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Baran city was under Solanki Rajputs in the 14th
-15th century. It is not exactly known that when the main town of the
twelve villages under Solanki's was being named as 'Baran'.
There are several thoughts for it, like some says since it was formed by twelve villages
so it is called 'Baran', others says since the city was built by
the 12 nearby villagers so it is named as 'Baran'. There are
also saying that since the soils of the area is mostly 'Barani' so it is called 'Baran'.
In the year 1948, joint Rajasthan was formed and that time Baran was one of the districts
in the joint Rajasthan. On 31st March' 1949, Rajasthan was reconstituted and that time
Baran district headquarters was converted into Sub Division headquater of Kota district.
It is also worth noting that 'Baran' in urdu means rain and no wonder
that Baran has the second highest rainfall in the state after Banswara district.
The district extends from
24-25' to 25-25' North latitudes, 76-12' to 77-26' east longitudes and 262 mts. altitude.
Located on the south-east corner of Rajasthan and being adjacent to Shoepur, Shivpuri and
Guna Districts of Madhya Pradesh(M.P.), it forms the boundary of Rajasthan State. It is
bounded on North-West by Kota and on South-West by Jhalawar District of Rajasthan State.
The maximum length of the district from North to South is 103 Kms. and maximum width from
west to east is 104 Kms.
The land slopes gently northward from the high table land of Malwa in Madhya Pradesh. It
is well watered, drained by rivers flowing in North and North-Eastern directions. There
are hills in the South, North and Eastern portion of the district and it is generally
fertile. There are hills in the east in Shahabad tehsil, having the highest point, named
as Mamooni, which is 546 meters above mean sea level, in the
district. These hills form part of Aravali Ranges. Their slopes are gently and steep and
they are mostly covered by woods. The land of the district slopes gently from South to
North and the drainage is through Chambal and its tributaries.
The district has a dry climate
except in the monsoon seasons. The winter season runs from mid of November to February and
summer season runs from March to mid of June. The period from mid of June to September is
the monsoon season followed by the months October to mid of November constitute the post
monsoon or the retreating monsoon. The average rainfall in the district is 854.5mm.
January is the coldest month with the average daily maximum temperature of 24.3'C and the
average daily minimum temperature of 10.6'C.
Owing to the absence of metamorphic rocks, no metallic ore of
importance except Bauxite occurs in the district. However a variety of non-metallic
minerals are exposed, the important of them being sandstone and limestone. Besides, small
deposits of red clay, glass-sand, dolomite and kankar are also found. The main mineral of
the district is building stone.
The forest covers an area of 2.15
lacs hectare of the district. These are mainly concentrated in the south-western and
central portion of the Mukundra hills having rich forest belt. The main forest found of
the district are Sagavan, Kher, Salan, Gargsari. Local wild animals are Panther, Sloth,
Bear, Chital, Wild Bear, Chinkara, Samber, Langoor, Jackal etc. Birds found in the
district are Bulbul, Sparrow, Peacock, Saras, Teetar etc. Among the poisonous snakes,
Cobra, Passel and Viper are common. Water snakes are also seen near the tanks. Crocodiles
are sometimes seen in the big tanks and in certain pools in Chambal & Kalisindh
rivers. |