Limbdi
Encyclopedia
Limbdi is a city and a municipality
in Surendranagar district
in the India
n state
of Gujarat.
Limbdi has a proud place in women's education. It is home to Lady Wellingdon Girls School, now Municipal school number 3. This school was established in Limbdi on 1 March 1859 when India had hardly any girls schools even in urban areas. Initially "girls only", it is now a co-educational school.
----
- entitled to a hereditary salute of 9-guns during and before the British empire
, ruled by the Jhala dynasty
. After India's independence from British colonial rule in 1947, Limbdi was integrated into the nation with other princely states. It has a current population of about 70,000 people who are employed in diverse professions from agriculture
to small business
es.
Limbdi was considered to be the "KASHI" of Gujarat because lots of temples are located in the city in almost every street & society. Lord Swaminarayan had visited Limbdi several times. And the story of Vaghri's salvation by Lord Swaminarayan has been depicted in the scriptures of Swaminarayan Sect.In May 2010 Pramukh Swami Maharaj inaguarated the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Limbdi. Swami Vivekananda had also visited Limbdi, and a Ram Krishna Mission was built near Railway Station in this memory and also rameshwar mahadev temple held in the ramkrishna nagar society.it was build by local public of the society. Limbdi is home to the Jagadish Ashram
established by Jagannath Tirth Swami. Some scenes of the famous Hindi movie Guide
were shot at this Ashram. Limbdi is also famous for its "Kachariya" (or Kachariyu) a dish made from sesame
seeds ("tal").
The Bhogavo River flows by Limbdi. The best way to visit Limbdi is by bus
from Ahmedabad
. Buses from Ahmedabad to Rajkot also stop on their way in Limbdi. Another way is by the Saurashtra Mail train
from Bombay which stops at Ahmedabad and Surendranagar. Buses and private vehicles on hire can be used to get from Surendranagar to Limbdi.There is a daily train from Mumbai, named Bhavnagar-Bandra Superfast express which stops at Limbdi.
During local princely states existence in Kathiyavad, there were approximately 222 small & medium princely states. During that era, Limbdi was also a princely state. During the time span from 1768 to 1948, many dictators had taken charge of Limbdi starting from Harisinh, Bhojraj, Harbham, Fatesinh, Jashwantsinh, Dotalsinh, Digvijaysinh and the last Chhatrasalsinh.
During the reign of king Jaswantsinh, Swami Vivekananda had stayed in the city Limbdi during his visit of Saurashtra. King Jaswantsinh had become the friend of Swami Vivekananda. They had stayed together in Mahabaleshwar during 4-May-1892 to 28-May-1892. Spiritual discussion held between them has been well depicted in the Daily Diary of king Jaswantsinh. It is believed that king Jaswantsinh had inspired & requested Swami Vivekananda to participate in the World Religion Conference.
After Sir Jaswantsinh, Sir Dotalsinh took over the charge of the Limbdi state and he had tried to rule over Limbdi in the modern and sophisticated way. For the purpose of making people aware of the ruling of the state, he had initiated tradition of publishing "Limbdi Darbari Gazzete" in 1909.
For ensuring well-managed administration of Limbdi state, a tradition of "Sudharai (improvement)" was executed which consisted of 30 members out of which 18 members used to belong to puplic body and 12 used to belong to administrative body. In this arrangement, main social benefits such as cleanliness, health, fire brigade and lighting were made available as and when need arises. There were several princely cities in Saurashtra, but Limbdi was the first city to install electricity bulbs on the roads of the city during the reign of king Dolatsinh.
During Dolatsinh's rule, utmost importance was given to improving the condition of agriculture and farmers. For making proper use of land resources, the king used to give waste lands and barren lands to needy farmers for 3 years for development without collecting any taxes from them. In 1908, the cultivated land was 116 lakh acres which reached to 181 lakh acres in 1935. For the upliftment of farmers, Limbdi Co-operative Bank was established. By forming various farmers oriented laws, they had been made free from the burden of debt.
During this time, famines(droughts) used to happen over and over again. But the king always encouraged the farmers to store food & fodder to meet future contingencies. Therefore in 1912, Limbdi state didn't have to suffer much due to famine.
During the reign of king Dolatsinh, there was full-fledge develoment of cotton trading and ginning mills. Apart from this, a few more industries had emerged such as soap factories, bras factories, nicol plating factories, factories of knife etc.
For the welfare of people, the king had passed "Nashabandhi(No liquor)" by forgoing the probable income of 15 to 20 thousand of that time. There was strict restriction on the production and selling of liquor. A person caught in such activities had to suffer a lot.
In 1912, a law was brought in force against child-marriage. Moreover, there was also a ban on begging. However, it was taken care that nobody in the Limbdi state sleeps hungry. Wrong traditions before and after death were also abolished. During holy festivals and in the month of "Shravan", animal-klling was prohibited. In 1909, export of cows from the state was banned.
Education from primary to metriculation was free of cost which was compulsory for boys and voluntary for girls. However, if a girl goes to school, she was furnished all the necessary items such as books, bags, stationery and clothes free of cost. Sir Jashwantsinh High School (Sir J. High School) was included in top 10 schools of the country by the Education Head of Mumbai Govt Mr. D. Parajay. Sir Dotalsinh had made an arrangement of providing all the expenses of meritorious students going abroad for further study. For this noble purpose only Rs.20000/- (presently Rs.20 crores) used to be kept reserve. This king used to give donations for the development of education not only in Limbdi state, but also the colleges outside the Limbdi state. The king had given donation of Rs.1 lakh to Banaras Hindu University http://www.bhu.ac.in/ and also to Rabindranath Tagore for Shantiniketan. He had helped several caste-based hostels with financial means.The king had established 5 mobile libraries.
Cricket was given prime importance in the state. During a cricket match in England between India & England in 1928, King Ghanshyamsinh was the vice captain of Indian Team.
For easy availability of health related service, 8 hospitals were established. The Limbdi state had sent Dr. A.D. Popat to England for further study in medicine.
In 1914, tram facility was introduced from railway station to the palace for the convenience of people. In 1909, Wood House vegetable market and Circuit House were built. Moreover, "Baluba Dharm-shala" was built near railway station at the expense of Rs.80000/-. A bridge named Dolatsinh was built on the river Bhogavo in 1936 which was inaugurated by Vice Roy Lord Wilindon. Sir Dotalsinh was really a modern and high profile ruler of Limbdi state. He had bought a two-seater plane and an aerodram. He was bestowed with KCIE award in 1921 and KCS award in 1931 by British Government.
In 1938, Sir Dolatsinh had begun to renounce the ruling power reaching at the age of 70 years. During this time, the people of Limbdi had formed a "Praja Mandal" on 24-Dec-1938 due to which there was wild struggle between the king and the people of Limbdi. During 1939, a conference was held by "Praja Mandal" which the king didn't like and made huge uproar at the conference. Many people were wounded during this mishap. Many people felt disheartened and started migrating from Limbdi to other cities.
In 1940, after death of Sir Dolatsinh, Sir Digvijay became ruler who could rule only for 4 months after which he died. The last ruler of Limbdi was his son Sir Chhatrapalsinh during 1941 to 1948. After independence, Limbdi state was merged with united India.
LIMBDI is located on NH-8,101 km from Ahmedabad.
, Limbdi had a population of 40,067. Males constitute 52% of the population and females 48%. Limbdi has an average literacy rate of 70%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 78%, and female literacy is 62%. In Limbdi, 12% of the population is under 6 years of age.
Municipality
A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...
in Surendranagar district
Surendranagar district
Surendranagar is an administrative district in the state of Gujarat in India. It has a population of approximately 1.7 million people. Surendranagar is also known as Zalawad, as the city of Surendranagar was ruled by Zala Rajputs...
in the India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n state
States and territories of India
India is a federal union of states comprising twenty-eight states and seven union territories. The states and territories are further subdivided into districts and so on.-List of states and territories:...
of Gujarat.
Limbdi has a proud place in women's education. It is home to Lady Wellingdon Girls School, now Municipal school number 3. This school was established in Limbdi on 1 March 1859 when India had hardly any girls schools even in urban areas. Initially "girls only", it is now a co-educational school.
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Royal History of Limbdi (Compiled by Bipin Chauhan)
Limbdi was a princely statePrincely state
A Princely State was a nominally sovereign entitity of British rule in India that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule such as suzerainty or paramountcy.-British relationship with the Princely States:India under the British Raj ...
- entitled to a hereditary salute of 9-guns during and before the British empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
, ruled by the Jhala dynasty
Jhala (clan)
Jhala is the name of a clan of Rajputs belonging to the Suryavanshi lineage, found mainly in the states of Gujarat and Rajasthan in India. They are also known as Makwana....
. After India's independence from British colonial rule in 1947, Limbdi was integrated into the nation with other princely states. It has a current population of about 70,000 people who are employed in diverse professions from agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
to small business
Small business
A small business is a business that is privately owned and operated, with a small number of employees and relatively low volume of sales. Small businesses are normally privately owned corporations, partnerships, or sole proprietorships...
es.
Limbdi was considered to be the "KASHI" of Gujarat because lots of temples are located in the city in almost every street & society. Lord Swaminarayan had visited Limbdi several times. And the story of Vaghri's salvation by Lord Swaminarayan has been depicted in the scriptures of Swaminarayan Sect.In May 2010 Pramukh Swami Maharaj inaguarated the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Limbdi. Swami Vivekananda had also visited Limbdi, and a Ram Krishna Mission was built near Railway Station in this memory and also rameshwar mahadev temple held in the ramkrishna nagar society.it was build by local public of the society. Limbdi is home to the Jagadish Ashram
Ashram
Traditionally, an ashram is a spiritual hermitage. Additionally, today the term ashram often denotes a locus of Indian cultural activity such as yoga, music study or religious instruction, the moral equivalent of a studio or dojo....
established by Jagannath Tirth Swami. Some scenes of the famous Hindi movie Guide
Guide (film)
Guide is a 1965 Hindi film starring Dev Anand and Waheeda Rehman. It was directed by Vijay Anand, who also contributed to the screenplay. The film is based on the critically acclaimed novel, The Guide, by R. K. Narayan, and is widely considered to be one of the masterpieces of the Indian film...
were shot at this Ashram. Limbdi is also famous for its "Kachariya" (or Kachariyu) a dish made from sesame
Sesame
Sesame is a flowering plant in the genus Sesamum. Numerous wild relatives occur in Africa and a smaller number in India. It is widely naturalized in tropical regions around the world and is cultivated for its edible seeds, which grow in pods....
seeds ("tal").
The Bhogavo River flows by Limbdi. The best way to visit Limbdi is by bus
Bus
A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...
from Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad also known as Karnavati is the largest city in Gujarat, India. It is the former capital of Gujarat and is also the judicial capital of Gujarat as the Gujarat High Court has its seat in Ahmedabad...
. Buses from Ahmedabad to Rajkot also stop on their way in Limbdi. Another way is by the Saurashtra Mail train
Train
A train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track to transport cargo or passengers from one place to another place. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway.Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate...
from Bombay which stops at Ahmedabad and Surendranagar. Buses and private vehicles on hire can be used to get from Surendranagar to Limbdi.There is a daily train from Mumbai, named Bhavnagar-Bandra Superfast express which stops at Limbdi.
During local princely states existence in Kathiyavad, there were approximately 222 small & medium princely states. During that era, Limbdi was also a princely state. During the time span from 1768 to 1948, many dictators had taken charge of Limbdi starting from Harisinh, Bhojraj, Harbham, Fatesinh, Jashwantsinh, Dotalsinh, Digvijaysinh and the last Chhatrasalsinh.
During the reign of king Jaswantsinh, Swami Vivekananda had stayed in the city Limbdi during his visit of Saurashtra. King Jaswantsinh had become the friend of Swami Vivekananda. They had stayed together in Mahabaleshwar during 4-May-1892 to 28-May-1892. Spiritual discussion held between them has been well depicted in the Daily Diary of king Jaswantsinh. It is believed that king Jaswantsinh had inspired & requested Swami Vivekananda to participate in the World Religion Conference.
After Sir Jaswantsinh, Sir Dotalsinh took over the charge of the Limbdi state and he had tried to rule over Limbdi in the modern and sophisticated way. For the purpose of making people aware of the ruling of the state, he had initiated tradition of publishing "Limbdi Darbari Gazzete" in 1909.
For ensuring well-managed administration of Limbdi state, a tradition of "Sudharai (improvement)" was executed which consisted of 30 members out of which 18 members used to belong to puplic body and 12 used to belong to administrative body. In this arrangement, main social benefits such as cleanliness, health, fire brigade and lighting were made available as and when need arises. There were several princely cities in Saurashtra, but Limbdi was the first city to install electricity bulbs on the roads of the city during the reign of king Dolatsinh.
During Dolatsinh's rule, utmost importance was given to improving the condition of agriculture and farmers. For making proper use of land resources, the king used to give waste lands and barren lands to needy farmers for 3 years for development without collecting any taxes from them. In 1908, the cultivated land was 116 lakh acres which reached to 181 lakh acres in 1935. For the upliftment of farmers, Limbdi Co-operative Bank was established. By forming various farmers oriented laws, they had been made free from the burden of debt.
During this time, famines(droughts) used to happen over and over again. But the king always encouraged the farmers to store food & fodder to meet future contingencies. Therefore in 1912, Limbdi state didn't have to suffer much due to famine.
During the reign of king Dolatsinh, there was full-fledge develoment of cotton trading and ginning mills. Apart from this, a few more industries had emerged such as soap factories, bras factories, nicol plating factories, factories of knife etc.
For the welfare of people, the king had passed "Nashabandhi(No liquor)" by forgoing the probable income of 15 to 20 thousand of that time. There was strict restriction on the production and selling of liquor. A person caught in such activities had to suffer a lot.
In 1912, a law was brought in force against child-marriage. Moreover, there was also a ban on begging. However, it was taken care that nobody in the Limbdi state sleeps hungry. Wrong traditions before and after death were also abolished. During holy festivals and in the month of "Shravan", animal-klling was prohibited. In 1909, export of cows from the state was banned.
Education from primary to metriculation was free of cost which was compulsory for boys and voluntary for girls. However, if a girl goes to school, she was furnished all the necessary items such as books, bags, stationery and clothes free of cost. Sir Jashwantsinh High School (Sir J. High School) was included in top 10 schools of the country by the Education Head of Mumbai Govt Mr. D. Parajay. Sir Dotalsinh had made an arrangement of providing all the expenses of meritorious students going abroad for further study. For this noble purpose only Rs.20000/- (presently Rs.20 crores) used to be kept reserve. This king used to give donations for the development of education not only in Limbdi state, but also the colleges outside the Limbdi state. The king had given donation of Rs.1 lakh to Banaras Hindu University http://www.bhu.ac.in/ and also to Rabindranath Tagore for Shantiniketan. He had helped several caste-based hostels with financial means.The king had established 5 mobile libraries.
Cricket was given prime importance in the state. During a cricket match in England between India & England in 1928, King Ghanshyamsinh was the vice captain of Indian Team.
For easy availability of health related service, 8 hospitals were established. The Limbdi state had sent Dr. A.D. Popat to England for further study in medicine.
In 1914, tram facility was introduced from railway station to the palace for the convenience of people. In 1909, Wood House vegetable market and Circuit House were built. Moreover, "Baluba Dharm-shala" was built near railway station at the expense of Rs.80000/-. A bridge named Dolatsinh was built on the river Bhogavo in 1936 which was inaugurated by Vice Roy Lord Wilindon. Sir Dotalsinh was really a modern and high profile ruler of Limbdi state. He had bought a two-seater plane and an aerodram. He was bestowed with KCIE award in 1921 and KCS award in 1931 by British Government.
In 1938, Sir Dolatsinh had begun to renounce the ruling power reaching at the age of 70 years. During this time, the people of Limbdi had formed a "Praja Mandal" on 24-Dec-1938 due to which there was wild struggle between the king and the people of Limbdi. During 1939, a conference was held by "Praja Mandal" which the king didn't like and made huge uproar at the conference. Many people were wounded during this mishap. Many people felt disheartened and started migrating from Limbdi to other cities.
In 1940, after death of Sir Dolatsinh, Sir Digvijay became ruler who could rule only for 4 months after which he died. The last ruler of Limbdi was his son Sir Chhatrapalsinh during 1941 to 1948. After independence, Limbdi state was merged with united India.
Geography
Limbdi is located at 22.57°N 71.8°E. It has an average elevation of 53 metres (173 feet).LIMBDI is located on NH-8,101 km from Ahmedabad.
Demographics
India censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
, Limbdi had a population of 40,067. Males constitute 52% of the population and females 48%. Limbdi has an average literacy rate of 70%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 78%, and female literacy is 62%. In Limbdi, 12% of the population is under 6 years of age.