Migration and settlement
The Gohils were a Rajput clan from the Marwar country who moved into Saurashtra in the thirteenth century, displaced by the pressures that followed the Sultanate's expansion into Rajasthan. They established themselves on the eastern coast of the peninsula, and the region took the name Gohilwad from them.
They held their territory through the Gujarat Sultanate and Mughal periods as tributaries, and the family divided into several branches.
Bhavnagar
Bhāvsiṃhji founded Bhavnagar in 1723 at a site chosen for its harbour, and the state's prosperity thereafter rested on sea trade. Bhavnagar's rulers in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were among the more reformist of the princely houses, investing in railways, port works and education.
The state acceded to India in 1948, and its ruler was among the first to do so voluntarily and without conditions.
Further reading
- Basham, A. L. The Wonder That Was India. Sidgwick & Jackson, 1954
- Keay, John. India: A History. HarperCollins, 2000
- Kulke, Hermann. A History of India. Routledge, 2004
- Wolpert, Stanley. A New History of India. Oxford University Press, 2009
- Asher, Catherine B. India Before Europe. Cambridge University Press, 2006
See also
This entry was last revised on 1 August 2026.