GUJARAT

state of India, located on the country's western coast. It is bounded by the Arabian Sea to the west and southwest, Pakistan to the northwest, and the states of Rajasthan to the north, Madhya Pradesh to the east, and Maharashtra to the southeast. Its coastline is 992 miles (1,596 kilometres) long, and no part is more than 100 miles from the sea. Its area is 75,685 square miles (196,024 square kilometres). The capital is Gandhinagar, on the northern outskirts of Ahmadabad (Ahmedabad), the former capital, largest city in the state, and one of the greatest cotton-textile centres in India. It was there that Mahatma Gandhi built his Sabarmati ashram (asrama; retreat, or hermitage) as a headquarters for his campaigns. Gujarat derived its name from the Gurjara (supposedly a subtribe of the Huns), who ruled the area during the 8th and 9th centuries AD. The state assumed its present form in 1960, when the former Bombay state was divided between Maharashtra and Gujarat on the basis of language. constituent state of India, lying on the west coast of the subcontinent. It is bounded by the Arabian Sea to the south and west, by Pakistan to the northwest, and by the Indian states of Rajasthan to the north, Madhya Pradesh to the east, and Maharashtra to the southeast. The capital is Gandhinagar, on the outskirts of Ahmadabad, the former capital and largest city in the state. The known history of Gujarat dates from about 250 BC. During the 4th and 5th centuries AD, it formed a part of the Gupta empire; it derived its name from the Gurjaras, who ruled the area during the 8th and 9th centuries. Shortly after the Gurjara period, its borders reached their farthest limits during the Solanki dynasty, which was also a time of extraordinary economic and cultural achievement. Gujarat then fell successively under Arabic Muslim, Mughal, and Maratha rule. In 1818 large areas of Gujarat came under the administration of the British East India Company, and after 1857 Gujarat became a province of British India. Following Indian independence in 1947, most of Gujarat was included in the state of Bombay, which was divided along linguistic lines into Gujarat (predominantly Gujarati-speaking) and Maharashtra (Marathi-speaking) in 1960. The Gujarati language belongs to the Indo-Aryan family and is derived from Sanskrit through Prakrit and Apabhramsa. It was the mother tongue of Mohandas Gandhi. The state's official languages are Gujarati and Hindi. Geographically, Gujarat is a land of great contrasts. It stretches from the wet, fertile rice-growing plains of the southeast (Surat and Ahwa) to the almost rainless salt deserts of Kachchh (Kutch). The northwestern region is bounded on the south by the Gulf of Kachchh, and on the north it is separated from Pakistan by the Rann of Kachchh, a huge salt marsh. The Kathiawar region south of Kutch is also arid, containing the Gir Range and the Girnar Hills. Northeastern Gujarat is mainly an area of small plains and low hills. Rainfall here is sparse, and January temperatures may drop to freezing; on the other hand, a temperature of 118 F (48 C) has been recorded in the hot season. Southward, in central Gujarat, rainfall increases and temperature ranges are less extreme. Southern Gujarat is a region of warm climate and plentiful rainfall. About two-thirds of the employed persons of Gujarat are engaged in agriculture, the total crop area amounting to more than one-half of the total land area. Wheat and millet are staple food crops, with rice production concentrated in the wetter regions. Sugarcane production is increasing, while cotton, tobacco, peanuts (groundnuts), and oilseeds are profitable cash crops; cash crops slightly exceed food crops in acreage and value. With irrigation, the production of cereals meet state needs. Dairy farming, primarily concerned with milk production, is important. Gujarat is a leading industrialized state of India. It is a major petroleum-producing state, and its output of soda ash and salt amounts to most of the national production. The state's cement, vegetable oil, chemical, and pharmaceutical industries are highly important, and Ahmadabad's many cotton-textile mills have earned it the name the Manchester of India. A large thermal-power station at Dhuvaran uses coal, natural gas, and oil. Gujarat has a network of canals and reservoirs. Major industrial towns are Ahmadabad, Vadodara (Baroda), and Surat; Rajkot, Bhavnagar, and Jamnagar were once capitals of princely states. Gujarat boasts some 40 portsbesides the major international port of Kandlaand of these, about one-third are open to foreign shipping. The state also has nine airports. Gujarat's population is overwhelmingly Hindu, with Muslim and Jain minorities. The folklore and folk culture of Gujarat can be traced to the mythology of Krishna, an incarnation of the god Vishnu. Dances in honour of Krishna have survived in the form of the popular folk dance, the garaba. The architectural style of Gujarat is well known for its luxuriousness and refinement, as exemplified by the monuments and temples at Somnath, Modhera, and Than. Gujarat is famous for its art and craft products. Among the most durable and effective of the state's cultural institutions are the trade and craft guilds known as mahajans. Gujarat has 9 universities among its more than 250 institutions of higher learning. Technical education is provided by engineering colleges and numerous other technical institutions. There are also several research institutions. Area 75,685 square miles (196,024 square km). Pop. (1991 prelim.) 41,174,343. Additional reading Gujarat (India) Bureau of Economics and Statistics, Statistical Atlas of Gujarat, 2 vol. (198284); and Centre for Monitoring Gujarat Economy, Gujarat Economic Development Through Maps (1983), describe physical aspects and demographic and economic patterns. K.R. Dikshit, Geography of Gujarat (1970), briefly outlines all relevant topics. Kanaiyalal M. Munshi, Gujarat and Its Literature, from Early Times to 1852, 3rd ed. (1967), traces the evolution of Gujarati literature. Gregory L. Possehl, Indus Civilization in Saurashtra (1980); and H.D. Sankalia, Prehistoric and Historic Archaeology of Gujarat (1987), examine aspects of the region's past. See also Asoke Kumar Majumdar, Chaulukyas of Gujarat (1956), a history of the period from the mid-10th to the end of the 13th century; M.S. Commissariat, A History of Gujarat, 3 vol. (193880), dealing with the state from the Muslim sultanate to the breakup of the Mughal Empire; M.N. Pearson, Merchants and Rulers in Gujarat: The Response to the Portuguese in the Sixteenth Century (1976); and K.S. Mathew, Portuguese and the Sultanate of Gujarat, 15001573 (1986). Deryck O. Lodrick History Human settlements have been traced back to the Stone Age period in the valleys of the Sabarmati and Mahi rivers in the eastern part of the state. The historic period is linked with the spread of the Harappan (Indus Valley) civilization, which flourished in the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC. Centres of this civilization have been found at Lothal, Rangpur, Amri, Lakhabaval, and Rozdi (mostly in the Kathiawar Peninsula). The known history of Gujarat began with the extension over the area of the rule of the Mauryan dynasty, as is evidenced by the edicts of the emperor Asoka (c. 250 BC), carved on a rock in the Girnar Hills of the Kathiawar Peninsula. After the fall of the Mauryan empire, Gujarat came under the rule of the Sakas (Scythians), or western Ksatrapas (AD 130390). The greatest of these, Mahaksatrapa Rudradaman, established his sway over Malwa, Saurashtra, Kachchh, and Rajasthan. During the 4th and 5th centuries, Gujarat formed a part of the Gupta empire, until the Guptas were succeeded by the Maitraka dynasty of the kingdom of Valabhi, which ruled over Gujarat and Malwa for three centuries. The capital, Valabhipura (near the eastern coast of the Kathiawar Peninsula), was a great centre of Buddhist, Vedic, and Jaina learning. The Maitraka dynasty was succeeded by the Gurjara-Pratiharas (the imperial Gurjaras of Kannauj), who ruled during the 8th and 9th centuries; they, in turn, were followed shortly afterward by the Solanki dynasty. The boundaries of Gujarat reached their farthest limits in the time of this dynasty, when remarkable progress was made in the economic and cultural fields. Siddhara ja Jayasimha and Kumarapala were the best known Solanki kings; the famous writer Hemacandra flourished during this period (12th century). Karnadeva Vaghela, of the following Vaghela dynasty, was defeated in about 1299 by 'Ala'-ud-Din Khalji, sultan of Delhi; Gujarat then came under Muslim rule. It was Ahmad Shah, the first independent sultan of Gujarat, who founded Ahmadabad (1411). The end of the 16th century saw Gujarat under Mughal rule; this lasted until the mid-18th century, when the Marathas overran the state. Gujarat came under the administration of the British East India Company in 1818. After the Indian mutiny and rebellion of 185759, the area became a province of the British crown and was divided into Gujarat province, with an area of 10,000 square miles, and numerous native states. With Indian independence in 1947, all of Gujarat except the states of Kachchh and Saurashtra was included in Bombay state; the province was enlarged in 1956 to include the two states. On May 1, 1960, Bombay state was split into present-day Gujarat and Maharashtra states. In April 1965, fighting broke out between India and Pakistan in the Rann of Kachchh, an area that had long been in dispute between them. A ceasefire came into force on July 1, and the dispute was submitted to arbitration by an international tribunal. The tribunal's award, published in 1968, gave nine-tenths of the territory to India and one-tenth to Pakistan. Gujarat was again gripped by violence in 1985. Touched off by proposed changes in the concessions reserved for the Scheduled Castes, the disturbances soon escalated to Muslim-Hindu riots and continued for five months. Devavrat Nanubhai Pathak Deryck O. Lodrick