Legendary age

Krishna’s Dwarka

The Mahabharata places Shri Krishna’s Yadava capital at Kushasthali — Dwarka — on the peninsula’s western tip; the region enters recorded memory as Saurashtra, ‘the good State’ or ‘land of the Sun.’

320 B.C.

A Mauryan province

By the rock edicts of Emperor Ashoka at Girnar, Saurashtra forms a province of Magadha, governed by Yavanaraja Tushaspha.

2nd century B.C.

Saurashtra enters the texts

Baudhayana's Dharma Shastra and Kautilya's Arthashastra both name Saurashtra, and to the Greek geographers the peninsula was ‘Surastrene’ — a land already old in trade and name.

A.D. 140–380

The Kshatrapas

Twenty-five Satraps of the Kshahrata line rule western India; Rudradaman’s inscription at Girnar records the repair of the great Sudarshana lake dam.

c. 470–766

Valabhi’s golden age

Bhattarka, commander of the Guptas, founds the Maitraka dynasty at Valabhipur — for nearly three centuries the one seat of undisputed power the peninsula ever knew — until the Arabs from Sindh destroy it about A.D. 766.

746 A.D.

Vanraj Chavda founds Anhilwad Patan

Vanraj Chavda, prince of the fallen house of Panchasar, establishes the kingdom of Anhilwad Patan in northern Gujarat on the banks of the Saraswati, founding the sovereign capital that would become the imperial seat of Gujarat for five centuries.

766 onward

The age of the clans begins

With Valabhi’s fall Saurashtra splits into small units ruled by Rajput clans: the Chavadas at Panchasar and Vanthali, the Chudasamas at Junagadh, the Jethwas at Ghumli.

800–1529

Fourteen royal clans establish their realms

Chavda, Chudasama, Jethwa, Solanki, Gohil, Jhala (Zala), Chauhan, Sisodia, Vaghela, Rathod, Jadeja, Parmar, Sarvaiya and Vala — the royal houses of the solar, lunar and agnikula lines establish their seats across Gujarat and Saurashtra.

942–1143 A.D.

The Solanki Golden Age

Mulraj Solanki establishes the Chaulukya dynasty at Patan. Under imperial sovereigns Siddharaj Jaisinh and Kumarapala, Gujarat experiences its golden age of military might, Maru-Gurjara temple architecture, trade prosperity, and cultural renaissance.

1024

Mahmud of Ghazni sacks Somnath

The first great blow from the north; in 1297 Alaf Khan, general of Ala-ud-din Khilji, sacks the temple again and a Muslim governor is set at Junagadh.

1244–1304 A.D.

The Vaghela Empire

Visaldev Vaghela consolidates authority from Dholka and ascends the gadi of Patan. The Vaghelas reign as the last Hindu imperial sovereigns of medieval Gujarat, patronising literature and temple restoration until the Khilji invasion under Karna Ghelo.

1262 A.D.

Sisodia Sovereignty in Dharampur

Prince Ramshah of the Sisodia royal house of Mewar establishes a sovereign principality in the rugged Sahyadri foothills of southern Gujarat, founding the enduring Dharampur State.

13th–14th century

Establishment of Idar and Rajpipla

Rao Sheoji’s Rathod scions capture the mountain fortress of Idargadh in the Aravallis, while Kumar Mokhadaji Gohil’s son Samarsinhji establishes the Gohil dynasty of Rajpipla on the holy Narmada.

1473

Mohmed Begda takes Junagadh

The Sultan of Gujarat captures Junagadh, ends twenty generations of Chudasama rule in Sorath, and settles sayyids and learned men across the conquered tract.

1484 A.D.

The Siege of Pavagadh & Rewa Kantha

After a heroic multi-year resistance, Rawal Patai (Jaisinh Chauhan) falls at Pavagadh against Sultan Mahmud Begada. His scions migrate east into the hill tracts to found Chhota Udepur and Devgadh Baria.

1540–1611

New capitals rise

Jam Rawal founds Nawanagar (1540); the Jhala (Zala) chiefdoms of Dhrangadhra, Wankaner, Wadhwan, Limbdi and Chuda take form; Vibhaji founds Rajkot (1611).

1548 A.D.

Rao Khengarji I Founds Bhuj

Maharao Khengarji I consolidates the Jadeja dynasty of Kutch and establishes Bhuj as his fortified capital beneath the sacred Bhujia fortress, creating a 17-gun maritime realm.

1722

The Marathas arrive

Expeditions for chauth turn the peninsula into a battleground of warring principalities; Pilaji Gaikwad is repulsed at Sihor by Gohil chief Bhavsinhji, who founds Bhavnagar the next year.

1807–1822

Colonel Walker’s settlement

The British fix the tributes of the Kathiawar chiefs, suppress female infanticide, and by 1822 assume paramount power — closing the era of internal feuds.

1870–1880

The era of reform

Rajkumar College at Rajkot (1870) and the Lukdari Garasiya School at Wadhwan (1880) school the princes and squirearchy; railways, hospitals and representative assemblies follow in the leading states.

1943

The Attachment Scheme

Of the peninsula's two hundred–odd states and estates, the smallest were attached to larger neighbours for administration; the scheme lapsed with paramountcy in 1947, on the eve of the merger.

January 1948

The covenant of merger

Thirty-one rulers of states, including thirteen salute states, sign the covenant to unite their territories; the Maharaja of Bhavnagar, who had met Mahatma Gandhi, is the first to offer his state.

15 February 1948

The State of Saurashtra

The united state is inaugurated by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, with the Jam Saheb as Rajapramukh — and over two hundred states and estates pass into the history of the Indian Republic.

1956

The Bilingual Bombay State

The State of Saurashtra and the princely territories of northern, eastern and southern Gujarat merged into the enlarged bilingual State of Bombay as administrative reorganisations prepared the way for future linguistic states.

1 May 1960

Formation of Gujarat State

The historic regions of Saurashtra, Kutch, North Gujarat, Rewa Kantha, and South Gujarat unite into the modern State of Gujarat with its linguistic capital, fulfilling the long-cherished dream of Maha Gujarat.

1971

The privy purses end

The 26th Amendment abolished the privy purses and princely titles guaranteed at accession — the last constitutional trace of the old order; the great houses turned to enterprise, public life and heritage.