India > Rajasthan

Rajasthan

Rajasthan (Raja means king and Sthan means land) means the land of kings. Ancient people of India started to reside here from the beginning of Indian history. Today, the Indus Valley civilization is placed at Kalibangan in Hanumangarh district of Rajasthan. Initially the land was divided into various small pieces and ruled by several kings up to Indian independent. After the next year of Indian independent in 1948, Rajasthan included the south and south-eastern states of Rajputana and the state became the second biggest state among the 28 state of India with an area of 342,239 sq km.

Camel of Thar Desert, Rajasthan

(The great Indian Thar Desert in Rajasthan)

The western side of the state is bordered by the neighboring country Pakistan and the state Gujarat is placed by the south-west, Madhya Pradesh is placed by the south-east, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana are placed by the north-east and the state Punjab is placed by the north of the state. Throughout the western parts of Rajasthan, a vast desert named Thar is placed by parallel of the Sutlej-Indus river valley along the border of Pakistan. 

Jaipur is the capital town of Rajasthan. Other major cities of the state are Jodhpur, Udaipur, Jaisalmer and many more. Rajasthan is fourth most popular tourist state in India by the choice of visitors. You will found here lots of interesting place to visit. As for example Jantar Mantar, Dilwara Temples, Chittorgarh Fort, Lake Palace, City Palaces, Jaisalmer Havelis Bara-dari on the bank of Anasagar lake, Jain Temples at Jaisalmer and Udaipur Temple near Udaipur.  Read more...

Religions and Festival of Rajasthan

Rajasthan is a state where different types (religions) of people live from ancient time period. The major religions of the state are Hinduism (89%), Muslims (8%), Sikhs (1.5%), Jains (1.3%), Christians (0.9%) and the rest are Sindhis who came from Sindh region (today in Pakistan) during the year of Indian independent at 1947. All types of religion followers in Rajasthan celebrate a number religious festival in their own custom.

The main religious festivals of the city are Diwali (Hindu festival), Teej (Hindu festival), Gogaji (Hindu festival), Shri Devnarayan Jayanti (Hindu festival), Holi (Hindu festival) and Janmastami (Hindu festival). Beside of these festivals, the local people of Rajasthan celebrate desert festival in winter season. They traditionally put on colorful dresses and perform the desert dance and sing haunting ballads of bravery, romance and tragedy. You will found here several large fair during the desert festival like, fairs with snake charmers, puppeteers, acrobats and folk performers. Camel plays an important role in this festival.

Languages of Rajasthan 
The main spoken languages of Rajasthan are Rajasthani and Hindi. But some other languages are also spoken here like, Punjabi, Sindhi and Gujarati. Rajasthani, Hindi and English are used as written language as well as official language in Rajasthan.

Climate of Rajasthan

The weather of Rajasthan is unusually the tropical desert climate type. The average rainfall in the state is too little due to Thar Desert that people of Rajasthan carrying water for kms to meet their daily needs during summer season. Southern parts of Rajasthan, Luni and Chambal River provide the people water and form an alluvial basin in Kota where some crops are cultivated. Mainly two type of weather seasons are found here, summer and winter. Autumn and Monsoon seasons are also found here.

The summer season is continued for long time from March to June. In this season the temperature increases extremely high up to 49°C and the average temperature of the state vary from 40°C to 45°C. Nights of summer season temperature fall around 20°C to 29°C. But the city at Udaipur and Mount Abu has a pleasanter weather in summer season with a temperature range between 38°C to 22°C.

The monsoon season in Rajasthan is continued from July to August. Rajasthan receives almost 90% of its annual rainfall during this time. The temperatures are varied from 30o Celsius to 40 ° C in this season. Rajasthan receives an average of 100 mm - 165 mm of rainfall during this time.

The Automn season in Rajasthan is continued from October to November. The temperature varies from 33° C to 38° C in this season.

The winter season starts from December and continues to March. The minimum temperature during this season is -2°C. January is the coldest month in the state of Rajasthan. The average temperature in winter is above 10°C. Due to the cold western winds, the whole of Rajasthan sometimes is attacked by the cold wave for 2 to 5 days.