Etymology of Shekhawati
Shekhawati was first mentioned in the book Bankidas ki Khyat. Contemporary of Bankidas was Colonel W.S.Gardener, who used the word Shekhawati in the year 1803. Later Colonel James Tod wrote the first history of Shekhawati. The term Shekhawati was used frequently in Vamsh Bhaskar. This suggests that the term Shekhawati came in use about two and half centuries ago.
Shekhawati derives its name from the Rajput Kachhwaha chieftain Rao Shekha Ji. The descendants of Rao Shekha Ji, the ruling clan is called Shekhawat. The story of Shekha's birth is interesting to understand the origin of Shekhawati. Mokal Ji and his wife were troubled as they had no son for several years. They heard about the miraculous powers of the Sheikh Burhan, a Muslim saint, and they decided to visit him. After they received the Sheikh's blessing a son was born to the couple. In honour of the mendicant, the couple named their son Shekha.
Shekhawati means Garden of Shekha or Land of Shekhawat Rulers.
Hakim Yusuf Jhunjhunuvi gives another view about the origin of the word Shekhawati. According to him, Shekhawati derives its name from a Persian word Sheekh, which means "Sand deposited on the coastal area of sea". This indicates that this area has been inundated with seawater long ago and converted to sand dunes over thousands of years It is not clear when these seas dried up and receded, but the desert was created due to the receding of the sea.
Millions of years ago this land was inundated with sea water, confirmed by fossils found in the area. Gaurishankar Hirachand Ojha believed that the desert area of Rajasthan was earlier an ocean. Due to earthquakes and other climatic reasons, the seabed rose and the water receded southwards leaving behind a sand mass, which later came to be known as marukantar. The presence of shells, conch, and other things found in stone in this area is evidence that this was a sea earlier.
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