Introduction

Five hundred years ago, Punjab (the land of the five rivers), a fertile area of North West India spreading down from the foothills of the Himalayas, witnessed the birth of Sikhism, one of the world's youngest but now, fifth largest religion. Punjab is regarded as the homeland of the Sikh people whose evolving faith, strength of character, independent spirit, collective pride and sense of National identity have since the time of Sikhism's founder, Guru Nanak Dev Ji, continued to shape the destiny of this ancient stronghold against successive waves of foreign invasion into India.

This 2008 Sikhpoint calendar brings together a small selection of historical printed imagery from the Twin Studio Sikh Print Archive that highlights western interest in, and connection with, the Sikhs and Punjab from the early 19th to the mid 20th century.

Given the particularly strong and long standing relationship between Britain and India, most of the images relate to the Anglo Sikh connection, focusing especially on four major periods within their collective history: the Sikh Raj, the British Raj, the two World Wars and Indian Independence.

The Twin Studio Sikh Print Archive. The archive comprising several hundred original artefacts, is dedicated to documenting the history of Sikhs in print. It covers a variety of printed formats and techniques which record how Sikh imagery has developed against an ever evolving industry.