Ajmer

Introducing Ajmer

Jagged, pale blue hills hide the calm waters of Ana Sagar and the bustling, friendly Muslim pilgrimage city of Ajmer. Due largely to the pull of Pushkar, the fascinating shrine of Khwaja Muin-ud-din Chishti, is sadly, overlooked by most foreign visitors to Rajasthan.

Sacked by Mohammed of Ghori on one of his periodic forays from Afghanistan, and later favoured by the mighty Mughals, Ajmer once had considerable strategic importance. One of the first contacts between the Mughals and the British occurred in Ajmer, when Sir Thomas Roe met Jehangir here in 1616. Later the Scindias took the city, and in 1818 it was handed over to the British, becoming one of the few places in Rajasthan that they directly controlled.

The British set up Mayo College here in 1875, a prestigious school on sprawling grounds, exclusively for the Indian nobility. Today it’s open to all boys (whose parents can afford the fees).

Last updated: Feb 17, 2009