August 20, 2011. Dear friends, It gives us immense pleasure to welcome you all to Gujaratotsav 2011 event. Today, we are here because we are proud of our rich heritage and being Gujarati. We all have a deep commitment to preserve and promote Gujarati culture and values here in the USA. SFVGA has been in existence as a vibrant non-profit organization for past couple of decades, serving and uniting the local Gujarati community. In the first board meeting of 2011, our SFVGA board, decided to organize this event, celebrating 50 years of Gujarat in San Fernando Valley. The focus is to refresh our memories and learn more about our own Glorious history and off course today’s Vibrant Gujarat! Our SFVGA members have worked very hard for many days to present this information in the form of a skit along with Audio-Video clips. To make our celebration memorable, we are very happy to have renowned Gujarati singers Shri Ashitbhai Desai and Smt. Hemanginiben Desai with us today. Their contribution to Gujarati Sugam Sangeet and Bhajans has been extra ordinary. Shri Ashitbhai has won All India Radio’s Best Singer Award in 1969 at the age of 18. We are very thankful for the great support of all our sponsors, reflective of their commitment to support our culture through such authentic Gujarati event. We are also encouraged by the large presence of SFVGA members and their friends from across the Southern California. Together, we have clearly expressed that although we are living thousands of miles away from Gujarat, Gujarat lives within us! Thank you. Gujaratotsav 2011 Committee Members Pranav Desai (Committee Chairperson) Rajesh Patel (Board Liaison member for committee) Dinker Shah Bindu Jogani (Board Liaison member for committee) Vijay Bhatt Purnima Ahuja Ameesh Pandya Shanti Sheth Jitendra Mehta Roopa Maniar Sudhir Banker Rajni Thakkar Dilip Bhatt Surbhi Shah Navendu Trivedi Kirit Doshi Gujaratotsav 2011 Page 1 GUJARAT: A BRIEF JOURNEY THROUGH THE AGES . By MANDHATA CHAUHAN PROLOGUE: Humans, being social animals, politics is inherent in their genes. Nations comprise of humans and that is the reason, why nations behave like human-beings. Ultimate goal of politics is to gain power - economic and/or military. Whenever a power vacuum occurs in a region, external forces would try to fill-in that void. The situation would invariably lead to conflict. GUJARAT is no exception to this rule, it had its periods of tranquil prosperity, often that was shattered by fierce clashes on the battlefields. If one believes strongly enough in something, one must fight for it. Early Rajput princes adhered to the principles of warfare as enunciated by the Vedas, which inculcated justice and fair play without deceit and surprise attacks, while treating adversary as an equal. These rules were not respected by the invading armies. Owing to lack of adequate transportation and communications in a vast country like India, different regions had developed their own languages, cultures, politico-socio-economic philosophies independently of others. This evolution had kept the people of various regions of India from thinking united, as one nation, which in turn, made it easy for the outside powers to manipulate them. Although, the religions have been at the contention, for many wars in the world, Indian religions have been remarkably tolerant of the other religions that came to India. Despite all those wars, destruction and mayhem thru ages, GUJARAT remains to-day, a magnificent amalgam of a variety of positive influences. This is abundantly evident as social impact of the historical events, in its culture, art, music, dances, architecture, costumes and a vibrant economy humming along melodiously. This is our delightful heritage. ANCIENT ERA: Amongst archeologists it is an accepted belief that GUJARAT is a product of the Indus Valley Civilization - of Mohenjo-Daro descent. Nevertheless, the recent excavations of Lothal and Dholavira, are evidence enough for some archeologist to contend that GUJARAT was the cradle of Saraswati River Civilization. Saraswati river ran parallel to the Indus river from the Himalayas (3000 BC), but, had dissipated into the earth, as a consequence of massive earthquakes. Vedas have prolific references to the river, hence, it is inferred that the Vedas originated on the banks of Saraswati. Chandragupta Maurya (322- 294 BC) sprinkled the imperial grandeur into the glorious history of GUJARAT, when he ordered building of the dams on the Sudarshan Lake and other water reservoirs in Girinagar, (Junagadh). Chandragupta's grandson, Ashoka, ordered building canals from the Sudarshan Lake to irrigate the farmlands in the area, to which his rock edict reads as an eloquent witness, at Mount Girnar. This was, perhaps, one of the oldest experiments in water conservation, in India. When the Gupta Empire started to deteriorate, their Maitrika Commander (470 AD), established Maitrika state and moved his capital from Girinagar to Vallbhipur (near Bhavnagar). Maitrika kingdom encompassed all of GUJARAT reaching all the way to Malwa. Maitrika University rivaled the renowned Nalanda University, according to writings of the Chinese traveler Hsuan-Tsang (640 AD). Shiv-ism was the most popular religion in Middle East, in the pre-Islamic period. Three Goddesses most worshiped, were represented as stone idols, Manat (Godess of Destiny), Lat and Uzza, as mentioned in Qur'an (Satanic Verses). All three shrines were in the proximity of Mecca and Madina. In order to start a new religion, worship of earlier deities was opposed by Prophet Mohammd (570-632). He ordered his son-in-law, Ali, to destroy the shrines, which, he did, but idol of Manat, was secreted away to Kathiawad for safe-keeping. (Somnath, Professor Romila Thapar, p.48). Hinduism, Shivism, Jainism, and Buddhism were already popular, but, between 7th and 12th centuries, Bhakti movements, as a road to salvation grew. Swami Chakradhara (1194) popularized Vaishnavites (worship of Vishnu). At this time Kabir, Meera, Narsinh Mehta, Chaitanya and Surdas also came to the forefront (History Of Medieval India, Satish Chandra,p.186-196). RAJPUT ERA: Chavdas were the vassal kings of the Maitrikas of Vallbhipur. Vanraj Chavda founded the new capital of Anhilpur-Patan. Chavdas ruled Gurjar Desh for almost a century. Chalukyas (Solankis of GUJARAT), who had originated in Rajputana, had migrated South to Karnataka, and ruled Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra, had now, conquered GUJARAT from the Chavdas. Mulraj Solanki (942 Gujaratotsav 2011 Page 2 AD), had adopted the Gupta pattern of administration in GUJARAT, Saurashtra and Kutch. He invited many talented people, including Brahmin -Brahmabhatt from the Northern India to settle in Devasthali (Siddhpur) and employed them in key positions in his administration. He initiated the construction of Rudra Mahal (996 AD), dedicated to Lord Shiva, before his death. Mulraj Solanki's regime was the beginning of a golden period of GUJARAT, blossomed into a cultural icon of India, heralding 'renaissance' in music, dance, art, architecture, language, script, agriculture and trade, and came to be known as Gurjar-Desh, Gurjar-Rashtra and finally GUJARAT. GUJARATi took its distinct structure from Marwadi and Malwi. Jain Muni, HemchandraCharya, Kumarpal's trusted Minister, actively promoted the development of the GUJARATi language and grammer. As a result, GUJARAT evolved as a fully definable region, during the Solanki dynasty. Trade with West Asia comprising of imports of horses, wine, and metals and exports of textiles, spices, semi-precious stones, timber and swords, increased several folds by Arab and Bania traders in this era. The guardian family deity of the Solankis was Somnath, at Prabhas-Patan (Veraval). The temple idol was desecrated and plundered during the times of Solanki king BhimDev (I), by Mahmud of Gazni. BhimDev and Parmar King Bhoj of Malwa rebuilt the temple and enhanced the splendor of Someshwarnath. (Somanath temple was rebuilt eight times). No sooner Mahmud of Gazni began retreating, after his devastating attacks on Somanath and annihilating Anhilpur-Patan into rubbles, the sounds of hammer and chisel began to ring up the hills of Abu and Arasur, with the building of splendorous temples at Delwada and Kumbharia. As if the death and destruction caste upon them by the destroyer and the iconoclast, was but, a nightmare that vanished into the thin air of these mountains. Such resilience of the people of GUJARAT was to surface again and again through ages. BhimDev's successor, KaranDev founded the town of Karnavati (near Mani-Nagar) on Sabarmati river. KaranDev and MinalDevi's son Siddhraj Jaisinh (1094-1142) was the most prominent of the Solanki Emperors, that most meticulously and efficiently ruled GUJARAT, Saurastra, Kutch and Malwa. One of the most tragic fables of the time, popular with the Barots (bards), is that of Ranak Devi. Siddharth Jaisinh was engaged to Ranak Devi. But, she was married off to Ra'Khengar of Junagadh, by her family. Siddhraj Jaisinh invaded Junagadh. In the war, Ra'Khengar, the ruler of Junagadh, was killed. RanakDevi, his queen, in the Rajput tradition of the time, instead of surrendering to Siddhraj, chose to become 'Sati'. RanakDevi's temple still stands in Wadhwan, as a monumental reminder of her love for her husband, Ra'Khangar. Another melancholy episode that became a folklore of the time, was that of Jasma Oden. Siddhraj had ordered construction of Sahastra-Ling Talao (lake) in Patan, to conserve water for the use of his people. While the construction of the lake was going on, he came across Jasma Oden, a woman employed to dig the lake. Siddhraj fell in love with her beauty, and wanted to marry her. Jasma Oden was a married woman, and so, she gave Siddhraj a 'Shrap' (curse) that his lake would never have water. The magnificent Sahastra-Ling Talao still stands barren as a memorial to Jasma Oden, in Patan.