Rajasthan
Rajasthan literally means "The Land of Kings" and is a portmanteau of Sanskrit "RÄjÄ" (King) and Sanskrit "SthÄna"(Land) or Persian "St(h)Än" with the same meaning. The oldest reference to Rajasthan is found in a stone inscription dated back to 625 CE. 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. 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".
The state was formed on 30 March 1949 when Rajputana â the name adopted by the British Raj for its dependencies in the region â was merged into the Dominion of India. Its capital and largest city is Jaipur. Other important cities are Jodhpur, Kota, Bikaner, Ajmer, Bharatpur and Udaipur. The economy of Rajasthan is the seventh-largest state economy in India with â¹10.20 lakh crore (US$130 billion) in gross domestic product and a per capita GDP of â¹118,000 (US$1,500). Rajasthan ranks 29th among Indian states in human development index.The Pratiharas ruled for many dynasties in this part of the country; the region was known as Gurjaratra.Up to the 10th century CE, almost all of North India acknowledged the supremacy of the Imperial Pratiharas, with their seat of power at Kannauj.
The Gurjara Pratihar Empire acted as a barrier for Arab invaders from the 8th to the 11th century. The chief accomplishment of the Gurjara-Pratihara Empire lies in its successful resistance to foreign invasions from the west, starting in the days of Junaid. Historian R. C. Majumdar says that this was openly acknowledged by the Arab writers. He further notes 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 seems little doubt that it was the power of the Pratihara army that effectively barred the progress of the Arabs beyond the confines of Sindh, their only conquest for nearly 300 years.Prithviraj Chauhan defeated the invading Muhammad Ghori in the First Battle of Tarain in 1191. In 1192 CE, Muhammad Ghori decisively defeated Prithviraj at the Second Battle of Tarain. After the defeat of Chauhan in 1192 CE, a part of Rajasthan came under Muslim rulers. The principal centers of their powers were Nagaur and Ajmer. Ranthambhore was also under their suzerainty. At the beginning of the 13th century, the most prominent and powerful state of Rajasthan was Mewar. The Rajputs resisted the Muslim incursions into India, although a number of Rajput kingdoms eventually became subservient to the Delhi Sultanate.