Pengetahuan Umum dan Budaya Punjabi - General Knowledge and Culture
General-knowledge items test what you know about Punjab, the Punjabi language and Punjabi cultural life, including the diaspora that gives this SPM subject its candidates. Expect questions on geography, the script and its history, festivals, dance, music, food, dress and famous literary figures.
Core facts to hold
- ਪੰਜਾਬ joins ਪੰਜ (five) and ਆਬ (water): the land of five rivers - ਸਤਲੁਜ, ਬਿਆਸ, ਰਾਵੀ, ਚਨਾਬ and ਝੇਲਮ. Only the Sutlej and Beas still flow through Indian Punjab; the other two are in Pakistan.
- Gurmukhi (ਗੁਰਮੁਖੀ) was shaped and standardised by Guru Angad Dev, the second Sikh Guru, in the sixteenth century.
- Punjabi is a tonal language with three tones, unusual among Indo-Aryan languages, and is among the most widely spoken languages in the world.
- Festivals: ਵਿਸਾਖੀ (harvest and new year, mid-April), ਲੋਹੜੀ (winter, bonfire), ਹੋਲਾ ਮਹੱਲਾ (Sikh martial gathering), ਗੁਰਪੁਰਬ (Guru birthdays).
- Dance and music: ਭੰਗੜਾ is the men's harvest dance, ਗਿੱਧਾ the women's; instruments include ਢੋਲ, ਤੁੰਬੀ and ਅਲਗੋਜ਼ੇ.
- Food and dress: ਮੱਕੀ ਦੀ ਰੋਟੀ with ਸਰਸੋਂ ਦਾ ਸਾਗ and ਲੱਸੀ; ਕੁੜਤਾ-ਪਜਾਮਾ, ਪੱਗ and ਫੁਲਕਾਰੀ embroidery.
- Literature: Bhai Vir Singh, Amrita Pritam, Shiv Kumar Batalvi and Surjit Patar are names worth recognising.
Worked example
Question: ਪੰਜਾਬ ਸ਼ਬਦ ਦਾ ਅਰਥ ਕੀ ਹੈ? Answer path: split the word into ਪੰਜ + ਆਬ, gloss ਆਬ as water, so the name means land of five rivers, then name them. Reasoning: the mark is for the derivation plus the rivers; giving only "land of five rivers" without naming any river often earns half credit.
Traps that cost marks
- Listing Chenab and Jhelum as rivers of present-day Indian Punjab.
- Swapping ਭੰਗੜਾ and ਗਿੱਧਾ.
- Confusing ਵਿਸਾਖੀ with ਦੀਵਾਲੀ.
- Answering in Roman script when the question expects Gurmukhi.