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 31 March' 1949, Rajasthan was reconstituted and that time Baran district headquarters was converted into Sub Division headquarters 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.
Before Indian independence in 1947, most of present-day Baran District was part of the princely state of Kota, although Shahabad tehsil was a discontinuous portion of Jhalawarprincely state, and Chhabra tehsil was a discontinuous portion of Tonk princely state. After Indian independence, The rulers of the princely states acceded to the Government of India, and the present-day Baran District was made part of Kota District. Baran District was carved out of Kota District on April 10, 1991
