2 Gujarat State

CHAPTER ––– 2 GUJARAT STATE: A BRIEF NOTE 65 Gujarat state was carved from the present Marathi speaking region i.e. Maharashtra in the year 1960. Gujarat state is situated on the West coast of India between 20.1 and 24.7 degrees North latitude and 68.4 and 74.4 degrees East longitude. The boundaries of Gujarat are surrounded by the Arabian Sea in the West, Rajasthan in the North East, Madhya Pradesh in the East and Maharashtra in the South East. It shares a common border with Pakistan on the Northern side. Gujarat state gets a rainfall of South- West monsoon from the month of June to September. The land of coastal and central Gujarat is fertile, whereas the Northern part is dry and drought prone. The state covers 196024 km (75665 sq. miles) on the border with Pakistan. The rivers of Gujarat are Narmada, Tapti, Sabarmati and Mahi. The black soil is best suited for cash crops such as sugarcane, cotton and groundnuts besides that it cultivates crops such as rice and millets. Archaeologists have found Stone Age settlements around the Sabarmati and Mahi rivers in the south and East of the state. The settlements probably date from the time of Indus valley civilization. There were also Harappan centres at Lothal, Rampur, Ameri, Lakhabanal and Rozdi, Rocky inscriptions in the Girnar Hills show that the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka extended his domain into Gujarat i in 250 B.C. After the fall of the Maurya Empire, the Sakas and Scythains controlled the region from A.D. 130 to 390. Under Rudradaman the area formed part of the Gupta Empire, which was succeeded by the Maitrika dynasty. During the period 900 A.D., the Solanki dynasty came to power, when the state flourished in all fields. There then followed a long period of Muslim rule; Ahmed-I, the first independent Musilm ruler of Gujarat, founded Ahmedabad in 1411 A.D. The Mughal Emperor Akbar conquered Malwa and Gujarat in the region remained under Mughal rule for nearly 200 years. The excavation of Harappa at Lothal in 1954 has 66 revealed the existence of a flourishing part of city of the Indus civilization. The Indus Empire witnessed many changes. The city of lothal was devastated by natural calamities at many times but reconstructed again each time. According to documented history, Chandragupta Maurya assimilated Gujarat an integral part of his empire as is evident from the engravings. In 415 A.D. Kumar Gupta I son and successor of Chandragupta II, ruled over Gujarat. After Gupta period Gujarat passed through the Maitraka period (470- 780 AD) and Chalukya period (9840-1304 AD) followed by a period of independent sultanates (1411-1573 A.D.). Under Chalukya tenures, Bhill Chiefs were conquered. In 1304 A.D. Muhammad Tughlak Ahmed Shah I founded the city of Ahmedabad which afterwards became famous for trade and commerce. Gujarat was divided into several small princely states. The Moghul king Akbar captured the region in 1573. Under Mughal governors this region developed foreign trade and commerce and initiated domestic manufacturing units (Choksi, 1984). After 1700 A.D. the Dutch, English, French and Portuguese established bases along the coastal region. The East India Company set up its first head quarters in India at Surat in 1612. As British maritime supremacy developed, all but the British and Portuguese at Daman and Diu went back. The state came under the control of the British East India Company in 1818. After the First war of Indian independence in 1857, the British government ruled directly, dividing the area into number of princely states. Following Indian independence in 1947, all of Gujarat except Saurashtra and Kutch became part of Bombay state. However, the Bombay state was bifurcated into States of Maharashtra and Gujarat on May 1960. The state has been divided into two distinct economic and geographic regions, namely, the main land Gujarat comprising Mehsana, Sabarkantha, and Banaskantha on 67 the northern border, Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Kheda and Vadodara in Central Gujarat, Panchmahal in Eastern highland, Bharuch, Surat, Valsad, Dang District and Navsari, Tapi (Vyara) newly declared district and divided from Surat in south Gujarat which includes coastal as well as hill regions. The peninsular Gujarat comprise Kathiawad (Saurashtra) and Kutch. However the development in the state is uneven. Reflecting on the statistical data the population of Gujarat as per 2001 census is 50,671,017 including rural and urban population. The schedule caste population is stated to be 7.09% and schedule tribe comprise 14.76%. The sex ratio in Gujarat has declined from 942 females per 1000 in 1981 to 920 females per 1000 males as per 2001 census. The architecture of Gujarat is famous for its fine detail. Besides, the region has a long tradition of handicrafts, such as bandhini (tie-dyed cloth), Jari (gold and silver embroidery), Patola (a beautifully patterned silk for which the thread is tied-dyed before being woven), perfumes and wood carving. Gujarat was the chief centre of wood carving in India from at least the 15 th century. Even when stone as a building material handled with great ease and confidence. Wood carving in Gujarat in the Mughal Period (1556- 1707) shows a beautiful synthesis of the indigenous and Mughal styles. Jain wooden pavilions of the late 16 th and 17 th centuries are richly sculptured with scenes from Jain mythology and contemporary life and with imaginative floral animal and geometrical motifs; figural sculpture has a great vivacity and rhythm. Many wooden facades of the 19 th century have been preserved but the ornamentation lacks the grace and movement of earlier work (Chaudhary, 1983) the architectural style of Gujarat is well known for its luxuriousness and refinement, as exemplified by the movements and temples at Somanth, Modhera and Thane. It is also famous for its art and craft products. Among the most 68 durable and effective of the state’s cultural institutions is trade and craft guilds known as Mahajans. Demographic Features Religion is an important and perhaps one of the basic cultural characteristic of the Indian society. Therefore, distribution of population by religion is of considerable sociological significance in its own right. There are cultural, linguistic and other socio- economic differences among the people belonging to different religions that are relatively persistent over time. The Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists are the major religious communities residing in the various states of India. It is therefore important to observe the percentage composition of the population of these religious communities. 69 The total population of Hindu communities is 4,51,43,074, among them males are 2,35,38,770 and 2,16,04,304 are women, male constitute 60.1% and female represent 39.9% of total Hindu population. Christians form 2,84,092 of the Gujarat state population, male are 1,42,881 and 1,41,211 are women. In Gujarat the population Sikhs is 45,587 while 20,600 are women and men are 24,987. Buddhists population is 17,829 among them 8,390 are women and men are 9,439. The proportion of Jains in the State is 2,52,305 (Census of India, 2001). Muslims and Christians in Gujarat are more urban than other religious groups. In 1991, 58 percent of Muslims, 54 percent of Christians are based in cities or towns. There are 15 towns with a population of more than 100 thousand, where Muslims have a presence of around or more than 10 percent. Their proportion in 7 of these towns is around 15 percent. Information on work status of the population reveals that 41.95% have been reported as workers; the disparity being markedly prominent between the two sexes. Whereas work participation rate 54.87(male) and 27.91 (female) respectively. Rest of the other religious communities has very little proportion to the state’s population. According to Census 2001, Gujarat, with literacy rate 69.14% ranks 17 th among all the States/UTs. Male Literacy rate is 79.66% and the female literacy rate is 57.80%. Rural population literacy 61.29 percent and urban literacy rate 81.84 percent while schedule caste literacy is 70.50% and schedule tribe 47.74 percent (HDR, 43-47, 2003). Political Economy during Colonialism Under the British the land tenure system was different in mainland region and peninsular region, i.e. Gujarat, Saurashtra and Kutch. In mainland Gujarat Ryotwari 70 system was dominant wherein revenue was collected in cash. Intermediaries collected the revenue on behalf of sate from the tillers. These were mostly Patidar and Anavil Brahmins. In Saurashtra and Kutch region Zamindari system prevailed. These were mainly Rajput Girasdars, Bhayats and Mulgirasias and had property rights over their land. At least two-fifths of the entire Saurashtra are was under Ryotwari system (Mishra, 1961). Most of the villages in Gujarat exhibit the usual Ryotwari features common to western India (Baden-Powell, 1974). Further the most striking characteristics of the tenurial system in 1850 was the massive extent of land alleviated even greater in proportion then that in the southern Maratha country (Charles Worth, 1986). Nearly Rs. 30 lakhs of revenue were alleviated in Gujarat's four districts of Ahemdabad, Kaira, Bharuch and Surat through individual names resulting in a substantial size of land under the ownership of Brahmins, Rajput, Kunbis and Kolis. The system of tenancy and sub- tenancy was advantageous to the British as they could use the surplus fcr other purpose thereby halting agricultural production (Desai, 1986). In 1821 the land revenue situation was such that India was ‘transformed into the revenue producing agricultural from of England’ (Mukherjee, 1970).

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