Rajasthan (Hindi: Rājasthāna, pronounced [ɾaːd͡ʒəsˈtʰaːn] ⓘ; lit.
'Land of Kings')[12] is
a state in northwestern India.[13][14][15] It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh
largest by population. It covers 342,239 square kilometres (132,139 sq mi) or 10.4 per
cent of India's total geographical area. It is on India's northwestern side, where it
comprises most of the wide and inhospitable Thar Desert (also known as the Great
Indian Desert) and shares a border with the Pakistani provinces of Punjab to the
northwest and Sindh to the west, along the Sutlej-Indus River valley. It is bordered by
five other Indian states: Punjab to the north; Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to the
northeast; Madhya Pradesh to the southeast; and Gujarat to the southwest. Its
geographical location is 23°3' to 30°12' North latitude and 69°30' to 78°17' East
longitude, with the Tropic of Cancer passing through its southernmost tip.
Its major features include the ruins of the Indus Valley
civilisation at Kalibangan and Balathal, the Dilwara Temples, a Jain pilgrimage site at
Rajasthan's only hill station, Mount Abu, in the ancient Aravalli mountain range and
eastern Rajasthan, the Keoladeo National Park of Bharatpur, a World Heritage
Site[16] known for its bird life. Rajasthan is also home to five national tiger reserves,
the Ranthambore National Park in Sawai Madhopur, Sariska Tiger Reserve in Alwar,
the Mukundra Hills Tiger Reserve in Kota, Ramgarh Vishdhari Tiger reserve and Karauli
Dholpur tiger reserve.
The State of Rajasthan was formed on 30 March 1949 when the states of the Rajputana
Agency of the erstwhile British Empire in India were merged into the new Indian Union.
Its capital and largest city is Jaipur. Other important cities
are Jodhpur, Kota, Bikaner, Ajmer, Bhilwara, Sawai Madhopur, Bharatpur and Udaipur.
The economy of Rajasthan is the seventh-largest state economy in India with ₹10.20
lakh crore (US$120 billion) in gross domestic product and a per
capita GDP of ₹118,000 (US$1,400).[17] Rajasthan ranks 22nd among Indian states
in human development index.[18]
Etymology
Rajasthan means "Land of Kings" and is a portmanteau of Sanskrit "Rājā" ('King') and
Sanskrit "Sthāna" ('Land') or Persian "St(h)ān", with the same meaning.[12] The oldest
reference to Rajasthan is found in a stone inscription dated back to 625 CE.[19] The first
printed mention of the name Rajasthan appears in the 1829 publication Annals and
Antiquities of Rajasthan or the Central and Western Rajpoot States of India, while the
earliest known record of Rajputana as a name for the region is in George Thomas's
1800 memoir Military Memories.[20] John Keay, in his book India: A History, stated
that Rajputana was coined by the British in 1829, John Briggs, translating Ferishta's
history of early Islamic India, used the phrase "Rajpoot (Rajput) princes" rather than
"Indian princes".[21]
History
Main articles: History of Rajasthan and List of battles of Rajasthan
Ancient times
Parts of what is now Rajasthan were partly part of the Vedic Civilisation and the Indus
Valley civilisation. Kalibangan, in Hanumangarh district, was a major provincial capital of
the Indus Valley Civilisation.[22] Topsfield[23] writes that the Rajputs first entered India from
the north west in the first millennium A.D. They established kingdoms in western India in
the region that is now known as Rajasthan.[23]
An archaeological excavation at the Balathal site in Udaipur district shows a settlement
contemporary with the Harrapan civilisation dating back to 3000–1500 BCE. Stone Age
tools dating from 5,000 to 200,000 years were found in Bundi and Bhilwara districts of
the state.[24]
The Minor Rock Edict 3 of Ashoka, found on the
platform in front of the Bairat Temple of Viratnagar, Rajasthan.[25]
The Matsya kingdom of the Vedic civilisation of India is said to roughly corresponded to
the former state of Jaipur in Rajasthan and included the whole of Alwar with portions
of Bharatpur.[26][27] The capital of Matsya was at Viratanagar (modern Bairat), which is
said to have been named after its founder King Virata.[28][need quotation to verify]
Bhargava[29] identifies the two districts of Jhunjhunu and Sikar and parts of Jaipur district
along with Haryana districts of Mahendragarh and Rewari as part of Vedic state
of Brahmavarta. Bhargava also locates the present day Sahibi River as the
Vedic Drishadwati River, which along with Saraswati River formed the borders of the
Vedic state of Brahmavarta.[30] Manu and Bhrigu narrated the Manusmriti to a
congregation of seers in this area. The ashrams of Vedic seers Bhrigu and his son
Chayvan Rishi, for whom Chyawanprash was formulated, were near Dhosi Hill, part of
which lies in Dhosi village of Jhunjhunu district of Rajasthan and part of which lies
in Mahendragarh district of Haryana.[31]
The Western Kshatrapas (405–35 BCE), the Saka rulers of the western part of India,
were successors to the Indo-Scythians and were contemporaneous with the Kushans,
who ruled the northern part of the Indian subcontinent. The Indo-Scythians invaded the
area of Ujjain and established the Saka era (with their calendar), marking the beginning
of the long-lived Saka Western Satraps state.[32]
