Punjab, an exuberant and fertile land of five rivers, has always been India’s northern gateway. During the days of Rig-Veda this land was called ‘Sapt-Sindhu’ – the land of seven rivers namely - Sindh, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, Sutlej, and Saraswati.The history of Punjab goes back to the times of Indus Valley civilization or the arrival of the Aryans. Lord Rama is also said to have been born at a place called Ghuram, now in Patiala district. Lord Sri Krishna delivered the immortal message of the Gita at Kurukshetra, which was well within the boundary of Punjab till very recently.Taxilla University, a great institution of learning in the past, with scholars like Charak, one of the founder of the Ayurvedic branch of medicine, Kautilya, the author of Arth-Shastra to name a few hailed from this place. Taxilla University is believed to have been situated to the east of the Indus in the modern district of Rawalpindi now in Pakistan. Now the Punjab Agricultural University (Ludhiana), Punjabi University (Patiala), Punjab University (Chandigarh), Guru Nanak Dev University(Amritsar) and Punjab Technical University are the premier educational institutes of Punajb. PAU has contributed in the green revolution of Punjab. Punjab University, Chandigarh has produced People like Kalpana Chawla.

 

In the later years Punjab saw the rise and fall of the Mauryans, Bactrians, Greeks, Kushans and Guptas. Mideval Punjab saw a supremacy of the Muslims. In the fourteenth and the fifteenth century the Bhakti movement saw a great impetus through the teachings of Guru Nanak. A socio-religious movement whose followers were called Sikhs had started which fought against the evils in religion and society. It rejected the Hindu caste system, priesthood and idol worship while retaining the Hindu doctrines of Karma. Guru Gobind Singh the tenth Guru transformed the Sikhs into Khalsa in 1699. The Sikhs led by Maharaja Ranjit Singh created a powerful state in Punjab. He extended his empire from the Sutlej to the Khyber Pass, east to west and from Ladakh to Sindh, north to south. But after his death in 1839 the power in Punjab passed to the Britishers. In the nineteenth century a spate of religious movements began in Punjab. Foremost amongst them were the Singh Sabha and the Arya Samaj. In the struggle for freedom from the Britshers, Punjab played a vital role. Some of the prominent freedom fighters, to name a few, from Punjab were Lala Lajpat Rai and Bhagat Singh.

The cherished dream of freedom in 1947 was not without bloodshed and Punjab had to pay a heavy price. Punjab was divided in two. The area allotted to India was 96,809 sq. km with a population of around 12,650,000 and the area given to Pakistan was 160,610 sq. km. with a population of about 18,800,000. The Partition line followed the course of the Ravi and Sutlej rivers, allotting parts of Lahore, Rawalpindi, and Multan to Pakistan and the remaining to India. In the rioting that followed partition lakhs of Hindus and Sikhs had to flee the Western Punjab and in the process tens of thousands lost their lives.

The per-capita income of the state is nearly twice the all-India average. The mainstay of Punjab's economy, and the source of its affluence, is agriculture. Nearly 84 percent of the total geographical area of the state is under cultivation. Punjab alone contributed about 62 per cent of wheat, and 50 per cent of rice, to the central pool in the 1994-95 seasons, despite the fact, that it comprises only 1.53 per cent of the area in the country. Besides wheat and rice, the other crops grown in the state are maize, gram, pulses, cotton, oilseeds, sugarcane, potato, onion, mustard and sunflower. Punjab's contribution to the industrial development of the country is mainly through its 1,88,000 small scale units which have a capital investment of Rs. 19,730 million. These units produce bicycle parts, sewing machines, hand tools, machine tools, auto parts, electronic items, sports goods, hosiery, knitwear, textiles, sugar, surgical and leather goods. Besides these, there are 475 large and medium scale units with an investment of Rs. 64,200 million. Attracted by the improved investment climate in the state, a number of foreign investors have come forward to set up industries, and to collaborate with the existing units. Names like Hero, Avon and Oswals are common in Global Market. The city of Ludhiana alone has maximum number of industries in Northern India after Delhi. Ludhiana is largest producer of bicycles in world. Jallandhar is famous for its sports and leather goods all over world.

Another major city in Punjab is Amritsar, the holy town of the Sikhs. The famous Golden Temple stands in the middle of this city, which is visited by people from all over the world. Golden Temple is a sacred place for for both Hindus and Sikhs. Other places of tourist interest in Punjab are the Durgiana Mandir and Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar, Takhat Kesgarh Sahib in Anandpur Sahib, the Bhakra Dam complex, War Memorial at Ludhiana, Tiger Safari at Ludhiana, the Sodal temple at Jalandhar and Chattbir Zoo near Chandigarh.The cities one sholud visit include Fatehgarh Sahib, Patiala, Kapurthala, Nabha, Hoshiarpur and Chandigarh.