People of the Indus Valley Civilization are known to have spread into western India as far as the Gujarati coast, from their base of Mohenjo Daro in Pakistan, but few Rajasthani sites - such as Kali Bangan in the north, thought to have been settled by the
Harappans before 2500 BC - have been discovered. Similarly, the Buddhist influence of the powerful Mauryan empire, who rose to prominence in Gujarat between 360 BC and 210 BC, touched only the southernmost districts of Rajasthan.
The turbulent history of Rajasthan, characterized by courtly intrigue and inter-state warfare, only really begins in the sixth and seventh centuries AD, with the emergence of warrior clans such as the Sisodias, Chauhans, Kuchwahas and Rathores - the Rajputs ("sons of princes"). These heroic fighters seem originally to have been denied positions of power by a rigid caste system, due to low social status or foreign birth, but claimed to be able to cleanse themselves of impurities by complex fire rituals. Never exceeding eight percent of the population, they were to rule the separate states of Rajputana for centuries. Their code of honour set them apart from the rest of society - as did the popular belief that they were descended from the sun and moon - but did not invite excessive hostility. The Rajputs provided land, employment and trading opportunities for their subjects, and are still praised as gods in some communities.
The Rajput codes of chivalry that lay behind endless clashes between clans and family feuds found their most savage expression in battles with Muslims. Muhammad of Ghori , the first to march his troops through Rajasthan, met with the fierce defiance of the Chauhan Rajputs at Ajmer; however, the success of his second onslaught gained him the foothold that enabled him to establish the Sultanate in Delhi. During the 350 years that followed, much of central, eastern and western India came under the control of the sultans, but, despite all the Muslims' efforts and victories, Rajput resistance precluded them from ever undermining family solidarity and taking over Rajputana.
Ghori's successors were pushed out of Delhi in 1483 by the Moghul Babur, whose grandson Akbar came to power in 1556. Aware of the futility of using force against the Rajputs, Akbar chose instead to negotiate in friendship, and married Rani Jodha Bai, a princess from the Kuchwaha family of Amber. As a result, Rajputs entered the Moghul courts, and the influence of Moghul ideas on art and architecture remains evident in palaces, mosques, pleasure gardens and temples throughout the state.
When the Moghul empire began to decline after the accession of Aurangzeb in 1658, so too did the power of the Rajputs. Aurangzeb sided with a new force, the Marathas , who plundered Rajput lands and extorted huge sums of protection money from territories as strong as Mewar, whose capital was Udaipur, and Marwar, whose ruling family in Jodhpur had never submitted to any other power. The Rajputs eventually turned for help to the Marathas' chief rivals, the British , and signed formal treaties as to mutual allies and enemies. Although in theory the residents who represented British authority in each state were supposed to be neutral communicators, they soon wielded more power than the Rajput princes. However, the Rajputs were never denied their royal status, and relations were so amicable that few joined the Mutiny of 1857. Wealth from overland trade enabled them to festoon their palaces with silks, carpets, jewels and furnishings far beyond the imagination of most ordinary citizens, while the prosperous Marwari merchants of the northwest built and decorated stylish mansions, temples and meeting halls. Murals depicting British ministers with Indians, British hunting parties, ladies, motor cars and black-capped bobbies are firm reminders of the strong alliance between the two ruling powers.
The nationwide clamour for Independence in the years up to 1947 eventually proved stronger in Rajasthan than Rajput loyalty; when British rule ended, the Rajputs were left out on a limb. With persuasion from the new Indian government including the offer of "privy purses", they agreed one by one to join the Indian Union, and in 1949 the 22 states of Rajputana finally merged to form the state of Rajasthan .
But for three brief years of Janata domination from 1977 onwards, Congress held sway over Rajasthan from its first democratic elections in 1952 until 1994, when the BJP won a decisive victory. Central control soon exposed the Rajputs' neglect of their subjects, whom they had entrusted to power-thirsty landowners ( jaghidars ), and village councils ( panchayats ) were set up to organize local affairs. Nonetheless, several princes still maintain splendid households. Since 1947 the literacy rate among men has risen from 9 percent to 25 percent, and several universities have been established. New industries benefit from an increased electricity supply that once only met the needs of palaces, but now reaches most villages, while irrigation schemes such as the Indira Gandhi Canal, which brings water from Punjab across the northern deserts to Bikaner and Jaisalmer, have improved crop production, and provided relief in times of inadequate monsoon.
The modernization of Rajasthan, however, has been an uphill struggle, and this remains among the poorest and most staunchly traditional regions of India. As Rajasthanis are apt to remind you: " Delhi door ast ", "Delhi is far away", particularly in its attitude to women. Feminist groups in the capital created a publicity storm in the 1980s over the sati case of Roop Kanwar, an eighteen-year-old from a village near Jaipur who burned to death on her husband's funeral pyre, but more revealing of the everyday problems faced by Rajasthani women are the rates of female mortality and illiteracy, far higher here than in any other state in the country.
