Keywords
General Allard
Maharajah Ranjit Singh
Bannou Pan Dei
Kashmir
Kashmiri shawls
Saint-Tropez
How to Cite
Abstract
This paper presents stories associated with artefacts and episodes from the Kingdom of Lahore in Punjab, told through the author's research visit and fieldwork on the streets of Saint-Tropez located on the Cote D'Azur in the South of France. Episodes in the early 19th century that shaped the establishment of the Kingdom of Lahore, ruled by Maharajah Ranjit Singh, are outlined, and the author introduces Europeans employed in the armies of Punjab. The author describes how the actions of the Maharajah in the 1830s opened up highly profitable trading routes for some of his European generals between Lahore and Europe, dealing in arts, armour and textiles. The establishment of these Indo-French trading routes included the export of luxurious shawls from Kashmir and Amritsar (ruled at the time by Ranjit Singh) to Europe. One prominent individual, Jean-Francois Allard, who rose to become a general in Punjab, is chronicled, and the paper focuses on Allard and his wife, Bannou Pan Dei, and their life in Saint-Tropez. The paper ends by highlighting the recent work by officials in Saint-Tropez to articulate these stories and shared histories to develop interest, relations and promote tourism between the locations of India, especially Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, and France.References
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