central Indo-Aryan language spoken in Punjab (around Lahore and Amritsar), an area now divided between India and Pakistan; to the west, modern Punjābī merges into the Lahnda language (q.v.). Punjābī is one of the 14 regional languages recognized in the Indian constitution. In vocabulary it is very similar to Western Hindi. It has little literature and shows little borrowing from Persian, Arabic, or Sanskrit. Two alphabets are used: Lahnda (Lahnda language), indigenous to the region and related to Devanāgarī; and Gurmukhi (Gurmukhi alphabet), devised by the Sikh Gurū Aṅgad (ruled 1539–52) to be used for the scriptures of the Sikhs and now employed for general purposes as well. Earlier, Punjābī was transported to other regions in India and even to China.