Rajasthan: History, Administration and Integration

What the official syllabus says

RAS Main Examination, Paper I: General Studies I, Unit I (History), Part A: History, Art, Culture, Literature, Tradition and Heritage of Rajasthan. This page covers the first three points; the other six are on Rajasthan: Art, Culture, Religion and Heritage.

• Pre historic culture and various ancient historic sites and their importance; Political and cultural achievements of various rulers of Rajasthan (up to 18th century).
• Revenue and administrative system and changing patterns.
• 19th and 20th century: Revolt of 1857 peasant and tribal movements, political awakening, mass movements and integration of Rajasthan.

Topics in detail

Part A is the most Rajasthan-specific part of the paper. Read it in three blocks: early sites and dynasties, the old revenue and administrative order and how it changed, and the 19th and 20th century movements that ended with the integration of the state. For every event note the place (today's district), the people involved and the year.

Prehistoric culture and ancient sites

• Stone Age sites in the valleys of the Banas, Berach, Luni and Chambal; hand axes and cleavers of the Palaeolithic
• Mesolithic sites: Bagor (Bhilwara, on the Kothari river) and Tilwara (on the Luni, near Balotra); microliths and early animal domestication
• Kalibangan (Hanumangarh, on the Ghaggar): pre-Harappan and Harappan levels, the ploughed field, fire altars, a fortified citadel and lower town
• Ahar or Banas culture (Udaipur): Chalcolithic, copper tools, black-and-red ware; related sites Gilund (Rajsamand) and Balathal (Udaipur)
• Ganeshwar (Sikar): copper culture near the Khetri copper belt, a supplier of copper objects to the Harappan cities
• Bairat or Viratnagar: capital of the Matsya janapada; Ashoka's Bhabru edict and the remains of a Buddhist chaitya
• Other early historical sites: Nagari (Chittorgarh, ancient Madhyamika), Rairh (Tonk, hoards of punch-marked coins), Rangmahal (Hanumangarh), Noh (Bharatpur), Sambhar
• Janapadas and tribal republics: Matsya, Shurasena, Shivi, Malavas, Yaudheyas, Arjunayanas
• Why the sites matter: continuity of settlement, metallurgy, trade routes, and evidence for the region's place in Indian history

Sources used to study Rajasthan's history

• Inscriptions: Ghosundi (early Bhagavata worship), Bijolia rock inscription (Chauhan genealogy), Kumbhalgarh prashasti, the Kirti Stambh prashasti at Chittor, Raj Prashasti at Rajsamand (a long Sanskrit inscription on stone slabs)
• Literary works: Prithviraj Raso (Chand Bardai), Hammir Mahakavya (Nayachandra Suri), Kanhadade Prabandh (Padmanabha), Muhnot Nainsi ri Khyat and Marwar ra Pargana ri Vigat
• Archival records: bahis and state records kept in the Rajasthan State Archives, Bikaner; coins of the princely states; James Tod's Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan

Rulers and their political and cultural achievements (up to the 18th century)

• Gurjara-Pratiharas: Nagabhata I and Mihira Bhoja; resistance to the Arab advance
• Chauhans of Shakambhari and Ajmer: Ajayaraja (founder of Ajmer), Vigraharaja IV, Prithviraj III and the battles of Tarain (1191 and 1192)
• Chauhans of Ranthambore and Jalore: Hammir Deva against Alauddin Khalji (1301); Kanhadade of Jalore
• Guhilas and Sisodias of Mewar: Bappa Rawal; Rawal Ratan Singh and the siege of Chittor (1303); Rana Hammir; Rana Kumbha (Kumbhalgarh fort, the Vijay Stambh at Chittor, patronage of music and learning); Rana Sanga and the battle of Khanwa (1527); Maharana Pratap and Haldighati (1576); Amar Singh I and the treaty with the Mughals (1615); Raj Singh and the Rajsamand lake
• Rathores of Marwar: Rao Jodha and the founding of Jodhpur and Mehrangarh (1459); Rao Maldev and the battle of Giri-Sumel (1544) against Sher Shah; Rao Chandrasen; Jaswant Singh; Durgadas Rathore
• Rathores of Bikaner: Rao Bika; Rai Singh and the Junagarh fort
• Kachhwahas of Amber and Jaipur: Bharmal's alliance with Akbar; Man Singh I; Mirza Raja Jai Singh; Sawai Jai Singh II, the founding of Jaipur (1727) and the Jantar Mantar observatories
• Other houses: Hadas of Bundi and Kota, Bhatis of Jaisalmer, Jats of Bharatpur (Suraj Mal, Lohagarh fort)
• Cooperation and resistance with the Mughals: matrimonial alliances, mansabs, watan jagirs; the decline of Mughal power and the Maratha incursions of the 18th century

Revenue and administrative system, and how it changed

• The feudal (samanti) order: the ruler, jagirdars and their grades, obligations of military service and tribute
• Land categories: khalsa (directly administered) and jagir land; bhom; sasan or muafi grants to temples and Brahmins
• Methods of assessing revenue: crop-sharing (latai or batai), estimation of the standing crop (kunta), and cash rates; the many cesses (lag-bag) and forced labour (begar) that caused peasant unrest
• Mughal influence: the mansabdari system and the measurement-based zabti system in the khalsa lands
• British paramountcy: the treaties of 1818 with the Rajput states, the Political Agents and the Rajputana Agency; Ajmer-Merwara as a British-ruled district
• After independence: the end of jagirdari (Rajasthan Land Reforms and Resumption of Jagirs Act, 1952), the Rajasthan Tenancy Act, 1955 and the Rajasthan Land Revenue Act, 1956

Revolt of 1857 in Rajasthan

• Six British cantonments in Rajputana; the outbreak at Nasirabad (28 May 1857) and Neemuch (3 June 1857); Deoli and Erinpura
• Auwa (Marwar): Thakur Kushal Singh and the battle with the British and Jodhpur forces
• Kota: the rising of the state's troops and the killing of the Political Agent, Major Burton
• Tantia Tope's movements through Rajasthan; the attitude of the rulers; reasons for the limited spread of the revolt

Peasant and tribal movements

• Bijolia (Mewar): a long movement against cesses and begar; Sadhu Sitaram Das, Vijay Singh Pathik and Manikya Lal Verma
• Begun, Bundi and Shekhawati peasant movements; the Neemuchana firing in Alwar (1925)
• Bhil movement under Govind Guru: the Samp Sabha and the Mangarh massacre (1913)
• Eki movement of Motilal Tejawat and the Neemda firing (1922)
• Meena agitation against the Criminal Tribes Act and the jarayam pesha label

Political awakening and mass movements

• Role of the Arya Samaj, newspapers and schools in political awakening
• Revolutionaries: Arjun Lal Sethi, Kesari Singh Barhath, Pratap Singh Barhath, Rao Gopal Singh Kharwa
• Organisations: Rajasthan Seva Sangh and the Rajputana Madhya Bharat Sabha
• Praja Mandals in the princely states: Jaipur (reorganised under Jamnalal Bajaj), Mewar (Manikya Lal Verma), Marwar Lok Parishad (Jai Narayan Vyas), Bikaner and others; the Congress's Haripura resolution (1938) on the states
• Quit India Movement in Rajasthan and the demand for responsible government

Integration of Rajasthan

• 19 princely states, 3 chiefships (Kushalgarh, Lawa, Neemrana) and the British territory of Ajmer-Merwara
• Role of the States Ministry (Sardar Patel and V. P. Menon) and of local leaders
• Seven stages from 1948 to 1956 (table below), with the inclusion of Ajmer, Abu and Delwara and the Sunel Tappa in 1956, and the transfer of Sironj to Madhya Pradesh

Overlaps

The same history is in the Prelims paper (RAS Prelims). The national side of the freedom struggle is on Indian History and Culture; land reforms reappear in Indian Economy, and the Rajasthan Tenancy Act, 1955 and the Rajasthan Land Revenue Act, 1956 are law topics in Paper III.