Punjab, India
Indian state
Punjab ( pun-JAHB; Panjabi: pañjāba, pronounced [pəɲˈd͡ʒaːb] ) is a state in northwestern India. Forming part of the larger Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, the state is bordered by the Indian states and union territories of Himachal Pradesh to the north and northeast, Haryana to the south and southeast, Rajasthan to the southwest, Jammu and Kashmir to the north. To the west, it shares an international border with the identically named Pakistani province of Punjab. Chandigarh serves as a shared capital for Punjab as well as Haryana. The state covers an area of 50,362 square kilometres (19,445 square miles), which is 1.53% of India's total geographical area, making it the 19th-largest Indian state by area out of 28 Indian states (20th largest, if Union Territories are considered). With over 27 million inhabitants, Punjab is the 16th-largest Indian state by population, comprising 23 districts. Punjabi, written in the Gurmukhi script, is the most widely spoken and the official language of the state. The main ethnic group are the Punjabis, with Sikhs (57.7%) and Hindus (38.5%) forming the dominant religious groups. Three of the five traditional Punjab rivers — the Sutlej, Beas, and Ravi — flow through the state.
The history of Punjab has witnessed the migration and settlement of different tribes of people with different cultures and ideas, forming a civilisational melting pot.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Punjab, India” is indian state. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Punjab, India and Indian, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “indian state” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q22424. VIAF identifies the subject as 123122085. The Library of Congress control number is n50000530. Authority coordinates are 30.767, 75.467. 2 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
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The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Punjab, India”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Punjab, India primary sources, Punjab, India archive and Punjab research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Punjab, India” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.