Kota is a city in the south-eastern part of the Indian state of Rajasthan. Situated on the banks of the Chambal River, it is the administrative headquarters of Kota district and is the third most populous city in Rajasthan after Jaipur and Jodhpur. Historically the seat of a princely state of the same name, Kota today is widely known as a major industrial centre and as one of India's principal hubs for coaching institutes that prepare students for engineering and medical entrance examinations.
| Country | India |
|---|---|
| State | Rajasthan |
| Region | Hadoti |
| District | Kota |
| River | Chambal |
| Languages | Hindi, Hadoti, Rajasthani |
| Known for | Coaching industry, Kota stone, chemical and engineering industries |
Kota lies on the eastern bank of the Chambal River in the Hadoti region of Rajasthan, on the south-eastern edge of the Malwa Plateau. The Chambal divides the city, with the river supporting a series of dams and reservoirs upstream, including the Rana Pratap Sagar, Jawahar Sagar and Kota Barrage, which together feed an extensive canal-irrigated agricultural belt. The surrounding terrain is characterised by rocky outcrops and forested hills that form part of the Mukundra Hills, now protected as a tiger reserve to the south of the city.
The area around Kota historically formed part of the larger Hadoti region ruled by the Hada Chauhan Rajputs from their seat at Bundi. Kota emerged as a separate principality in the seventeenth century when it was carved out of the state of Bundi and granted by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan to Rao Madho Singh, a son of the Bundi ruler. Under successive Hada rulers, the kingdom developed its own distinctive school of miniature painting, known for its hunting scenes set in the Chambal landscape.
Kota signed a subsidiary alliance with the British East India Company in 1817 and continued as a princely state under the Rajputana Agency until India's independence. After 1947, the state was integrated into the United State of Rajasthan and subsequently into the present-day state of Rajasthan.
Kota developed as one of Rajasthan's earliest planned industrial cities after independence. Major establishments in and around the city include thermal and hydroelectric power plants on the Chambal, fertiliser and chemical units, and engineering works. The Rajasthan Atomic Power Station, located at Rawatbhata in the neighbouring area, is among India's significant nuclear power facilities.
The city has also lent its name to Kota stone, a fine-grained limestone quarried in the surrounding region and widely used as a flooring material across India.
Since the late twentieth century, Kota has grown into India's most prominent centre for entrance-examination coaching, particularly for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) for the Indian Institutes of Technology and the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for medical colleges. The growth of institutes such as Bansal Classes, Allen Career Institute, Resonance and Vibrant Academy has drawn students from across the country and given rise to a large ancillary economy of hostels, paying-guest accommodation and publishing.
Apart from its coaching institutes, Kota hosts several institutions of higher learning, including the University of Kota, the Rajasthan Technical University, and a Government Medical College. The city also has engineering and polytechnic colleges and a network of central, state and private schools.
Kota Junction is a major station on the Delhi–Mumbai trunk line of the West Central Railway and is one of the busiest railway junctions in Rajasthan. The city is connected by National Highway 27 (the Kota–Jhalawar route) and by other state and national highways to Jaipur, Ajmer, Udaipur and Indore. The Delhi–Mumbai Expressway passes through the Kota region. The city is served by an airport, with the nearest large commercial airport at Jaipur.
Notable sites within and around Kota include: