Rajasthan, also referred to by terms like ‘Rajwarra’, ‘Raethan’ and ‘Rajputana’ in the past, is synonymous in popular perception as the land of Rajas and Maharajas, chivalry, forts and palaces, the fabled Great Indian Desert or Thar Desert, hardy folk and a treasure-trove of ancient lore, music, dance, ballads and myths. The present-day Rajasthan came into being when nineteen princely states and two chiefdoms of Rajputana were merged together between 1948 and 1950. To this, tracts like Ajmer-Merwara and a few other zones were added in 1956. The region has a long history, stretching from the pre-historic old stone age, in which local geography and environment had a role in determining the settlement-patterns and locations of towns and cities. The book covers a broad spectrum, encompassing the political, socio-cultural and economic history of present-day Rajasthan from the earliest times up to the middle of the twentieth century, in a comprehensive yet easy-to-read text aimed at, both, the general reader and scholar, alike. A History of Rajasthan uses various archival, epigraphical, numismatical, architectural, archaeological, and art-history related information as well as traditional narratives, and oral and written chronicles, to provide a general overview of aspects like literature, religion, art and architecture, position of women, socio-economic conditions, science and technology, as well as the subaltern, peoples’ oriented, ‘everyday’ life of the ‘average citizen’.
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