Gujarat

Gujarat

Information about Gujarat State

Located in western India Gujarat borders surrounded to Maharashtra, Madhypradesh, Rajastan,Diu,Daman, Dadra and Nagar Haveli & Pakistan.Gujarat was also known as Pratichya and Varuna. Gandhinagar is the Capital of Gujarat.

History
History of Gujarat
The name of the state is derived from anshua, which means anshua nation.In the old days Anshuas were present. Its an old clan.According to another theory, they are one of the Central Asian Tribes, called the Gurjs.They migrated to India around the first century BC. They settled and ruled by the Iranian Sakas.From early period Gujarat was a trading centers for the Maurya and Gupta empires.Mainly Bharuch served as a ports and trading center which is one of the costal cities in that period. Gujarat ruled by Maitraka and Gupta and briefly by Harsha during the seventh century. Parsi refugees arrived in Gujarat from Iran. The Arab rulers of Sind sacked Vallabhi, bringing the Maitraka dynasty to an end. A branch of the Pratihara clan ruled Gujarat after the eighth century.Then from the ninth century Gujarat was ruled by the Solanki dynasty. Gujarat also saw invasions by Muslim rulers from Asia.Solanki dynasty finished by the Muslim rulers of Delhi in the late thirteenth century.

Allauddin Khilji who was a Sultan of Delhi, destroyed Anhilwara and incorporated Gujarat into the the Delhi Sultanate in 1297 to 1298.

Portugal was the first European power to arrive in Gujarat. They acquired several enclaves along the Gujarat coast, including Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli also. The East India Company (British) established a factory in Surat in 1614 and formed their first base in India. The company wrested control of much of Gujarat from the Marathas during the second Anglo-Maratha War.Local rulers, mainly the Maratha Gaikwad of Barodamade a separate peace with the British, and acknowledged British sovereignty in return for retaining local self-rule. Gujarat was placed under the political authority of the Bombay Presidency. Gujarat were divided into dozens of princely states (Kathiawar, Kutch), but several districts in the central and southern Gujarat, namely ahmedabad, Bharuch, Kaira, Surat and Panch Mahal were ruled directly by British Officials.

Indian independence movement
Leader like Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, K.M. Munshi, Morarji Desai, Mahadev Desai, Narhari Parikh, Bhulabai Desai and Ravi Shankar was all hailed from Gujarat. Some of the popular revolts mainly Satyagrahas in Kheda, Bardoli, Borsad and the Salt Satyagrah.

Post Independence

After Indian independence and the partition of India on 1947, the new Indian government grouped the former princely states of Gujarat into three larger units; Saurashtra, which included the former princely states on the Kathiawas peninsula, Kutch and Bombay State, which included the former British districts of Bombay Presidency together with most of Baroda state and the other princely states of eastern Gujarat.

Gujarath Earthquake
Gujarath most dangerous earthquake - January 26,2001 at 08:46, which took more than 12,000 lives, injured more than 58,000 people.


Geography

Gujarat is bounded by the Arabian sea from the west and southwest and Pakistan from the northwest. ALso Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Dadra Nagar Haveli are surrounded to Gujarat.

Climate

Diverse climate conditions.
Winters are mild, pleasant, and dry with average daytime temperatures around 29 C and nights around 12 C.

Beaches

Chorwad Beach - One of the splendid beach situated on the west coast of India. Attracting domestic and International tourists.

Ahmedpur Mandvi Beach - Situated on the coastline of the state of Gujarat and one of the finest beach in India.

Umargam Beach - Situated on the southern bank of Nargol creek.

Gopnath Beach - Situated in the Bhavnagar district of Gujarat.


Economy

The worlds largest ship breaking yard is in Gujarat near Bhavnagar. Reliance Petroleum Limited, one of the group company of Reliance Industries Limited operates the oil refinery at Jamnagar.
Gujarat ranks first nationwide in gas-based thermal electricity generation with national market share of over 1%.

Agriculture

Gujarat is the main producer of tobacco, cotton and groundnuts in India. Then there are some major food crops rice, jowar, bajra, tur wheat produced by Gujarat.

Education

Gujarat has an Indian Institute of Management at Ahmedabad.
13 Universities
4 Agricultural Universities
National Institute of Technology at Surat
Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay is going to start a new campus in Gujarat in the near future.


Religion

So many important religious sites are located in Gujarat.

The famous Swaminarayan Temple is situated in Gujarat.
Dwarkanath Temple in Dwarka is one of the famous temple of Lord Krishna.
Palitana Temples are a Jain Temples situates in Bhavnagar.
Somnath Temple situated in the Prabhas Kshetra near Veraval in Saurashtra.
Shankheshwar Jain Temples are dedicated to the Tirthankar, Lord Parshvanath.
Modhera Sun Temple is designed for the worship for Sun.

Festivals
Around 3500 festivals are celebrated in Gujarat.

Makar Sankranti and Kite Flying festival is the famous festival in Gujarat and in India also. It takes place in mid January. It is celebrated with kite flying, folk music and dance. People of Gujarat gather on terraces to fly kites of various colors to celebrate Makarsankranti.

Gujrat Sanctuaries & National Park

4 National park is there in Gujarat and more than 20 sanctuaries which include: Barda, Jessore, Kachchh, Desert, Paniva, Purna, Ambaji, Nal Sarovar and Surpaneshwar.

Gujarat is the only home of Asiatic Lions. Panthers are spread across plains of Saurashtra and mountains of South Gujarat.

Transportation
One of the main transport in Gujarat is City Bus. Autorickshaw is there also for transportation.