Gender and Punjab history
Anshu Malhotra is a scholar of South Asian history whose work includes gender, caste, religious identities and life writing. The University of California, Santa Barbara describes her as a professor and chair in Sikh and Punjab studies and records earlier teaching at the University of Delhi. Its biography says she received a doctorate from SOAS, University of London. Her research interests link cultural and social history with questions about how people describe their own lives. As with any institutional profile, its account of an appointment should be read as a snapshot rather than an assurance that a role never changes.[1]
Piro and the Gulabdasis
Malhotra’s book Piro and the Gulabdasis: Gender, Sect and Society in Punjab examines a nineteenth-century Punjabi poet and spiritual seeker in relation to a religious community.[3][2]
A University of Delhi faculty document identifies Piro as a focus of Malhotra’s research.[3]
In an article abstract, Malhotra discusses Piro’s writings and her use of bhakti stories and imagery in relation to the establishment of Gulab Das. The article also examines the varied religious influences in Gulabdasi practices. This is an interpretation of texts and social context; surviving records and the historian’s questions shape what can be recovered of a life.[2]
A wider body of scholarship
Malhotra’s publications include Gender, Caste and Religious Identities: Restructuring Class in Colonial Punjab and the co-edited volume Punjab Reconsidered: History, Culture and Practice, according to her University of Delhi profile. The latter brings together work on Punjab’s history, culture and practice, reflecting a collaborative approach rather than a single-author account.[3]
Her University of Delhi profile also lists research and teaching in gender history and autobiography. For readers investigating a particular claim, the books and articles themselves offer more detail than a faculty biography. Comparing different histories can reveal how methods, sources and periods influence an interpretation.[3]
Sources & notes
Source records include access dates and, where known, limits on what was examined. Checks used AI assistance; independent human or specialist review has not been completed.
- University of California, Santa Barbara. Anshu Malhotra ↗Written source · Source date: publication date not established · Locator: Biography: appointment, education, research interests and publications. Accessed 2026-11-04.University faculty biography inspected; the listed publications were not independently read for this biographical check.Return to Gender and Punjab history, paragraph 1 ↑
- Anshu Malhotra. Bhakti and the Gendered Self: A Courtesan and a Consort in Mid Nineteenth Century Punjab ↗Written source · Source date: 2012 · Locator: Modern Asian Studies 46(6), pp. 1506–1539; abstract on Piro and bhakti imagery. Accessed 2026-11-04.The abstract was checked through Cambridge’s journal listing; the full article was not independently read in this pass.Return to Piro and the Gulabdasis, paragraph 1 ↑Return to Piro and the Gulabdasis, paragraph 3 ↑
- University of Delhi. Anshu Malhotra faculty profile ↗Written source · Source date: publication date not established · Locator: PDF pp. 1–3: research interests, teaching and selected publications. Accessed 2026-11-04.Selected profile pages were inspected in the downloaded PDF; individual books, presentations and course materials were not independently reviewed in this pass.Return to Piro and the Gulabdasis, paragraph 1 ↑Return to Piro and the Gulabdasis, paragraph 2 ↑Return to A wider body of scholarship, paragraph 1 ↑Return to A wider body of scholarship, paragraph 2 ↑
Record PH-PEO-0266 · English edition · human review not performed