AJMERE or AJMER, a city of British India in Rajputana, which gives its name to a district and also to a petty province called Ajmere-Merwara. It is situated on the lower slopes of Taragarh Hill, in the Aravalli mountains. "To the north of the city is a large artificial lake called the Ana Sagar, and farther up the valley is a new lake, the Foy Sagar, from which the water supply of the place is now derived.
The chief object of interest is the darga, or tomb of the famous Mohammedan saint Muin-ud-din Chishti. It is situated at the foot of the Taragarh hill, and consists of a block of white marble buildings without much pretension to architectural beauty. To this place the emperor Akbar, with his empress, performed a pil grimage on foot from Agra in accordance with the terms of a vow he had made when praying for a son. An ancient Jain temple con verted about A.D. 1200 into a mosque, is situated on the lower slope of the Taragarh hill. With the exception of that part used as a mosque, nearly the whole of the ancient temple has fallen into ruins, but the relics are not excelled in beauty of architecture and sculpture by any remains of Hindu art. Forty columns sup port the roof, but no two are alike, and great fertility of invention is manifested in the execution of the ornaments. The summit of Taragarh hill, overhanging Ajmere, is crowned by a fort, the lofty thick battlements of which run along its brow and enclose the tableland. The walls are 2M. in circumference, and the fort can only be approached by steep and very roughly paved planes, commanded by the fort and the outworks, and by the hill to the west. Ajmere was founded about the year A.D. 145 by Ajaipal, a Chauhan, who established the dynasty which continued to rule the country (with many vicissitudes of fortune) while the repeated waves of Mohammedan invasion swept over India, until it eventu ally became an appanage of the crown of Delhi in 1193. Its in ternal government, however, was handed over to its ancient rulers upon the payment of a heavy tribute to the conquerors. It then remained feudatory to Delhi till 1365, when it was captured by the ruler of Mewar. Akbar took it back in 1556; and it continued in the hands of the Moguls, with occasional revolts, till 1770, when it was ceded to the Mahrattas, from which time up to 1818 the unhappy district was the scene of a continual struggle, being seized at different times by the Mewar and Marwar rajas, from whom it was so often retaken by the Mahrattas. In 1818 the latter ceded it to the British in return for a payment of 50,000 rupees.
The modern city (pop. 119,524 in 1931) is an important admin istrative and railway centre. It is well laid out with wide streets and handsome houses. The city does an active trade in salt which is imported in large quantities from the Sambar lake and Ramsur. Oil-making is also a profitable branch of trade. Cotton cloths are manufactured to some extent, for the dyeing of which the city has attained a high reputation. The educational institutions include the Mayo Rajkumar college, opened in 1875, for training the sons of the nobles of Rajputana, on the lines of an English public school. Seven miles from Ajmere lies the lake of Pushkar, one of the most sacred pieces of water in India, where a pilgrim fair is held every autumn, and Brahma has the only temple dedicated to him in India.
The district of Ajmere, which forms the largest part of the province of Ajmere-Merwara, has an area of 2,125 square miles. The population in 1921 was 378,96o, inclusive of Ajmere city. Be sides the city of Ajmere, the district contains the military station of Nasirabad, with a population of 19,651.
a division or petty province of British India, in Rajputana, consisting of the two districts of Ajmere and Merwara, separated from each other and isolated amid Indian States. The administration is in the hands of a commissioner, subordinate to the governor-general's agent for Rajputana. The capital is Ajmere city. The area is 2,711sq.m. The Aravalli range is the distinguishing feature of the district. The range of hills which runs between Ajmere and Nasirabad marks the watershed of the continent of India. The rain which falls on one side drains into the Chambal, and so into the Bay of Bengal ; that which falls on the other side, into the Luni, which discharges itself into the Runn of Cutch. The province is on the border of what may be called the arid zone ; it is the debatable land between the north-eastern and south-western monsoons, and beyond the influence of either. The south-west monsoon sweeps up the Nerbudda valley from Bombay and crossing the tableland at Neemuch gives copious supplies to Malwa, Jhalawar and Kotah and the countries which lie in the course of the Chambal river; but it is only when the monsoon is in considerable force that Merwara gets a plentiful supply from it. The north eastern monsoon sweeps up the valley of the Ganges from the Bay of Bengal and waters the northern part of Rajputana, but hardly penetrates farther west than the longitude of Ajmere. The agriculturist in Ajmere-Merwara can thus rarely rely upon two good harvests in succession. A province subject to such conditions can hardly be free from famine or scarcity for any length of time; and the pop. in 1931 (560,292) was actually lower than it had been 3o years earlier. Among Hindus, the Rajputs are land-holders, and the Jats and Gujars are cultivators. The Jains are traders and money-lenders. The aboriginal tribe of Mers are divided between Hindus and Mohammedans. The chief crops are millet, wheat, cotton and oil-seeds. There are several factories for ginning and pressing cotton, the chief trading centres being Beawar and Kekri.