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ABSTRACT
The Grand Trunk Road in Punjab is of immense cultural significance and has played an important role in shaping the history of India and particularly, Punjab. It has been a source of attention and fascination for most of recorded history in India. Its story echoes the grandeur of the emperors across whose lands it lay like a ceremonial ribbon; the emblem of their expansive holdings and the symbol of royal power. The most extant segment of the Grand Trunk Road, known as National Highway I (NH 1), along with relics of the great serais, wells and infrastructure lies in Punjab, hence it is a living example of the many layered palimpsest of cultures and rulers. The assets and possessions along this cultural route are in the form of built, natural, intangible and documentary heritage. It is important to ensure that any interventions for conservation, protection and enhancement of the cultural resources of significance are addressed as an integral part of the development framework for the region.
INTRODUCTION
Since time immemorial, road(s) as an inorganic identity have been one of the significant connecting medium for human social existence across the world. Human prowess exercised in tandem with ecological factors has given rise to formalised roads for communication. While a symbiotic relationship has historically prevailed between ecology and its surrounding culture, roads stand as symbolic structures of this connectedness, as several roads have not only facilitated but also promoted a synthesis of multiple cultural traditions (Keesing 1974).
The present Grand Trunk Road, in the Indian subcontinent has been a dynamic site for the fusion of indigenous and foreign social, political, economic and cultural practices. It is the movement of people and hence influences and the flow of knowledge into this region that has led to the creation of its cultural identity. The 271 kilometres of the Grand Trunk Road in present day Punjab, begin from near the town of Ambala via Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Amritsar to Lahore, whereas the Badshahi Sadak or Imperial Highway bifurcates from Phillaur, across the river Sutlej and meets the NH1 at the Indo-Pakistan border. This segment of the Grand Trunk Road and Mughal period Imperial Highway in Punjab is of immense cultural significance as it was among other aspects,...