*Includes pictures *Includes contemporary accounts *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading British India ultimately covered some 54 percent of the landmass and 77 percent of the population. By the time the British began to contemplate a withdrawal from India, 565 princely states were officially recognized, in addition to thousands of zamindaris and jagirs, which were in effect feudal estates. The stature of each Princely State was defined by the number of guns fired in salute upon a ceremonial occasion honoring one or other of the princes. These ranged from nine-gun to twenty-one-gun salutes and, in a great many cases, no salute at all. The Princely States were reasonably evenly spread between ancient Muslim and Hindu dynasties, but bearing in mind the minority status of Muslims in India, Muslims were disproportionately represented. This tended to grant Muslims an equally disproportionate share of what power was devolved to local leaderships, and it positioned powerful Muslim leaders to exert a similarly unequal influence on British policy. It stands to reason, therefore, as India began the countdown to independence after World War II, that the Indian Muslim leadership would begin to express anxiety over the prospect of universal suffrage and majority rule. At less than 20 percent of the population, Indian Muslims would inevitably find themselves overwhelmed by the Hindu majority, and as the British prepared to divest themselves of India, ancient enmities between Hindu and Muslim, long papered over by the secular and remote government of Britain, began once again to surface. While the conflict between India and Pakistan is multi-faceted, there has always been great division over the Punjab. The word "Punjab" derives from the Persian words "Punj," meaning "five," and "äb," meaning river, combined into the "Land of the Five Rivers." These rivers are the five major tributaries of the River Indus - the Jehlum, the Chenab, the Ravi, the Beas and the Sutlej. They flow southwest off the southern slopes of the Himalayas, meeting the Arabian Sea just south of the modern Pakistani port city of Karachi. This is the valley of the Indus River, the site of some of the oldest and most accomplished civilizations in the world. The Punjab is defined by the floodplains of the five rivers that give the area its name, and as a result, it is one of the most fertile regions of South Asia. However, since the 1947 partition of India, the "Land of Five Rivers" is something of a misnomer, as the partition not only divided India but also the Punjab. The eastern part of Punjab remained a province of India, while the western section was ceded to the newly created Pakistan. As a contiguous region, the Punjab retains its essential character, but now the Indian state of Punjab has only two rivers, the Beas and the Sutlej, and the Pakistani province has the Jhelum, Chenab and Ravi. The Punjab: The History of the Punjabis and the Contested Region on the Border Between India and Pakistan looks at the region and the origins of the Punjabis, as well as how it became one of the most contested spots in the world. Along with pictures and a bibliography, you will learn about the Punjab like never before.

An unprecedented historical account of undivided Punjab, from the death of Aurangzeb to the Partition. For centuries, the fertile land of five rivers in the north of the Indian subcontinent was coveted by numerous empires and invaders. In this, the first major account of undivided Punjab, award-winning historian, biographer and scholar, Rajmohan Gandhi, gives us its history during its most tumultuous phase from the death of Aurangzeb, in the early eighteenth century, to its brutal partition in 1947, coinciding with the departure of the British. Relying on fresh sources as well as previous accounts provided from opposing perspectives, the author fashions a compelling narrative about the great events of the time in the region - the battles and tragedies that routinely disrupted the lives of ordinary Punjabis, the sacking of iconic cities like Lahore, Amritsar, Multan and Jalandhar by a succession of conquerors, the ravages wrought by invaders like Nadir Shah, the rise of the Sikhs culminating in the storied reign of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Britain's successful wars against the Sikh kingdom, the Great Rebellion of 1857 and its effect on Punjab, imperialist machinations, the influence on the people by leaders of the independence movement like Mahatma Gandhi, Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Lala Lajpat Rai, as also key regional figures such as Fazl-i-Husain, Master Tara Singh, Sikander Hayat Khan and Khizr Hayat Tiwana, the devastation of Partition - and much else besides. Believing that modern India and Pakistan cannot be understood without comprehending the Punjab that was, the author also delves into the idea of Punjabiyat - Punjabiness - the literature and poetry of creative giants like Bulleh Shah, Waris Shah, Iqbal, Amrita Pritam and Saadat Hasan Manto, the spiritual teachings of the Sikh Gurus and Sufi saints and, above all, the testimonials and narratives of ordinary Punjabis, to create an unforgettable portrait of a place - undivided Punjab - that continues to fascinate us (even though it broke up more than six decades ago) and of its hard-tested and resilient people, Hindu, Muslim and Sikh.

This edited volume discusses how the Punjabi transnational experience has impacted Indian transnationalism and led to a diverse diaspora.

Defining and changing perceptions of ethnic identity.

A detailed Regimental History. This book contains plenty of reference material, with numerous individuals mentioned in the text. In WWI the Regt served in Hong Kong and Mesopotamia. Includes Roll of Honour (British and Indian Officers only, (WWI), Honour and Awards (WWI and Waziristan 1921-1923), Notes on Musketry and Signalling.

Contrasting immigrant experiences in remote regions and metropolitan centres of Canada.