Puadh

Puadh
Cultural region of northwest India
This map shows the region of north India that falls under Puadh.
This map shows the region of north India that falls under Puadh.
Named forpūrava āddha ("eastern-half")
Ghaggar river Chandigarh, Mohali. The Ghaggar river flows through the Puadh region
The Punjab ("Five Rivers" and Ghaggar river); a physical map from "Companion Atlas to the Gazetteer of The World

Puadh (IAST: [puādha], sometimes anglicized as Poadh or Powadh) is a historic region in north India that comprises parts of present-day Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and the U.T. of Chandigarh, India. It has the Sutlej river in its north and covers the regions immediately south of the Ghaggar river. The people of the area are known as Puadhi and speak the Puadhi dialect of Punjabi. The district headquarters of Puadh region are Rupnagar, Fatehgarh Sahib, Mohali, Patiala, Chandigarh, Panchkula and Ambala. It is often subsumed under the Malwa region.

Etymology

The word Puadh is a conjugation of two words of the language: pūrava meaning eastern and āddha meaning half. The term refers to the eastern half of the Punjab region.

Geography

Puadh lies between Satluj and Ghaggar-Hakra rivers

Puadh generally lies between the Sutlej and Ghaggar-Hakra rivers and south, south-east and east of Rupnagar district adjacent to Ambala district (in Haryana). Specifically, it starts from the Ropar district of Punjab and spreads across various parts of Mohali, Fatehgarh Sahib, Patiala and few villages of Sangrur, Mansa, Ludhiana as well as Chandigarh.

Punjab

The Puadh region in Punjab State consists of Ropar, Mohali, Kurali and Kharar of Mohali district, Amloh, Morinda and Sirhind of Fatehgarh Sahib district, Rajpura and Patiala of Patiala district, parts of Doraha and Samrala areas in Ludhiana district and south-eastern parts of Mansa and Sangrur district.

In Punjab:

Haryana

In Haryana, Puadh consists of some parts of Ambala, Panchkula, Kurukshetra, Jind, Yamunanagar and Kaithal districts.

In Haryana, Panchkula, Naraingarh, Ambala, Shahabad of Kurukshetra district and Dhamtana Sahib of northern Jind district fall within Puadh. Other areas include Pehowa, and Gulha tehsil of Kaithal district.

Himachal Pradesh

In Himachal Pradesh, the Puadh areas are:

South-Western Nalagarh in Solan district and Baddi, Barotiwala and Kala Amb in Sirmaur district in Himachal Pradesh lies in the east of Puadh, which separates the states of Himachal Pradesh and Haryana.

Chandigarh

Chandigarh falls within the Puadh region. Chandigarh was carved out of the area of 22 Puadhi-speaking villages.

Status

Puadh lacks official recognition, unlike the three other major Punjabi regions of Majha, Doaba, and Malwa. The government of Punjab does not list it as a region. Part of this is due to Puadh being subsumed under Malwa due to the prevailing belief that everything south of the Sutlej river in Punjab is "Malwa". This is despite Puadh being distinct from Malwa proper in both culture and language. There is also a lack of a natural boundary separating Puadh from Malwa, such as a river. Prior to the reorganization of Punjab in 1966, the region of Puadh fell under the Ambala district of present-day Haryana. Formerly an under-developed region, the area is becoming more propserous due to its proximity to Chandigarh and is increasingly urbanized. Charanjit Singh Channi was the first Puadhi chief minister of Punjab, with the rest being from Malwa and one from Majha.

Culture and environment

The region has its own culture, rituals, and language that differs it from other neighbouring regions. The Puadhi dialect is spoken. Organizations, such as the International Puadhi Manch, promotes the regional culture. The region has green-cover and there are mango-orchards. Farmers of the area grow wheat and sugarcane. Furthermore, there are many nullahs and seasonal rivers that contribute to the greenness of the area. A distinction between Puadhi and Malwai culture is the rural clothing, where in rural Malwa they wrap a chadara (sheet-type cloth) whilst in Puadh they wear kurta pyjama. Furthermore, the manner of tying the turla-style turban differs between the two regions. The region is religiously important for Sikhs, as both Anandpur Sahib and Chamkaur Sahib fall in it. Unlike most regions of Punjab, Puadh is less numerically dominated by the Jat caste.

Shrine of Bhagat Aasa Ram Baidwan, the popular folk artist of Puadhi Akhada tradition of Punjab, village Sohana, district S.A.S Nagar, Punjab India

Puadh is often wrongly included in Malwa (Punjab) by the media. The region had its own poets even at Akbar's court such as Mai Banno of Banur. More recent poets include Bhagat Asa Ram Baidwan of Sohana. The Dhadd Sarangi and Kavishri singing originated in Puadh and also different types of Akharas such as that of Rabbi Bhaironpuri. Puadh consists only a small quantity of Punjab. The Majha, Malwa (Punjab), and Doaba make up majority of the Punjab.

A Paudhi Punjabi folk song

Puadhi language

Map of Punjabi dialects in Punjab region

The dialect of the Punjabi language spoken in Puadh is called Puadhi. It is spoken by the people of Chandigarh, in Mohali district; few villages, Baltana and Zirakpur, in Patiala district; Rajpura, Ghanaur, Devigarh and Banur, some parts of Ropar district, southern villages of Sangrur such as Moonak, in Mansa district; Bareta sub-tehsil whereas in Haryana in North-western villages of Ambala district and in Tohana in Fatehabad district, in Shahbad Markanda and Ismailabad in Kurukshetra district and in Yamunanagar district , Jagadhri and Indri in Karnal district and in areas of Kalka, Pinjore in Panchkula district and in Barwala and Raipur Rani and it is also spoken in Himachal Pradesh in southern villages of Nalagarh, Baddi, Barotiwala in Solan district and in Kala Amb of Sirmaur district.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ (which were transferred from the then Sirhind tehsil of Patiala district to Ludhiana in 1963 with Doraha then part of Payal sub-tehsil)

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Chaba, Anju Agnihotri (25 September 2021). "Punjab: Rich in culture but politically neglected, Puadh region now hopes it will finally get its due". Indian Express. Archived from the original on 25 September 2021. Retrieved 28 June 2025.
  2. 1 2 3 Singh, I. P. (21 September 2021). "Punjab: 'Politically neglected' Puadh's first CM". Times of India. Retrieved 28 June 2025.
  3. 1 2 3 Kaler, Sunita (June 2016). "Administrative Structure of Punjab" (PDF). Advances in Social Research. 2 (1): 59–60 – via renupublishers.com.
  4. 1 2 3 "Majha Malwa Doaba". Punjab Data. Retrieved 16 July 2026.
  5. ↑ The Tribune (05.11.2006) PUNJABI REVIEW Of Puadh and Pablo Neruda Surinder Singh Tej Puadh Darpan Edited by Manmohan Singh Daon Punjabi Sath-Panj Nad Parkashan, Lambra (Jalandhar)
  6. ↑ "Powadh or Puadh or Powadha is a region of Punjab and parts of Haryana between the Satluj and Ghaggar rivers. The part lying south, south-east and east of Rupnagar adjacent to Ambala District (Haryana) is Powadhi". Archived from the original on 19 January 2012.
  7. ↑ Farmers of India, Volume 1. Indian Council of Agricultural Research
  8. ↑ Transactions of the Institute of Indian Geographers, Volume 19 (1997) Department of Geography, University of Poona
  9. ↑ Punjab District Gazetteers, Part 1 (1919)
  10. ↑ Proceedings, Volume 23. (1990) Punjabi University
  11. ↑ Punjab district gazetteers, Volume 1 (1970)
  12. ↑ Sukhawindara Siṅgha Saṅghā, (2006) Indian Institute of Language Studies Panjabi Phonology: A Sociolinguistic Study
  13. ↑ Banarsi Das Jain (1934) A Phonology of Panjābī: As Spoken about Ludhiana, and A Ludhiānī Phonetic Reader. University of Punjab
  14. ↑ Census of India, 1981: District census handbook. A & B, Village & town directory; Village & townwise primary census abstract
  15. ↑ Gajrana, S. (1994) Peasants, landlords, and princes, 1920-56, Volume 1. Rima Pub. House,
  16. ↑ Singh, Jasbir (1976) An Agricultural Geography of Haryana. Vishal publications
  17. ↑ Census of India, 1961: Himachal Pradesh
  18. ↑ Minakshi Chaudhry (2007)Destination Himachal: Over 132 Offbeat and 12 Popular Getaways. Rupa and Co.
  19. ↑ Spectrum (05.11.2006( PUNJABI REVIEW Of Puadh and Pablo Neruda Surinder Singh Tej
  20. ↑ Pakha Sanjam, Volume 14 (1981) Punjabi University
  21. ↑ Choragudi, Krishna Priya. "Decoding Regional Strongholds in Punjab". Trivedi Centre for Political Data, Ashoka University. Retrieved 28 June 2025.
  22. ↑ Abbi, Kumool (28 February 2022). "Geographical and Cultural Endpoints: The Political Scenario in the Malwa, Majha and Doaba Regions". Sikh Formations: Podcast, Blog, Webinar, University of Michigan. Retrieved 28 June 2025.
  23. ↑ Sharma, Manraj Grewal (19 January 2022). "Majha, Doaba, Malwa: The three regions of Punjab, their importance in state elections". Indian Express. Retrieved 28 June 2025.
  24. ↑ "Know Punjab". Government of Punjab. Archived from the original on 22 December 2024. Retrieved 28 June 2025. The Punjab State is divided into three regions: Majha, Doaba and Malwa.
  25. ↑ Singh, I. P. (21 September 2021). "Punjab: 'Politically neglected' Puadh's first CM". Times of India. Retrieved 28 June 2025.
  26. ↑ "Major Punjabi Dialects". Archived from the original on 19 January 2012.