How Persia Forged the Punjab's Soul—And Why Modern States Are Erasing It
The Unquiet Frontier: How Persia Forged the Punjab's Soul—And Why Modern States Are Erasing It For over a millennium, the Punjab plains served as the easternmost lung of the Persianate world—a cultural ecosystem stretching from the Balkans to the Bay of Bengal. Here, Sanskrit's philosophical depth merged with Persian's poetic elegance, while Turkic military prowess provided the architecture of power. This was not mere cultural contact but a profound synthesis: Persian became the language of administration, Sufi mystics wove ishq (divine love) into Punjabi folk poetry, and the chahar bagh garden transformed dusty plains into visions of paradise. Yet today, this ancient kinship lies fractured. Missiles have crossed the Iran-Pakistan border, sectarian tensions simmer, and state policies actively erase Persian vocabulary in favor of Arabic purism. This is the tragedy of a civilization severed from its own soul—a story where shared genes, language, and history collide with...