Puadi

Puadh -an integral part of Punjabi Language

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. The Powadh extends from that part of the Rupnagar District which lies near Satluj up to the Ghaggar river in the east, which separates the states of Punjab and Haryana. Parts of Fatehgarh Sahib district, and parts of Patiala districts like Rajpura are also part of Powadh. The language is spoken over a large area in present Punjab as well as Haryana. In Punjab, Kharar, Kurali, Ropar, Nurpurbedi, Morinda, Pail, Rajpura and Samrala are the areas where the Puadhi language is spoken and the area itself is claimed as including from Pinjore, Kalka to Bangar area in Hisar district which includes even Nabha and Patiala in it.

The undivided Punjab had many regions. Out of these Pothohar, Majha, Doaba and Malwa gained more prominence. Each of these was blessed with a distinct identity in terms of dialect, subculture, lifestyle and sociocultural milieu. After the Partition, Majha, Malwa and Doaba continued to remain on the forefront while Puadh, another distinct region, could not gain prominence despite being a large geographical entity. There was no serious attempt to assert its subcultural identity

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The people of the region are known as Powadhis. The dialect of Punjabi spoken in powadh is called Powadhi.

ਸ਼ਹਿਦ ਨਾਲੋਂ ਮਿੱਠੀ ਸਾਡੀ ਬੋਲੀ ਏ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਦੀਜੀਹਦੇ ਵਿੱਚੋਂ ਮਹਿਕ ਆਵੇ ਸੱਜਰੇ ਗੁਲਾਬ ਦੀਸੱਚ ਜਾਣੋਂ ਮੁਖ਼ੋਂ ਮੈਂ ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਜਦੋਂ ਬੋਲਦਾਂਇੰਜ ਜਾਪੇ ਡੂੰਘੇ ਭੇਦ ਦਿਲਾਂ ਵਾਲੇ ਖੋਲਦਾਂਫੁੱਲਾਂ ਨਾਲੋਂ ਕੋਮਲ ਇਹ ਜਾਈ ਪੰਜ ਆਬ ਦੀਸ਼ਹਿਦ ਨਾਲੋਂ ਮਿੱਠੀ ਸਾਡੀ ਬੋਲੀ ਏ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਦੀ...ਅਸੀਂ ਹਾਂ ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਸਾਨੂੰ ਪੰਜਾਬੀਅਤ ਦਾ ਮਾਣ ਏਬਦੇਸ਼ਾਂ ਵਿੱਚ ਰਹਿ ਕੇ ਵੀ ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਸਾਡੀ ਜਾਨ ਏਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਵਿੱਚ ਗਾਈਏ ਸਾਨੂੰ ਲੋੜ ਨਹੀਂਓਂ ਸਾਜ ਦੀਸ਼ਹਿਦ ਨਾਲੋਂ ਮਿੱਠੀ ਸਾਡੀ ਬੋਲੀ ਏ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਦੀ...

Territorially Puadh or Poorva-adh (eastern half), still remains a big region , but with little perceptible change in its fortunes. Its boundaries extend from the eastern banks of river Satluj to the banks of river Ghaggar and even beyond.The region encompasses the present districts of Ropar, Mohali, Patiala, Mohali, Ambala, Panchkula and parts of Fatehgarh Sahib, Ludhiana and Sangrur districts, as also Nalagarh and Kala Amb areas of Himachal. Chandigarh too falls in this region. Bhai Kahn Singh Nabha had described Puadh as the region that lies in the feet of Shivalik hills. Puadhi is original dialect of this region and holds an unambiguous tinge and timbre. Of late this region has been facing the onslaught of rapid urbanization. This unbridled urbanization and migration of populace from the other regions has created a crisis of idenitity for Puadhi dialect and sub culture. Saving and preserving the roots has become a challenge for the true blue Puadhi.The majority of population is Sikh, and unlike most other areas in Punjab the majority is not Jat. It had its own poets even at Akbar's court such as Mai Banno of Banur and more recently Bhagat Asa Ram Baidwan of Sohana. The Dhadd Sarangi and Kavishri way of singing are said to have originated here only and also different types of Akharas such as that of famous Rabbi Bhaironpuri.

Compared to Majha (comprising of Amritsar and Gurdaspur and Tarn Taran districts) and Doaba(comprising of Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala and Nawanshahr districts), Malwa (comprising Barnala, Bathinda, Faridkot, Firozpur, Ludhiana, Mansa, Moga, Muktsar, Patiala, and Sangrur), Powadh comprises of the districts of Rupnagar, Mohali, part of Patiala district around the Ghaggar river and parts of Fatehgarh Sahib district as well as Chandigarh.

Dialect of the area

The characteristics of the Powadhi dialect within the Rupnagar District are the pronunciation of vice as bice, 'in'; the insertion of an aspiration/tone in words like balad (pbd) 'ox'; the frequent dropping of the first syllable as in khu; con (y{ju'A) instead of khu : biccon (T [BK u'A) instead of 'unha ; n biccon (T [B{K ftZu') 'from among them' ; and frequent transposition of high tona as in unu : n (T [Bz{) for unu : n (UB{) A 'to him'; oda : (T [dk) for oda : (Udk) 'of him'; jera (i/VQk) for jera (i/jVk) 'who'.

In certain cases, even the initial h (j) sound is replaced by tone as in neri : (B/oh) 'storm' from haneri : (jB/oh). The oblique forms of pronouns like minnu : n (fwB{z) 'to me'; ma : nu : n (wkjB{z) 'to us' : tinnu : n (fsB/) 'to you: thuanu : n E [nkB{z) 'to you' (pl) ; onu : n (T [jB{z) 'to him' etc. are characteristic of this area. Since the Powadh area of Rupnagar District lies on the border of Bangru speaking area, some influence of Bangru on its vocabulary is quite natural. Thus we find hamen ( ) 'we ' thamen ( ) 'you' (pl) the : ra : ( ) 'Yours along with asi: n ( ) tera : ( ) respectively; ma as locative postposition; ka ke ki: ki: an as postpositions of genitive , ets. These forms are more common with elderly folk. The post position of accusative case is nu: n ( ) although ko ( )is also spoken in some parts in some parts of this district.

The consonant conjuncts are almost absent. The conjuncts which appear in words like pa: njs : ( ) 'sister's son' ; carda: ( ) 'East' , chipda: ( ) ' West', nambarda : 'headman', etc., are very loose clusters because in these fall in different syllables.

A select list of words and phrases in common use in the area include ba :i ( ) 'ploughing', barga : ( ) ' like ' jua:k ( ) ' child', ga:e ( ) ' cow', nia: ne ( ) 'children',vagda: ( ) ' following ( water) , a: va: tia: hoya :ya:,( ) cak nai: n hunda ( ) dubane te darda ( ) rakhde hunde the ( ) etc