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Older woman in a pink headscarf raising her hand in greeting, a braided girl at her side

Amritsar

Punjab, In and Around Amritsar

April 2016

Amritsar is one of the largest cities in the Indian state of Punjab and one of Sikhism’s most important religious centers. Guru Ram Das, the fourth Sikh Guru, established the settlement during the 16th century. Initially known as Ramdaspur, the city later took its name from the Amrit Sarovar, the sacred pool around which it developed.

Sri Harmandir Sahib, also known as Sri Darbar Sahib or the Golden Temple, stands at the center of the sacred pool. The shrine has entrances on all four sides, traditionally representing openness to people regardless of caste, creed, gender, or religion. The surrounding complex also includes the Akal Takht, one of the most important seats of authority in Sikhism.

Sikhism emerged in the wider Punjab region during the late 15th century. According to India’s 2011 Census, approximately 16 million Sikhs lived in the Indian state of Punjab, representing 57.7 percent of its population. Punjab is India’s only Sikh-majority state.

The name Punjab combines the Persian words panj, meaning “five,” and āb, meaning “water.” It refers to the Sutlej, Beas, Ravi, Chenab, and Jhelum rivers of the historical Punjab region. The region was divided between India and Pakistan during the 1947 partition. The Sutlej, Beas, and Ravi flow through the present-day Indian state of Punjab, while the Chenab and Jhelum are primarily associated with Pakistan.

Punjab’s fertile plains and extensive irrigation systems have made agriculture central to the region’s economy. Wheat and rice are among its most important crops. The state played a major role in India’s Green Revolution and remains closely associated with the country’s food production.

Man in a blue turban at work behind a hand-painted "Bharat Dyers and Dry Cleaners" sign
Elderly man in an orange turban pedalling a cycle rickshaw with passengers through traffic
Passengers waving from the windows of a white taxi loaded with luggage on its roof rack
Boy cycling along a road with two smaller children on the rear rack, one holding an ice lolly
Monochrome view of two men resting on flat cycle carts outside shuttered shopfronts
Monochrome market street with banana and fruit carts and an auto rickshaw driving away
Men wearing ribbon rosettes giving thumbs-up and victory signs outside a blue-washed house
White cow ambling past a parked cycle rickshaw and a roadside workshop
Handcart stacked with five loudspeaker horns lettered "Shahanshah Lahore Band" pushed down a road
Two men seated on a painted wooden handcart beside a parked scooter in a market street
Vendors bundling leafy greens on a roadside while shoppers and a family stand nearby
Man on a motorbike handed a glass at a green juice cart under red umbrellas by a brick wall
Orange-painted hand-cranked sugarcane juice press set up outside a hardware shop
Black-and-white frame of two boys with a bicycle against a large whitewashed wall, one flashing a peace sign
Ripening wheat heads filling a Punjab field
Four children, three in patka head coverings, leaning together over a red bicycle on a village road
Boy in a brown T-shirt with his arm around a younger girl outside a plastered house
Five children posing arm in arm on a lane beside a wheat field, one with a cricket bat, another with a bicycle
Two young women in bright dupattas standing in a brick-walled courtyard
Mud cookstoves with metal pots beside a rounded clay structure topped by a wicker basket
Women and a small child reflected in a red-framed mirror hung on a brick house wall, seen past window bars
Two boys walking a village street as a man cycles past with a bulging sack of green fodder
Four boys pausing on a dirt road while men on motorcycles and onlookers watch from behind
Cluster of children crowding the camera, a boy resting his hand on a small girl's shoulder
Women and girls waving from a roadside, a tractor and gathered villagers behind them
Older woman in a pink headscarf raising her hand in greeting, a braided girl at her side
Boy pedalling a small bicycle down a dusty village lane, a turbaned man walking behind
Two young women in embroidered salwar kameez and a small boy posing against a blue shutter
Two small children on a village street, the girl in a Mickey Mouse pinafore
Portrait of an elderly man with a long white beard and topknot in front of a brick wall
Man in a pale blue kurta beside a tethered black calf, dung cakes drying on the mud wall
Hazy sun sinking over green fields and low village rooftops
Tractor at the edge of a freshly ploughed field below half-built brick houses
Row of conical thatched straw stacks between green fodder and ripening wheat fields
Farmer in an orange turban standing at the edge of a cut strip of wheat
Portrait of an older man in a white turban and glasses, grey beard flowing over a denim shirt
Weathered whitewashed building with blue doors and painted Hindi lettering reading "पुलिस आवास" (police quarters)

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