The Rajput clans were always fighting; when there wasn’t a common enemy such as Muslim or the British invaders, they fought each other. There are forts all over Rajasthan, usually containing tanks, palaces, temples and handsome gates, many really small fortified towns. Thus Rajasthan represents the ultimate confluence of history, chivalry, romance, rugged natural beauty and color.

Col. James Todd, a celebrated writer wrote: “Rajasthan exhibits the sole example in the history of mankind of a people withstanding every outrage barbarity can inflict or human nature sustain, and bent to the earth, yet rising buoyant from the pressure and making calamity a whetstone to courage.”

Rajput clans emerged and held their sway over different parts of Rajasthan from about 700 AD. Before that, Rajasthan was a part of several republics, being a part of the Mauryan Empire, with other empires which included the Malavas, Arjunyas, Yaudhyas, Kushans, Saka Satraps, Guptas and Hunas. The Pratihars, first of the Rajput clans, ruled Rajasthan and most of northern India during 750-1000 AD, and then between 1000-1200 AD, Rajasthan witnessed the struggle for supremacy between their own clans which were the Chalukyas, Parmars and Chauhans.

Around 1200 AD a part of Rajasthan came under Muslim rulers, with Mewar being the most prominent and powerful state within Rajasthan.

Due to the fighting within the clans, Rajasthan had never been united politically until its domination by the Mughal Emperor – Akbar – who created a unified province of Rajasthan. The political disintegration of Rajasthan was caused by the dismemberment of the Mughal Empire after 1707 with the Marathas penetrating Rajasthan upon the decline of the Mughal Empire. In 1817-18 the British Government concluded treaties of alliance with almost all the states of Rajputana, thus beginning the British rule over Rajasthan, then called Rajputana.

Rajasthan has some gorgeous cities and places to visit such as Chitor, Jaipur, Jaiselmer, Jodhpur and Udaipur, apart from the being home to much of the magnificient wild life in India.