The first mention of word
Rajasthan comes from the work of
James Tod (
Annals) in 1829 A.D.
[4] Rajasthan literally means a
Land of Kingdoms. George Thomas (
Military Memories) was the first in 1800 A.D., to term this region as
Rajputana.
[4]John Keay in his book,
India: A History stated that the Rajputana name was coined by the British, but that the word even achieved a retrospective authenticity: in an 1829 translation of Ferishta's history of early Islamic India, John Briggs discarded the phrase Indian princes, as rendered in Dow's earlier version, and substituted Rajpoot princes.
[5]R. C. Majumdar explained that the region was long known as
Gurjaratra that is Country protected or ruled by the Gurjars, early form of Gujarat, before it came to be called Rajputana.
[6][7]
The only difference between erstwhile Rajputana and Rajasthan is that certain portions of what had been
British India, in the former province of
Ajmer-Merwara, were included. Portions lying geographically outside of Rajputana such as the Sumel-Tappa area were included in
Madhya Pradesh.
[8]
