Junagadh

Junagadh  pronunciation (help·info) is the headquarters of Junagadh district in the Indian state of Gujarat. The city is the 7th largest in Gujarat, located at the foot of the Girnar hills, 355  km south west of state capital Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad. Literally translated, Junagadh means "Old Fort". An alternate etymology gives the name as coming from "Yonagadh", literally "City of the Yona (Greeks)," referring to the ancient inhabitants of the city under the Indo-Greek Kingdom. It is also known as "Sorath", the name of the earlier Princely State of Junagadh.^[3] After a brief struggle between India and Pakistan, Junagadh joined India on 9 November 1947. It was a part of Saurashtra state and later Bombay state. In 1960, after the Maha Gujarat movement, it became part of newly formed Gujarat state.

History

An impressive fort, Uparkot, located on a plateau in the middle of town, was originally built during the Mauryan dynasty by Chandragupta in 319 BCE The fort remained in use until the 6th century, when it was abandoned for some 300 years, then rediscovered in 976 CE. The fort was besieged 16 times over an 800-year period. One unsuccessful siege lasted twelve years.

There is an inscription with fourteen Edicts of Ashoka on a large boulder within 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) of Uperkot Fort.^[4] The inscriptions carry Brahmi script in a language similar to Pali and date back to 250 BCE. On the same rock there are inscriptions in Sanskrit added around 150 CE by Mahakshatrap Rudradaman I, the Saka (Scythian) ruler of Malwa, a member of the Western Kshatrapas dynasty.^[5] Another inscription dates from about 450 CE and refers to Skandagupta, the last Gupta emperor. Old rock-cut Buddhist "caves" in this area, dating from well before 500 CE, have stone carvings and floral work. There are also the Khapra Kodia Caves north of the fort, and the Bava Pyara caves south of the fort. Bava Pyara caves contains artworks of both Buddhism and Jainism.

The Maitraka dynasty ruled Gujarat from 475 to 767 CE. The founder of the dynasty, General Bhatarka, military governor of Saurashtra peninsula under the Gupta empire, established himself as the independent ruler of Gujarat around the last quarter of the 5th century.^{[citation needed]}

Accession to India

During the period spanning the independence and partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, the 562 princely states that had existed outside British India under British suzerainty were given a choice of acceding to either India or Pakistan or remaining outside them. Although the states were theoretically free to choose, Earl Mountbatten stated that "geographic compulsions" meant that most of them would choose India. Mountbatten took the position that only states that shared a common border with Pakistan should choose to accede to it, but he had no power to impose this point of view on the states.

• 15 Aug 1947 Accedes to Pakistan.
• 15 Sep 1947 Accession to Pakistan accepted.
• 9 Nov 1947 Occupied by India.
• 10 Nov 1947 Rescinds accession to Pakistan, accedes to India
• 24 Feb 1948 Referendum approves accession to India.
• 25 Feb 1948 Accession to India in effect.

On September 15, 1947, Nawab Mohammad Mahabat Khanji III of Junagadh, a princely state located on the south-western end of Gujarat and having no common border with Pakistan, chose to accede to Pakistan ignoring Mountbatten's views, arguing that Junagadh could access Pakistan by sea. The rulers of two states that were subject to the suzerainty of Junagadh — Mangrol and Babariawad — reacted by declaring their independence from Junagadh and acceding to India. In response, the nawab of Junagadh militarily occupied the two states. Rulers of the other neighbouring states reacted angrily, sending troops to the Junagadh frontier, and appealed to the Government of India for assistance. A group of Junagadhi people, led by Samaldas Gandhi, formed a government-in-exile, the Aarzi Hukumat ("temporary government").^[12]

India asserted that Junagadh was not contiguous to Pakistan and believed that if Junagadh was permitted to accede to Pakistan, communal tension already simmering in Gujarat would worsen, and refused to accept the Nawab's choice of accession. The government pointed out that the state was 96% Hindu, and called for a plebiscite to decide the question of accession. India cut off supplies of fuel and coal to Junagadh, severed air and postal links, sent troops to the frontier, and occupied the principalities of Mangrol and Babariawad that had acceded to India.^[13]

Pakistan agreed to discuss a plebiscite, subject to the withdrawal of Indian troops, a condition India rejected. On 26 October, the Nawab and his family fled to Pakistan following clashes with Indian troops.

On 7 November, Junagadh's court, facing collapse, invited the Government of India to take over the State's administration. The Dewan of Junagadh, Sir Shah Nawaz Bhutto, the father of the more famous Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, decided to invite the Government of India to intervene and wrote a letter to Mr. Buch, the Regional Commissioner of Saurashtra in the Government of India to this effect.^[14]

The government of India rejected the protests of Pakistan and accepted the invitation of the Dewan to intervene.^[15] A plebiscite was conducted in February 1948, but it was not internationally monitored and Pakistan claims was not based on the plebiscite but on the logic of Kashmir Annexation, which went almost unanimously in favour of accession to India.^[16] Junagadh became a part of the Indian state of Saurashtra until 1 November 1956, when Saurashtra became part of Bombay state. In 1960, Bombay state was split into the linguistic states of Maharashtra and Gujarat, in which Junagadh was located.

Geography

Junagadh is located at 21.52°N 70.47°E. It has an average elevation of 107 metres (351 ft).

Junagadh is situated at the foot of Mount Girnar. Junagadh has Arabian sea to its southwest, Porbandar to its north and Amreli to its east. Junagadh city is divided into number of areas Main city is clustered around M.G. Road and Kalwa Chowk. Other areas are Gandhigram, Zanzarda Road, Talaw Darwaza, Bus-stand, Sakkar Baug, Timbawadi, Joshipara and Girnar Taleti. These areas comes under the administration of Junagadh Municipal Corporation.

Junagadh city has two rivers namesd Sonrakh and Kalwo. However Kalwo is facing major pollution problem because city sewers. Junagadh city has many lakes named Narsinh Mehta Sarovar, Damodarji, Sudarshan Lake etc. There are man made dams around Junagadh named Willingdon dam, Hasnapur Dam, Anandpur Weir. These are the main water sources for the city. Apart from that ground water supply is very widely available in the city so wells are scattered all across the city.

Junagadh city has pretty much similar soil as whole Junagadh district. It is Deep- Medium black coastal alluvium.^[19] It is because proximity of sea and long shore line and also because of the Girnar mountain ridge. Because of many fault lines in proximity Junagadh is in seismically active zone. Junagadh lies in Seismic Zone III region^[20] which means earthquake up to magnitude 6.5 on the Richter-scale may be expected.

Economy

Due to its mountainous region and forest reserves, Junagadh lacks major industries or plants. However main earning sectors for Junagadh are mineral-based cement industry, agriculture-based industry and power sector. Presence of huge reserves of limestone makes the cement industry a thriving industrial sector. Major crops produced in the district are wheat, oil seeds, cotton, mango, banana, onion and brinjal. Total production of oilseeds in Junagadh in 2006-07 was 4,64,400 MT^[24] which was the highest in the state. Junagadh is the largest producer of groundnut and garlic in the state contributing 26% and 34% to total production respectively. Junagadh has Asia's largest ground nut research laboratory. Mango and onions are produced in large quantities in the district.

Some of the large scale industry present in Junagadh are Mother Dairy Fruit & Vegetable Pvt Ltd (Popularly known as Junagadh Dairy in the region), Agro Marine Exports, Creative Castings Ltd., Austin Engineering. With an investment of INR 4,000 crore (USD 975.6million), JSW Power Co. propose to set up coal-based power plant at Simar in Junagadh but unfortunately due to technical problems in establishing port at simar, it has now been shifted to dahej.^[25] The economy of Junagadh is mainly based on agriculture. With the new Government policy of biotechnology, Junagadh has been identified as one of the agriculture biotechnology zone. This will boost setting up of agro-biotech industries in the district.

Junagadh boasts of some of the best tourist destinations in the state so tourism is considered to be a progressing sector. The State Government has sanctioned the project for development of Circuit Tourism project at Junagadh.^[26]

Demographics

As of the 2011 census, Junagadh municipality had a population of 320,250.^[1] The municipality had a sex ratio of 952 females per 1,000 males and 8.5% of the population were under six years old.^[1] Effective literacy was 88.63%; male literacy was 93.23% and female literacy was 83.83%.^[1]

Junagadh has relatively low to medium housing and land costs in comparison to cities like Rajkot. The city is rapidly expanding and available land inside the limits of Municipal Corporation are now limited. Total area under slums is 19.5 km² (14.5% of total municipal area) and total slum population accounts for around 25% of total population.^[33]

The religions represented in Junagadh includes Hindus, Muslims, Jains, Christians, Buddhists. Among these Hindus are majority and Muslims are the largest minority group. Jains and Christians are also in considerable numbers. Sikhs and Parsis are very few in numbers. There are Tibetan migrants who practice Buddhism. Main linguistic group is Gujarati. Other groups are Hindi, Sindhi. Small community of African origins known as siddis are also resides in and around Gir Sanctuary but some of them migrated to Junagadh city. There are around 8816^[34] Siddi in the state and 65% of them resides in Junagadh.^[35] Swaminarayan Faith is also widely followed in the city. There are two Swaminarayan temples in the city: the older temple is managed by the Vadtal diocese and the newer temple is managed by Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha.^[36]

Schools in Junagadh are either "municipal schools" (run by the JMC) or private schools (run by trusts or individuals), which in some cases receive financial aid from the government. The schools are either affiliated with Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board, Central Board of Secondary Education or International General Certificate of Secondary Education. English or Gujarati is the predominant language of instruction.