Places · A guide to the archive
Read Majha, Doaba, Malwa, Puadh and Pothohar with attention to rivers, language, settlement and changing boundaries.
Regional names can describe more than an administrative unit. Compare the definitions and geographical scope in these entries before transferring a boundary to a map. Read a region through its named places and sources, while leaving room for differences in local usage and in the period an account describes.
An intentional selection
Majha is a historical and cultural region associated with the Ravi–Beas tract. Its older connections across Punjab and its modern Indian administrative usage need to be read together.
Doaba is commonly identified with land between the Beas and Sutlej; its communities and connections extend beyond a simple river definition.
Punjab’s Malwa is a regional frame containing princely towns, industrial cities and varied farming landscapes. Its history is clearer when broad river geography is read alongside particular places and dated studies.
Puadh is an eastern Punjab regional name associated with Puadhi speech; its extent is described differently across sources.
Pothohar’s dissected plateau differs from the image of a uniformly irrigated Punjab plain. Geography, field science and the history of Rohtas Fort reveal several ways to read its landscape.
How we use sources, explain uncertainty and correct mistakes.
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