Rajasthan, state of northwestern India, located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent. It is bounded to the north and northeast by the states of Punjab and Haryana, to the east and southeast by the states of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, to the southwest by the state of Gujarat, and to the west and northwest by the provinces of Sindh and Punjab in Pakistan. The capital city is Jaipur, in the east-central part of the state.
Rajasthan, meaning “The Abode of the Rajas,” was formerly called Rajputana, “The Country of the Rajputs” (sons of rajas [princes]). Before 1947, when India achieved independence from British rule, it comprised some two dozen princely states and chiefships, the small British-administered province of Ajmer-Merwara, and a few pockets of territory outside the main boundaries. After 1947 the princely states and chiefships were integrated into India in stages, and the state took the name Rajasthan. It assumed its present form on November 1, 1956, when the States Reorganization Act came into force. Area 132,139 square miles (342,239 square km). Pop. (2011) 68,621,012.
The Aravalli (Aravali) Range forms a line across the state running roughly from Guru Peak on Mount Abu (5,650 feet [1,722 metres]), near the town of Abu in the southwest, to the town of Khetri in the northeast. About three-fifths of the state lies northwest of that line, leaving the remaining two-fifths in the southeast. Those are the two natural divisions of Rajasthan. The northwestern tract is generally arid and unproductive, although its character shifts gradually from desert in the far west and northwest to comparatively fertile and habitable land toward the east. The region includes the Thar (Great Indian) Desert.