Ajmer is a historical region in central
Rajasthan
Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern s ...
, a central part of a
Shakambari Chahamana (''Chauhan'') kingdom in 11–12th centuries during the reign of
Prithviraj Chauhan
Prithviraja III ( IAST: Pṛthvī-rāja; reign. – 1192 CE), popularly known as Prithviraj Chauhan or Rai Pithora, was a king from the Chauhan (Chahamana) dynasty who ruled the territory of Sapadalaksha, with his capital at Ajmer in presen ...
.
The region includes a present-day
Ajmer district and is bounded on the west by
Marwar
Marwar (also called Jodhpur region) is a region of western Rajasthan state in North Western India. It lies partly in the Thar Desert. The word 'maru' is Sanskrit for desert. In Rajasthani languages, "wad" means a particular area. English tran ...
, on the northeast by
Dhundhar
Dhundhar, also known as ''Jaipur region'', is a historical region of Rajasthan state in western India. It includes the districts of Jaipur, parts of Sikar District lying to the east of the Aravalli Range, Dausa, Sawai Madhopur, and To ...
, on the southeast by
Hadoti
Hadoti is a region of Rajasthan state in western India, which was once called the Bundi Kingdom. The biggest cities are Jhalawar and Kota. It includes the districts of Bundi, Baran, Jhalawar and Kota and is bounded on the west by the Mewa ...
, and on the south by
Mewar
Mewar or Mewad is a region in the south-central part of Rajasthan state of India. It includes the present-day districts of Bhilwara, Chittorgarh, Pratapgarh, Rajsamand, Udaipur, Pirawa Tehsil of Jhalawar District of Rajasthan, Neemuch an ...
regions.
Ajmer subah
Under
Mughal
Mughal or Moghul may refer to:
Related to the Mughal Empire
* Mughal Empire of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries
* Mughal dynasty
* Mughal emperors
* Mughal people, a social group of Central and South Asia
* Mughal architecture
* Mug ...
imperial rule, Ajmer was a central
subah
A Subah was the term for a province (State) in the Mughal Empire. The word is derived from Arabic and Persian. The governor/ruler of a ''Subah'' was known as a ''subahdar'' (sometimes also referred to as a "''Subeh''"), which later became ''subed ...
(top-level province), roughly most of present
Rajasthan
Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern s ...
, one of the twelve original provinces created by Akbar the Great, bordering Delhi (later Shahjahanbad), Agra (later Akbarabad), Malwa, Gujarat, Thatta (Sindh) and Multan subahs.
Ajmer-Merwara
In 1818,
Daulat Rao Sindhia
Shrimant Daulat Rao Shinde (also Sindhia; 1779 – 21 March 1827) was the Maharaja (ruler) of Gwalior state in central India from 1794 until his death in 1827. His reign coincided with struggles for supremacy within the Maratha Empire, and war ...
, Maharajah of
Gwalior State
Gwalior state was a semi-autonomous Maratha state. It was centred in modern-day Madhya Pradesh, arising due to the rise of the Maratha Empire and fragmentation of the Mughal Empire.
It was ruled by the House of Scindia (anglicized from Shinde ...
, ceded Ajmer to the British, and it became part of the
Bengal Presidency
The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William and later Bengal Province, was a subdivision of the British Empire in India. At the height of its territorial jurisdiction, it covered large parts of what is now South Asia and ...
of
British India
The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
until 1836, when it was moved into the
North-Western Provinces
The North-Western Provinces was an administrative region in British India. The North-Western Provinces were established in 1836, through merging the administrative divisions of the Ceded and Conquered Provinces. In 1858, the nawab-ruled kingdo ...
. On 1 April 1871 a new
Ajmer-Merwara Province (also called Ajmer-Merwara-Kekri) was formed. This continued until 15 August 1947, when with the
Partition of India
The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...
the British departed, and Ajmer-Merwara had been awarded to the new
Dominion of India
The Dominion of India, officially the Union of India,* Quote: “The first collective use (of the word "dominion") occurred at the Colonial Conference (April to May 1907) when the title was conferred upon Canada and Australia. New Zealand and N ...
.
Ajmer state
In 1950, Ajmer state became a "Part C" state, governed by a
chief commissioner
A chief commissioner is a commissioner of a high rank, usually in chief of several commissioners or similarly styled officers.
Colonial
In British India the gubernatorial style was chief commissioner in various (not all) provinces (often after b ...
appointed by the President of India.
Haribhau Upadhyaya, a noted
Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
leader, was the Chief Minister of Ajmer state from 24 March 1952 to 31 October 1956.
Ajmer state was merged into
Rajasthan
Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern s ...
state on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act(1956) following the acceptance of suggestions by Fazl Ali Commission. Kishangarh sub-division of erstwhile
Jaipur district was added to it to form
Ajmer district.
[Sharma, Nidhi (2000). ''Transition from Feudalism to Democracy'', Jaipur: Aalekh Publishers, , pp. 197–201,205–6]
See also
*
Prithviraj Chauhan
Prithviraja III ( IAST: Pṛthvī-rāja; reign. – 1192 CE), popularly known as Prithviraj Chauhan or Rai Pithora, was a king from the Chauhan (Chahamana) dynasty who ruled the territory of Sapadalaksha, with his capital at Ajmer in presen ...
*
Mohammad Ghauri
Notes
{{Historical regions of North India, state=expanded
History of Rajasthan
Ajmer
Ajmer is one of the major and oldest cities in the Indian state of Rajasthan and the centre of the eponymous Ajmer District. It is located at the centre of Rajasthan. It is also known as heart of Rajasthan. The city was established as "''Aj ...