Punjab Tourism

With a history dating back to over 5000 years and a geography that placed it on the borders of the Indian subcontinent, Punjab as the gateway to India has perforce had to be the first barrier for any marauding army to surmount. The plains of Punjab are dotted with sites of battles that were to shape India’s future. Little wonder that its people are valued for their valour and martial prowess. The trials and tribulations of life on the edge have given them a zest for life that transcends tough times - the Punjabi certainly knows how to live on a grand scale and for him, every event becomes a celebration of life itself.

'Punjab' literally means the land of five rivers. A network of five rivers – the Ravi, Beas, Sutlej, Chenab and Jhelum, irrigates this flat tract of land extending down from the Himalayas in the north to the deserts in the west. Agriculture is the 'culture' of the state of Punjab, the fertile food bowl of India that feeds its masses. The erstwhile boundaries of Punjab extended right up to the borders with Afghanistan in the northwest, but when India won her independence from British rule in 1947, the state was split between Pakistan and India. Punjab got further divided with the separation of the hill state of Himachal Pradesh and the Hindu majority state, Haryana (1966). Chandigarh is the common capital city for both the states of Punjab and Haryana today.