Punjab is an Indo-Iranian word meaning "Land of five rivers". Punjab lies at the cross-roads of the great civilizations of the world. Historicaly, the area west of Punjab was under the sphere of influence of the Persians, the east was the heartland of the Indian civilization, the south under the influence of the Arabs and the north under the Turko-Mongolian influence. Many great religious movements which found world-wide appeal grew in the fertile plains of Punjab. They include Budhism, Sikhism and many schools of Sufi thought in Islam. This ethnic and religous diversity is reflected in the cultural mosaic of todays Punjab.

The historical area of Punjab was defined to the east from the basin of the River Bias (including Delhi) to the basin of River Indus in the west. To the north it was bounded by the Himalayas of Kashmir and to the south it stretched as far as the plains of Cholistan and Rajasthan. Over different periods of history, Punjab has seen its boundries expand and shrink. The high time for Punjab was during the reign of Mughal Emperor Babur (and also during the time of Ranjit Singh more recently) when Punjab along with Babur's Empire streteched from Delhi in the east to Kabul and Ghazni to the West. But never in the history, did the boundries of Punjab shrink so much as they did after the Partition of India in 1947. The tragic incident resulted in the division of Punjab into two parts as the Indian state of Punjab and the Pakistani province of Punjab. Indian Punjab was further divided twice for administrative reasons. Today's Punjab (Indian) is about one-fourth of the Punjab that existed before partition.

Important Destinations In Punjab

Amritsar

Chandigarh

Ludhiana

Jalandhar