Rājasthān

Etymology

The first mention of word Rajasthan comes from the work of James Tod (Annals) in 1829 A.D.^[4] Rajasthan literally means a Land of Kingdoms.George Thomas (Military Memories) was the first in 1800 A.D., to term this region as Rajputana.^[4]John Keayin his book, India: A History stated that the Rajputana name was coined by the British, but that the word even achieved a retrospective authenticity: in an 1829 translation of Ferishta's history of early Islamic India, John Briggs discarded the phrase Indian princes, as rendered in Dow's earlier version, and substituted Rajpoot princes.^[5]Rajasthan was essentially the country of the Gurjars.^[6]R. C. Majumdarexplained that the region was long known as Gurjaratra that is Country protected or ruled by the Gurjars, early form of Gujarat, before it came to be called Rajputana.^[7]

The only difference between erstwhile Rajputana and Rajasthan is that certain portions of what had been British India, in the former province of Ajmer-Merwara, were included. Portions lying geographically outside of Rajputana such as the Sumel-Tappa area were included in Madhya Pradesh.^[8]

[edit]History

Main article: History of Rajasthan

The Indus Valley Civilization, one of the world's first and oldest civilizations, was located in parts of what is now Rajasthan. Kalibangan inHanumangarh district, Rajasthan was a major provincial capital of the Indus Valley Civilization.^[9] It is believed that Western Kshatrapas(35–405 BC) were Saka rulers of the western part of India (Saurashtra and Malwa: modern Gujarat, Southern Sindh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan). They 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 establish the Saka era (with Saka calendar), marking the beginning of the long-lived Saka Western Satraps state.^[10]

Traditionally the Meenas, Rajputs, Yadavs, Jats, Bhils, Gurjars, Bishnois and other tribes made a great contribution in building the state of Rajasthan. All these tribes suffered great difficulties in protecting their culture and the land. Millions^[11] of them were martyred trying to protect their land. Gurjars had been exterminated in Bhinmal and Ajmer areas fighting with the invaders. Bhils once ruled Kota.^[11]Meenas were rulers of Bundi and Dhundhar region.^{[citation needed]}

The Chittorgarh Fort is one of the largest forts in Asia.

Gurjars ruled many dynasties in this part of the country. In fact this region was long known asGurjaratra.^[7] Up to the tenth century almost the whole of North India, excepting Bengal, owned supremacy of Gurjars with their seat of power at Kannauj.^[12] Gurjar Pratihar Empireacted as barrier for Arab invaders from 6th to 11th century. The chief credit of Gurjara Pratihara empire lies in its successfully resistance to the foreign invasions from the west, from the days of Junaid. Historian Majumdar, say that this was frankly recognized by the Arab writers themselves. He further clears that historians of India have wondered at the slow progress of Muslim invaders in India, as compared with their rapid advance in other parts of the world. Now, there can be little doubt that it was the power of the Gurjara Pratihara army that effectively barred the progress of the Muslims beyond the confines of Sindh, their first conquest for nearly three hundred years.^[13]