans made successive inroads into Punjab and some of them settled there permanently and adjusted themselves to the new social system, adopting the customs and tradition of the conquered land. They soon merged into the indigenous population and in the process, some of their own cultural traits became part of the culture of the Punjab. The present inhabitants of the Punjab are the descendants of the various racial stocks which entered into it during the different stages of its history.

Sikh Jats, who belong to the agriculturists class, form the bulk of population of the present Punjabis. They are sturdy, self-willed and industrious and are among the finest peasants of India. They are generally tall and muscular, with well-shaped limbs, an erect carriage and strongly marked and sharp handsome features.

The Khatris and Aroras are next in number. The Khatris, who are generally energetic and educated, are mostly fair-complexioned and have good features. Trade is their main occupation. They claim to be in the direct line of the Kshatriyas of the Aryan race. The Aroras also claim to be of Khatri origin. Next to them in number are the Brahmans and Vaishas, who are split up into several such-castes and are found almost all over Punjab.

Among the minor agricultural tribes, Sainis and Kambohs are the most prominent ones. They are admirable cultivators, skilful and industrious. The Sainis claim their origin from the Rajputs and some of the Kambohs from "Kamboj Desh" in Afghanistan. The various vagrant tribes of the Punjab, like the Sainis, the Pakhi- Waras, the Bawris, the Bazigars etc. are aboriginal in their origin. They have retained their aboriginal customs and beliefs.

Tribal Settlement

The population of the Punjab being heterogeneous consists of various tribes and classes. Members of each village or patti claim descent from a common ancestor, and even today in every village one clan dominates.

There are various tribes and clans settled in the Punjab. Among them Jats, Khatris, Aroras, Brahmans, Vaishas, Sainis, Kambohs and Sansis are the most prominent. The Jats of the Punjab are further divided into various clans, each one of which is found concentrated in groups of villages. The most important clans of Jats in Malwa are Sindhus and Sindhu Brars. From the Sindhu clan sprang up the great Phulkian families of Patiala, Nabha, and Jind, and from the Brars the ruling family of Faridkot, which ruled the native states later merged into Punjab. The Bhullar, clans of Jats, who claim to have sprung from the 'jata' or matted hair of Mahadev, are also concentrated mostly in Malwa. The principal Jat clans of Majha are Dhillon, Randhawa, Chahil and Sindhu. The Sindhus and Gills, who claim descent from the Raghobasi branch of the Suryvanshi Rajputs, are mostly settled in the Amristar and Jullandur districts. In the Doab districts the main Jat clans are Randhawa, Bains, Sandhu and Gill.

Among the non-agriculturist tribes of the Punjab, the Khatris, the Aroras, and the Vaishas are the most significant ones. Most of them are engaged in trade and commerce. The Khatris are sub-divided into many groups, the most significant among them being the Dhaighares, the Charzatis, the Punjzatis, the Chhezatis, the Sarins, the Bahris and the Khakhrains. The Bedis and the Sodhis belong to the Bunjahi tribe. Bedis are mostly found around Dera Baba Nanak and Gurdaspur, while the Sodhis are settled mostly at Anandpur and Hoshiarpur. In west Punjab, before the partition , the khatris were mostly concentrated in the Jhelum and Rawalpindi districts and the Aroras in Multan and Derajat Division, but now both are spread almost all over the Punjab. Sainis and Kambohs are primarily cultivators. The Sainis are mostly found in Jullundur, Hoshiarpur, Gurdaspur and Rupar and the Kambohs is Patiala, Jullundur, Kapurthala, Amristar and Ferozepur. The Kambohs of Doab claim their descent from Raja Karan.

The Sansis are vagrant tribes and seldom settle for long in one place. They are found in considerable numbers in Ludhiana, Amristar and Gurdaspur. The Nat-Bazigars also wander about with their families and never settle down at one place.

Source

[sublime]

I am a Punjabi whose forefathers came from the Nakodar region of Jalandhar in Punjab. Here is an extract regarding the ethnic origins of the people of Nakodar:

"The town is said by one account to have been originally held by Kambohs. Another tradition makes an Afghan, Nakodar Khan, the founder. Another account says that, when Manj Rajputs crossed the Satluj,Malik Nekdar Khan popularly known as Baba Malik, a brother of Rai Izzat who took (Talwan) founded Nakodar. His shrine still exists inside the town. The word Nakodar is a corrupted form of the Persian words neki dar which mean 'gate of goodness or virtue. A fourth account makes it founded by the Nikudari legion(ming or hazarah) of the Mughals."

Source

[cocacola]

[cocacola]

Punjabis are very well represented in the hindi movie industry and the modeling industry.

[asdf]

The only American Punjabis I know are very, very dark.

Is that sort not many? Or are they not Punjabi?

[cocacola]

Seizure said:

The only American Punjabis I know are very, very dark.

Is that sort not many? Or are they not Punjabi?

I think it depends on your definition of what 'dark' is.

I think the median skin colour for punjabis is like her. Some people are lighter and some are darker.

[Melnorme]

Perhaps a distinction between Pakistani and Indian Punjabis may be in order?

[ak47]

Seizure said:

The only American Punjabis I know are very, very dark.

Is that sort not many? Or are they not Punjabi?

hmm. how do u know they were punjabi in the first place? if you just knew that they were indian/south asian, they could be gujaratis, tamils, bengalis, etc.

but like the original post by sbutalia said, punjabis can look like a lot of things, and their skin tone can vary a lot, when i mean a lot i mean as in very fair skin to dark skin like some afro-americans. features wise generally caucasoid, but some can look part negroid (due to arabs taking african slaves? or southern indian migrations?) and some part mongoloid (afghan mongol type), arab influence is also quite strong in some punjabis (regardless of whether they're muslim, sikh, hindu or otherwise).

the stereotypical punjabi look i would say is something like this:




generally a mostly caucasoid european/hispanic look but still, most of the time easily recognisable as south asian.

however, there are *many* punjabis that don't look like that, (skin tone & features wise).

Parminder Nagra (ER, Bend It Like Beckham) is a famous punjabi:

www.parminderonline.com/index2.html


there you can see a skin tone comparison against some white & black british girls.

the two girls sitting on the left of the bench i believe are punjabi, the one on the right, pooja shah, her origins are pondicherry, tamil nadu. btw: aishwarya rai was born in tamil nadu, and so was shilpa shetty, so basically theres a lot of skin tone & feature variance amongst south asians, it's not as simple as north is all light, and south is all dark, you can find dark skin punjabis, and light skin tamils.

[AMAR187]

img8.exs.cx/img8/9072/15086_1083474196.jpg

[AMAR187]