Undulating and shifting sand dunes in the rugged Thar Desert open out to a magnificent city of forts, palaces and markets, fortified against marauders by seven km long embattlements. This fortified desert city lies in the northern part of the Thar Desert and being a good source of sweet water, became an important caravanserai for the merchants and traders who travelled with their camel trains from West and Central Asia to the kingdoms of East Asia.
Immensely wealthy, the desert kingdom of Bikaner was ruled over by a powerful dynasty that traced its lineage to the old ruling family of Jodhpur. But it was Rao Bikaji who built the splendid havelis, forts and palaces in the desert city that bears his name. The ‘unspoiled’ ambience of well preserved medieval splendour and colourful bazaars make Bikaner a city well worth visiting.

History

City, north-central Rajasthan state, northwestern India. It lies 240 miles (386 km) west of Delhi. The city was the capital of the former princely state of Bikaner. About 1465 Bika, a Rajput chieftain of the Rathor clan, began to conquer the area from other Rajput clans. In 1488 he began building the city of Bikaner (“the settlement of Bika”). He died in 1504, and his successors gradually extended their possessions. The state adhered loyally to the Mughal emperors, who ruled in Delhi from 1526 to 1857. Rai Singh, who succeeded as chieftain of Bikaner in 1571, became one of the emperor Akbar's most distinguished generals and was named the first raja of Bikaner. As Mughal dominance ebbed, wars between Bikaner and the princely state of Jodhpur raged intermittently in the 18th century. A treaty establishing British paramountcy was concluded in 1818, and order was restored in the country by British troops. The rebellious behavior of the local thakurs, or subsidiary chiefs, continued, however, until the princely state was made subject to the Rajputana agency in 1883. The state's military force included the Bikaner Camel Corps, which gained renown in China during the Boxer Rebellion (1900) and in the MiddleEast during World War I. In 1949 Bikaner, which by then totaled more than 23,000 square miles (60,000 square km) in area, became part of the Indian state of Rajasthan and was divided into three districts.
Bikaner's history dates back to 1488 AD when a Rajput prince Rao Bikaji a descendent of the founder of Jodhpur (1459 AD), Rao Jodha Ji established his kingdom here. Bika Ji chose a barren land called "Jungladesh" and shaped it into an impressive city, called Bikaner after the founder's name. Archeological surveys and excavations have established beyond doubt that civilization flourished here even before the Harappa period. Excavated statues, coins and carvings of stones and clay stands as testimony to this fact. Ever since the foundation of Bikaner till its accession into Indian Union in 1947 A.D. and there after it's integration in Rajasthan state in 30-3-1949 A.D., Bikaner has played a notable role in the history of the country.
Bikaner was a Princely State with 17 gun salute, listed by the post independence territory to which they acceded and the Thikanas listed by Princely State in which they existed.
Present Ruler: HH Maharajadhiraj Raj Rajeshwar Narendra Shiromani Maharajah Sri NARENDRA SINGH Bahadur, 25th Maharaja of Bikaner (1988/-) (Lallgarh Palace, Bikaner-334001, Rajasthan, India)