Ishwar Dayal Gaur teaches History at Panjab University, Chandigarh. His doctoral research was on the anti-imperialist struggle, and thereafter he diversified into studies on culture, folklore and literature. He has authored Essays on History and Historiography (1998), while as a poet he has versified the cultural mosaic of undivided Punjab in two collections, namely Surmedani (1999) and Charkha Bole Sain Sain (2007).