Remembering The Princely State: Rajputana - I

Rajasthan is today one of state know for its royalness although it is progressing quite fast with the pace of time but still we cannot ignore the royal past of  'Rajputana', as Rajasthan known as before 1949.

An 1876 engraving of Rajputs, from the Illustrated London News
Source: Wikipedia

This desert State of India, covers some 342,000 sq km in the north-western region of India and today is divided into 33 districts for administrative purposes but in older time it was mainly divided into 6 regions:
- Shekhawati
- Mewar
- Marwar
- Mewat
- Dhundhar
- Hadoti

Each of these region have its own historical importance and strong presence and majority of rulers over these regions were Rajputs, a clan known for its bravery and royalness.

Shekhawati:

It is located in northeast part of Rajasthan originated by name of Shekhawat Rajputs and famous for Haveli's of this region.

A general myth about this region as portrayed to most tourist is that its either some village or town but in actual its area is 13784 square kilometers and include multiple villages and towns. With this single region there used to be multiple small princely states ruled by Shekhawats and known as Thikans.

It was founded by Maharao Shekha Ji (Some time I feel going throgh historical facts is a kind of fantasy itself, believe me. More you explore it more you get into love with it :) I want to share here about interesting birth story of Maharao Sheka Ji also but let me save it for upcoming posts)

Shekhawati was formerly a wealthy but lawless land at some point of time on the trade route between the ports of the Arabian Sea and the fertile Ganges Valley. And today some of leading business house of country are from this region. In older time marwaris from this region settled in the new coastal cities, and they built havelis for their families back home which were symbols of their success and homes.

Map of Vedic India

Reference of this region is found in ancient history also, as said during the Mahabharata period it was known as Matsya Kingdom and extended to the Sarasvati River. This was because the first clan ruling this region, in the Mahabharata period, were descendants of fishermen. So the Vedas were supposed to be written and compiled on this land of brave Rajputs.

Few of must visit places in Shekhawati are butnot limited to Mandawa Fort, Dundlod Fort, Surajgarh Fort, Fatehpur, Nawalgarh.

I will be sharing more about other regions too in upcoming posts.