PANJAB, a frontier province in the extreme N.W. of British India, lying between lat. 27° 39' and 35° 2' N., and long. 69° 35' and 78° 35' E. It is partly British territory, comprising tho revenue districts of Dehli, Hissar, Ainbala, Jullundhur, Amritsar, Lahore, Rawal Pindi, Multan, the Dehrajat, and Peshawur, and partly Native States, 56 in number, in feudatory alliance, or politically connected with British India. The area of these two divisions is 141,449 square miles, with a gross population in 1881 of 22,712,120.
British Districts, 106,632 sq. in. Pop. 1881, 18,850,437 Native States, . 35,807 3,861,683 The Imperial Gazetteer enumerates the Native States for 1868 as under. A part only of the Panjab Census Report of 1881 has been received up to the time (August 1883) of this passing through the press:— _ The Panjab proper, the country of the Five Rivers, was conquered by the British from the successors of Ilanjit Singh. By a treaty with that sovereign of the Panjab, Ranjit Singh, dated 2Gth April 1809, he undertook not to make or allow any encroachment on the states on the left bank of the Sutlej. The largest of these were Patiala, Jhcend, Nablia, ICalsia, Mater Kotla, and Faridkot.
In 1838, Ranjit Singh formed one of the triple alliance with the British and Shah Shuja, but he died in 1839. In 1840, his son and his grandson both died by violence, to bo succeeded by Sher Singh, who was assassinated in 1843, after which great anarchy prevailed, which, after two years of desolation, terminated in an invasion of the E.I. Company's territory. On the 11th December 1815, the Sikh army crossed the river Sutlej, and marched on to the British head quarters atMoodkee, where, 18th Dec., an engagement ensued, which lasted from three o'clock in the afternoon until after nightfall, when the Sikhs were driven from the field. Three days afterwards they renewed the attack at Firozshah, fought till the close of the day and all through the night, and were only at length driven back after a frightful sacrifice of life (21st and 22d Dec.). But scarcely had the victors congratulated each other on their success, when a fresh Sikh army advanced, and the British remained masters of the field only after great exertions. The Sikh army had only retired
across the river, and they renewed the strife at Aliwal on the 28th January 1840, where they were defeated with an immense loss in killed and wounded ; and another sanguinary engagement on the 10th February at Sobraon terminated this eventful war.
Lord Harding acted towards the Panjab ruler vith moderation. He might have annexed the entire Panjab, but he contented himself with aking the old Sikh provinces S.E. of the Sutlej, and the hill country lying between the Bees and the Indus ; and his successor, Lord Dalhousie, had o do what Lord Harding had left undone, and the Sikhs were defeated, on the Chenab at the close of 1848 ; at Chillianwalla, January 1849 ; and at "ujerat, 22d February 1849. The entire do minions were incorporated with those of British ndia on the 29th March 1849, and on the 1st anuary 1859 the territory was erected into a separate department under a Lieutenant-Governor.
The Panjab on the north has Kashmir (Cash . nere) and the hill states of Swat and Buner ; it is bounded on the east by the river Jumna "Jainuna), the North - West Provinces, and the Chinese Empire ; on the south by Sind, the river 3utlej (Satlaj), and Rajputana ; and on the west Baluchistan and independent tribes dwelling long the outer face of the north-west Panjab rontier, and inhabiting hills as under :— Adjoining the frontier of Hazara district, Hasanzai. Adjoining frontier of Peshawur district, Judun, 3uncrwal, Swati, Ranizai, Osman Kheli, Upper _ .
1 olohmand. Adjoining frontier of Peshawur and Kobat districts, tfridi. Adjoining frontier of Kohat district, Buzoti, Sepah, )rakzai, Zymusht Afghan, Turi. Adjoining frontier of Kobat and Debra Ismail Khan istriets, Waziri. Adjoining frontier of Debra Ismail Khan district, •eorani, Oshterani, Kusrani, Bozdar. Adjoining frontier of Debra Ghazi Khan district, :hutran, Kosah, Lughari, Gurchani, Murree, Bugti.