State guide · No. 01
Rajasthan
The Land of Kings
In 60 seconds
A desert kingdom stitched together from the realms of the Rajputs — where a thousand years of chivalry, siege and splendour survive in amber forts, blue cities and palaces that float on lakes. Come between October and March, give it 8–12 days, and fly into Jaipur, Jodhpur or Udaipur.
AREA
342,239 km² — India's largest state, a tenth of the country
PEOPLE
68.5 million at the 2011 census; Hindi official, Marwari and other Rajasthani tongues at home
CAPITAL
Jaipur, since the state was formed on 30 March 1949
LAND
The Thar Desert to the west; the Aravalli hills, among the oldest ranges on earth, running diagonally across it
First, understand this
Rajasthan was never one kingdom.
The state on the map dates from 1949. Before that, this was a patchwork of princely states — more than twenty of them — each with its own clan, capital and quarrel. Knowing which kingdom you are standing in explains the colour of the city, the shape of its fort and the story its people tell about themselves.
Marwar chose the desert and the caravan tolls. Mewar chose defiance. Dhundhar chose the Mughal alliance and got rich. Jaisalmer taxed the camel road to Central Asia until the border closed it. Every guide we write begins with which of these you are in.
Schematic — frontiers moved for centuries; the labels mark heartlands, not borders. ● a city with a guide · ○ a place in the story.
Who ruled where
The eight realms that matter to a traveler — clan, capital, and what each one still explains.
Marwar
RATHORE- Capital
- Mandore, then Jodhpur from 1459
- Since
- Rathores at Mandore by the 1390s; Jodhpur 1459
- Today
- Jodhpur, Pali, Nagaur, Jalore, Barmer
'The desert land' — or, in the folk gloss, 'the land of death' — dry country that grew rich taxing the caravans between Delhi and Gujarat's ports.
Mewar
SISODIA- Capital
- Chittorgarh, then Udaipur from the 1560s
- Since
- Guhila dynasty by the 8th century; Udaipur 1559
- Today
- Udaipur, Chittorgarh, Rajsamand, Bhilwara
The kingdom that would not submit. Chittor fell three times; the Maharanas moved to the hills and kept fighting the Mughals long after everyone else had made peace.
Dhundhar
KACHWAHA- Capital
- Amber, then Jaipur from 1727
- Since
- Kachwahas at Amber from the 11th–12th century; Jaipur 1727
- Today
- Jaipur, Dausa
The kingdom that chose alliance. Its generals led Mughal armies, its astronomer-king planned a city on a grid, and it grew the richest court in Rajputana.
Jaisalmer
BHATI- Capital
- Jaisalmer, from 1156
- Since
- Rawal Jaisal, 1156
- Today
- Jaisalmer
A toll-gate kingdom deep in the Thar. The Bhatis taxed the camel caravans to Central Asia — and lost everything when the sea routes and then the 1947 border closed them.
Bikaner
RATHORE- Capital
- Bikaner, from 1488
- Since
- Rao Bika, a younger son of Jodhpur's founder, 1488
- Today
- Bikaner, Sri Ganganagar, Hanumangarh
A second son's kingdom in the northern desert, which turned its dust into camel corps, canals and one of the most ornate forts in the state.
Hadoti
HADA CHAUHAN- Capital
- Bundi, then Kota as a separate state from 1631
- Since
- Hada Chauhans at Bundi from 1241
- Today
- Kota, Bundi, Baran, Jhalawar
The green, river-cut south-east — painted palaces, stepwells and the Chambal, where Rajasthan stops being desert altogether.
Shekhawati
SHEKHAWAT KACHWAHA- Capital
- No single capital — a confederacy of small estates
- Since
- Rao Shekha, 15th century
- Today
- Sikar, Jhunjhunu, Churu
Merchant country. The Marwari trading families who went on to build Kolkata and Bombay left more than two thousand painted havelis here — often called the world's largest open-air art gallery.
Ajmer
CHAUHAN, THEN MUGHAL AND BRITISH- Capital
- Ajmer
- Since
- Chauhans by the 11th century; after 1192 passed between Delhi, Mewar and Marwar; Mughal from 1556, Maratha from 1752, British from 1818
- Today
- Ajmer district, including Pushkar
The crossroads everyone wanted: lost by the Chauhans in 1192, fought over by Mewar and Marwar, then Akbar's and finally Britain's foothold in Rajputana — with the holiest lake in the state beside it.
A thousand years, briefly
The story in seven moments
The whole arc — the moments every fort, palace and legend in the state refers back to.
- 018TH–10TH CENTURY
The clans rise
Out of the collapse of older empires, warrior clans claim descent from the sun, the moon and a sacrificial fire, and call themselves Rajputs — 'sons of kings'. The Pratiharas rule from Mandore, the Guhilas take Mewar, and the map of kingdoms that still shapes every city begins to draw itself.
- 021156
A fort on the caravan road
Rawal Jaisal, a Bhati chief, founds Jaisalmer on a ridge of golden sandstone deep in the Thar — a toll-gate on the routes to Central Asia that will make his descendants rich for seven centuries.
- 031192–1303
Delhi arrives
Prithviraj Chauhan of Ajmer loses the second battle of Tarain (1192) and the north passes to the Ghurids and then the Sultans of Delhi. A century later Alauddin Khilji storms Ranthambore (1301) and Chittorgarh (1303) — the siege from which the legend of Queen Padmini's jauhar is born.
- 041459
A king moves to a rock
Rao Jodha, Rathore ruler of Marwar, abandons indefensible Mandore for a bare outcrop 120 metres above the plain and begins Mehrangarh. The city beneath it — Jodhpur — will paint itself blue. His son Bika rides north and founds Bikaner (1488).
- 051568–1576
Akbar and the one who refused
Akbar takes Chittorgarh (1568); Mewar's rulers have already moved to a new capital at Udaipur (1559). While Amber's Raja Man Singh leads Mughal armies, Maharana Pratap of Mewar fights him at Haldighati (1576) and never submits — the defiance Rajasthan still tells its children about.
- 061727
The planned city
Sawai Jai Singh II, Amber's astronomer-king, lays out a new capital on a nine-square grid on the plain below: Jaipur. It is painted pink in 1876 for a visit by the Prince of Wales, and the old city has been kept that colour by civic rule ever since.
- 071818–1949
Treaties, then a state
One by one the kingdoms sign treaties with the East India Company and become the princely states of Rajputana. On 30 March 1949 most of them merge into a single Indian state — Rajasthan, 'the abode of kings' — with Jaipur as its capital. The maharajas keep their palaces, then turn them into hotels.
GO DEEPER
Who were the Rajputs? What were the princely states?
Plan it
Which Rajasthan is for you?
Five routes. Each one is a string of our city guides, in the order the roads want you to travel them.
The first trip
8–10 DAYSJaipur → Jodhpur → Udaipur
Three cities, three colours, three kingdoms. Fly into Jaipur, leave from Udaipur; the Jaipur–Jodhpur road (≈ 6 hours) and the Jodhpur–Udaipur road via Ranakpur (≈ 5 hours' driving; a full day with the temple stop) are the two best transit days in India.
The desert
6–8 DAYSJodhpur → Jaisalmer → Bikaner
West into the Thar. A living fort, a night on the dunes, a camel-breeding farm and a rat temple — the Rajasthan that looks least like anywhere else on earth.
The history trip
12–14 DAYSJaipur → Ranthambore → Chittorgarh → Udaipur → Jodhpur
The sieges in order: Ranthambore and Chittorgarh, the two fortresses Delhi broke, then the capitals the survivors built. Chittorgarh is a day from Udaipur; our guide to it is in production.
Slow Rajasthan
7–9 DAYSUdaipur → Pushkar → Jaipur
Lakes, a sacred town you can walk across in twenty minutes, and a finish in the capital. Fewer forts, more courtyards; the version for a second visit, or for anyone who hates being hurried.
The wild one
7–8 DAYSJaipur → Ranthambore → Jodhpur (Bishnoi)
Tigers in a fortress forest three hours from Jaipur, then blackbuck and demoiselle cranes among the Bishnoi villages outside Jodhpur — India's original conservationists.
The whole state in one book
The Rajasthan Edition
All seven cities, the routes between them and the 10-day classic circuit, in one 52-page guide.
Seven journeys within the kingdom
The Rajasthan Collection
INDIA UNFOLDED · CITY EDITION
JAIPUR
The Pink City
No. 01 — RAJASTHAN COLLECTION
The planned city of an astronomer king — and the gem scam to dodge.
Open the guide →
INDIA UNFOLDED · CITY EDITION
JODHPUR
The Blue City
No. 02 — RAJASTHAN COLLECTION
A fortress on a rock, a city painted indigo, the best introduction there is.
Open the guide →
INDIA UNFOLDED · CITY EDITION
UDAIPUR
The City of Lakes
No. 03 — RAJASTHAN COLLECTION
The capital of the kingdom that never submitted, floating on a lake.
Open the guide →
INDIA UNFOLDED · CITY EDITION
JAISALMER
The Golden City
No. 04 — RAJASTHAN COLLECTION
A living fort of golden sandstone, a night on the dunes.
Open the guide →
INDIA UNFOLDED · CITY EDITION
PUSHKAR
The Holy Lake
No. 05 — RAJASTHAN COLLECTION
A sacred lake you can walk around in an hour — and the fake priests on its steps.
Open the guide →
INDIA UNFOLDED · CITY EDITION
BIKANER
The Desert Gateway
No. 06 — RAJASTHAN COLLECTION
A second son's kingdom: the ornate fort, the camel farm, the rat temple.
Open the guide →
INDIA UNFOLDED · CITY EDITION
RANTHAMBORE
The Tiger Reserve
No. 07 — RAJASTHAN COLLECTION
Tigers in a fortress forest, three hours from Jaipur.
Open the guide →
The original map
Rajasthan was never one kingdom
Twenty-two princely states merged between 1948 and 1956 to make the map you see now. Before that they had different ruling houses, different founding centuries and, for most of their history, different enemies.
It is why the food changes as you cross the state, why Mewar and Marwar tell incompatible stories about the same emperors, and why “Rajasthani” is a nationality nobody held until living memory.
Who ruled Rajasthan? →Before you pick a city
How long, which cities, and in what order
Rajasthan is eight former kingdoms, not one destination, and the distances are the whole problem. These answer the questions that come before the guidebook.
Not a museum
Rajasthan today
Eighty-odd million people, India's largest state, a desert turning green under a canal and silver under solar panels. The kingdoms are history; the state is very much in business.
- AREA
- 342,239 km² — India's largest state, a tenth of the country
- PEOPLE
- 68.5 million at the 2011 census; Hindi official, Marwari and other Rajasthani tongues at home
- CAPITAL
- Jaipur, since the state was formed on 30 March 1949
- LAND
- The Thar Desert to the west; the Aravalli hills, among the oldest ranges on earth, running diagonally across it
- BORDER
- ≈ 1,070 km with Pakistan, the reason Jaisalmer's trade died and its air base lives
- ECONOMY
- Marble (the Taj Mahal's came from Makrana), zinc and copper, textiles and block-printing, solar power on a vast scale at Bhadla, and tourism
- WATER
- The Indira Gandhi Canal carries Sutlej–Beas water from the Harike barrage into the north-western desert, turning Hanumangarh, Bikaner and Jaisalmer green
- VISITORS
- Among India's most visited states for foreign travelers; the season runs October to March
Begin with Jodhpur. It's free.
The Blue City is the best introduction to Rajasthan there is — and the 32-page guide is on us.