Punjabi Centuries: Tracing Histories of Punjab, Anshu Malhotra (ed) (Orient BlackSwan, April 2024)
Punjabi Centuries: Tracing Histories of Punjab, Anshu Malhotra (ed) (Orient BlackSwan, April 2024)

The historical and territorial space of Punjab has been politically and spatially unstable and changing, What Punjab means to different people also varies over time and context. Equally, what one holds dear about Punjab, the sense of “Punjabiyat/Punjabiness”, is both emotionally and culturally complex.

From the temples of Angkor Wat and Borobudur to images of Ganesh and references to the Ramayana, anyone who visits Southeast Asia cannot fail to be struck by the influence of centuries-old Indian culture, an influence that seems more profound and deeply rooted than that of China. Yet in today’s Southeast Asia, the situation is largely reversed; India is very much a political and commercial also-ran.