Rajputana

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Rajasthan was known as Rajputana before its formation in 1949. The maps illustrate the difference between 1909 and 1949.

Districts of Rajasthan. Present Day Rajasthan

Rājputāna, also called Rājwār, was the pre-1949 name of the present-day Indian state of Rājasthān, the largest state of the Republic of India in terms of area.

It was a western India ruled by the Rajputs, from the seventh and eighth century - and hence its name which literally means “land of the Rājputs”. Rājasthān, meaning “The Abode of the Rajas,” was formerly called Rājputānā, “The Country of the Rājpūts” (sons of rajas).

[edit] Characteristics and history

By any standards, Rajputana is an area with an extraordinarily high density of historic fortifications, and even to this date it is a common sight in Rajasthan to see a fortified structure of some sort scattered through the landscape.

During the British Raj in the 19th century, two more states were created, Dholpur and Tonk, which were land taken from the Rajput states. Only Ajmer was the area which fell directly under Muslim rule after the defeat and death of Prithviraj Chauhan in 1192 CE.

More or less Ajmer continued to be under central rule since then. The region was organized as the Rajputana Agency, made up of a number of princely states, whose rulers enjoyed local autonomy from the advent of the Mughal empire until the end of the British Raj.

Upon Indian independence in 1947, the local rulers acceded to India, and in 1950 Rajputana was combined a little later with the former British province of Ajmer-Merwara to become the Indian state of Rajasthan.

[edit] Geography

The area of Rajputana is estimated to be 132,559 square miles (343,328 square km) and breaks down into two geographic divisions:

• An area northwest of the Arāvalli Range including part of the Great Indian (Thar) Desert, with characteristics of being sandy and unproductive.
• An higher area southeast of the range, which is fertile by comparison.

The whole area forms the hill and plateau country between the north Indian plains and the main plateau of peninsular India.

[edit] References

1. Low, Sir Francis (ed.) The Indian Year Book & Who’s Who 1945-46, The Times of India Press, Bombay.
2. Sharma, Nidhi Transition from Feudalism to Democracy, Aalekh Publishers, Jaipur, 2000 ISBN 81-87359-06-4.
3. Tod, James Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan (in two volumes), Rupa, New Delhi, 1997 ISBN 81-7167-366-X (set).
4. Webb, William Wilfrid The Currencies of the Hindu States of Rajputana, Archibald Constable & Co., Westminster, 1893.
5. Rajputana, Encyclopædia Britannica.

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