ਬਰਖਾ

ਅਰਥ

ਬਰਖਾ (barkha) is the Punjabi word for the monsoon rain, the heavy seasonal rain that falls on Punjab each summer. It comes from Sanskrit varṣā, meaning rain, and Punjabis use it for the rainy season as a whole. For farmers, it is the most welcome time of the year, because it fills the fields and starts the paddy crop.

Where the word comes from

Barkha comes from Sanskrit varṣā, the old word for rain. The same root gives Hindi its word for the monsoon, and Punjabi keeps barkha for the grand seasonal rain that soaks the fields for days. It is a slightly poetic word. In everyday talk, most Punjabis simply say ਮੀਂਹ (meeh) for rain, and keep barkha for the season, for songs, and for the rains arriving.

The barkha in Punjab

In Punjab the monsoon usually arrives around the first of July and leaves by the middle of September. The rains come from the southwest, over the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea, and they break the long dry heat of the summer. Farmers wait for them all year. The paddy crop, ਝੋਨਾ (jhona), is sown with the first rains, and a good barkha means full wells, green fields and a strong harvest. A weak barkha brings worry to every village, because so much of Punjab's farming depends on the sky.

Barkha in songs and speech

Punjabi folk songs are full of the barkha. Lovers wait for it, mothers sing of it, and Sawan, the month in the middle of the rains, is sung about as the sweetest month of the year. To say ਬਰਖਾ ਰੁੱਤ ਆਈ (barkha rutt aai) is to say the monsoon season has come, and the phrase carries relief and joy. The rain also brings the smell of wet earth, the sound of rain on rooftops, and evenings when families sit together watching the rain fall.

What does barkha mean in Punjabi?

ਬਰਖਾ (barkha) means the monsoon rain in Punjabi, the heavy seasonal rains that fall on Punjab in the summer months.

When does the barkha reach Punjab?

The monsoon usually reaches Punjab around the first of July and withdraws by the middle of September.

What is the difference between barkha and barsaat?

ਮੀਂਹ (meeh) is the everyday word for rain, and ਬਰਸਾਤ (barsaat) is the common word for the rainy season, while barkha is the poetic word for the monsoon rains.