Rajasthan Mukundra Hill Tiger Reserve in Kota. The state was formed on 30 March 1949 when Rajputanathe name adopted by the British Raj for its dependencies in the regionwas merged into the Dominion of India. Its capital and largest city is Jaipur. Other important cities are Jodhpur, Kota, Bikaner, Ajmer and Udaipur. Rajasthan literally means "Land of Kings" or "King's Abode" (from "raja" "king" and "-sthan" "land, abode" from Sanskrit "sthā́na"). The first mention of the name "Rajasthan" appears in the 1829 publication "Annals and Antiquities of Rajast'han or the Central and Western Rajpoot States of India", while the earliest known
Jaipur–Ahmedabad line Jaipur–Ahmedabad line The Jaipur–Ahmedabad line connects Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan to Ahmedabad, the largest city of Gujarat in India. Swarna Jayanti Rajdhani Express is the fastest train in this route. Rajputana State Railway opened the Delhi-Bandikui wide metre gauge line in 1874, extended it to Ajmer in 1875 and to Ahmedabad in 1881. The Delhi-Ajmer metre gauge line was converted to wide broad gauge in 1994. The Ahmedabad-Ajmer sector was fully converted to broad gauge in 1997. Railway electrification work is in the process in the Rewari-Alwar-Bandikui-Jaipur-Palanpur-Ahmedabad sector. Jaipur and Ahmedabad on this line, are amongst the top hundred