Jammu pronunciation is one of the three regions comprising the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. Jammu borders Kashmir to the north, Ladakh to the east, Himachal Pradesh to the south and Pakistan-administered Kashmir to the west. Sandwiched between the Vale of Kashmir to the north and the Daman Koh Plains to the south, the Shiwalik Range comprises most of the region of Jammu.

The state lies between 32o 17′ to 36o 58′ North latitude and 73o 26′ to 80o 30′ East longitude. From North to South, it extends over 640 km and from East to West, 480 km. It occupies the North-West niche of India, bounded on the South by Himachal Pradesh and the Punjab, on the South West and West by Pakistan, on the North by Chinese Turkistan and a little of Russian Turkistan, and on the East by Chinese Tibet - thus strategically bordering the territories of three countries - Russia, China, and Pakistan.

The Pir Panjal Range, the Trikuta Hills and the low-lying Tawi River basin adds beauty and diversity to the terrain of Jammu. Home to some of the most popular Hindu shrines, such as Vaishno Devi, Jammu is one of the most famous pilgrimage tourism destinations in India. Once a seat of the Dogra Rajput dynasty, Jammu came under the control of Maharaja Ranjit Singh in the 19-century and became a part of the Sikh Kingdom. Under the command of Maharaja Gulab Singh, the Rajputs were able to re-establish their control over Jammu and founded the Kingdom of Jammu and Kashmir.

After Maharaja Hari Singh, the last ruler of Jammu and Kashmir, signed the Instrument of Accession in 1947, Jammu became ‘a part’ of the Union of India. It is believed that the city was originally founded by Raja Jamboo Lochan who lived in fourteenth century B.C. The Raja had gone out one day for hunting when he happened to witness a tiger and a goat drinking water from one and the same pond.

This extraordinary phenomenon set him thinking and he decided to build a city at this site so that the strong and weak could live together in peace and mutual tolerance. Eventually, he founded the city which came to be known as “Jamboo” after his own name. With the passage of time and due to its frequent use the pronunciation of the name got slightly distorted and the city came to be known as ‘Jammu’ as it is called now.

Jammu enjoys the status of an administrative division within the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Jammu city, the largest city in the region, is the winter capital of Jammu and Kashmir. The majority of Jammu’s 2.7 million population practices Hinduism, while Islam and Sikhism enjoy a strong cultural heritage in the region.