WEAVER'S WORLD / KOTA / HISTORY

WEAVER'S WORLD / KOTA / HISTORY

Kota, one of the large districts of Rajasthan, lies south of Jaipur, the capital city of the state. The district is bound on the north and north west by the districts of Sawai Madhopur, Tonk and Bundi and separated from them by the river Chambal. Kota city lies on the eastern bank of this river.

Kota is a centre of trade for millet, wheat, rice, pulses, coriander and oilseeds. Besides it has engineering industries for cotton and oilseed milling, textile weaving, distilling, dairy, manufacture of metal handcrafts, fertilizers, chemicals and engineering equipment. Kota also has an extensive industry of stone-polishing of a stone called Kota Stone, used for the floor and walls of residential and business buildings. Kota is also known as an education shaping centre with a number of engineering and medical collegecoaching institutes. Kota is like Thiruvananthapuram blessed with a continuous 24 hour water supply.

Kota was once part of the Rajput kingdom of Bundi that later became a princely state in the 17th century. In the 12th century AD, a Rajput Chauhan chieftain named Rao Deva conquered the territory and founded Bundi and Hadoti. In the 17th century Rao Madho Singhal was given Kota to rule by his father Rao Ratan Singh, which he did ably. Soon Kota outshone Bundi from which it had sprung up. Kota became bigger in area and richer in revenue and also powerful in status. Maharao Bhim Singh had held a ‘Mansab’ of five thousand and the first to have got the title of Maharao partly shaped Kota. Kota became independent in 1579 after Bundi state became weak and soon Bundi was split into Kota and Baran districts.