Ajmer History, India

Today Ajmer is a city in Rajasthan but in its early years Ajmer was a complete region (or a province) which was spread over an area of around 2700 square miles. The point on which the city of Ajmer is located can be considered to be the highest point in North India.

During the early 11th century, it was the Chauhans that used to rule over the region of Ajmer. Chauhans were amongst the 4 Rajput dynasties. The other three Rajput dynasties were Paramaras, Pratiharas, and Chalukyas. The reign of Chauhans on this piece of land continued till the 14th century. Ajmer was called Ajaya - Meru in Sanskrit during those days and it was Dushyant Chauhan of the Chauhans dynasty who was responsible for founding this city somewhere in the 7th century. Chauhans kept ruling this area even though Turkish attacks did hit on India during that rule.

It was somewhere in 1193 that Ajmer was finally conquered by the ruler of Delhi Sultanate, Muhammad of Ghor. Even though officially the Delhi Sultanate kept ruling the city, the official working of the city was being handled by the Chauhans as for this favor the Delhi Sultanate had taken huge sums of money from the Chauhans.

The Mewar Army captured Ajmer during the year of 1365 and soon by 1509 Ajmer was the major reason for the fights which used to occur between the rulers of Marwar and Mewar. Finally, by 1532 Marwar kingdom was ruling over the land of Ajmer.

By 1559, Mughal took the control of Ajmer and ruled the city for many years to come. Somehow by 1770 the Marathas captured the region of Ajmer but even after this Ajmer kept facing many fights and internal revolts till the year of 1818. It was this year of 1818 that the Marathas planned to sell the region of Ajmer to the newly arrived East India Company for a heft some of Rs. 50,000 (which was actually very big some during those years).

After this Ajmer experienced continuous growth and no fights bothered the growing economy of Ajmer. Even during the first revolt of India (in 1857) Ajmer was kept free from various disasters and its growth continued without any problems.

After Indian Independence, the state of Ajmer merged with the state of Rajasthan. But the city of Ajmer still holds its status.

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