Jethwaજેઠવા

The account

The Jethwas are the oldest of all the ruling clans in the peninsula. They claim descent from Makardhwaja, the son of Hanuman; Dr. Wilson thought them a clan of Getae or Scythians, while Gaurishankar Oza counted them a sub-branch of the Pratiharas of Kanauj. Whatever their origin, it is certain they were established near Morvi by A.D. 900.

Thence they spread westwards along the coast, captured Dwarka from the Chavadas, and settled in the strip of land between the Barda hills and the sea, founding their capital at Ghumli.

In 1193 the Jethwas suffered a reverse at the hands of Kutbuddin Aibak and Morvi was lost — though their rule at Ghumli continued for a hundred and twenty years more, up to 1306. For a century and a half they endured attacks from the north and conflict with the newly arrived Jadejas.

In 1671 Rana Vikmatji laid claim to Porbandar and built a fort there; Rana Bhanji and Rana Khimoji after him strengthened the Jethwa hold over the port and took the fort of Madhavpur. The Jethwas built a fort at Bhetali on the Nawanagar border — demolished as a condition of a peace brokered by Dewan Amarjee of Junagadh, in an age when disputes were settled by force.

To the strife-torn Kathiawar the British brought peace in 1807; Porbandar’s tribute to the Peshwa and the East India Company was fixed in 1809, and the Jethwa house ruled its sea-facing state until the merger of 1948.