Chamardi (or Chamardi Vacchani) is a large village located within the

Vallabhipur Taluka Vallabhipur Taluka is a taluka of Bhavnagar District, southeastern Gujarat, India. It was named after the capital, Vallabhipur, of the Maitraka Dynasty who ruled in this area from 470 AD to 788 AD. Vallabhipur Taluka is in the northwestern par ...

township of the

Bhavnagar district Bhavnagar District is a Districts of India, district of southeastern Gujarat, India, on the Saurashtra (region), Saurashtra peninsula. It is also known as Gohilwar as a major portion of Bhavnagar district was ruled by Gahlot, Gohil Rajputs. The a ...

(

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

), in West India. It was formerly a part of

Rajput Rajput (from Sanskrit ''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Ra ...

princely state A princely state (also called native state or Indian state) was a nominally sovereign entity of the British Raj, British Indian Empire that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule, ...

History and population

Chamardi was one of many tribute-paying

s in the

Gohilwar Bhavnagar District is a district of southeastern Gujarat, India, on the Saurashtra peninsula. It is also known as Gohilwar as a major portion of Bhavnagar district was ruled by Gohil Rajputs. The administrative headquarters is in the town of B ...

prant A prant is a historical district in India, and a native British Raj age term for a colonial district. The same name can thus have different meanings depending on the period. Pre-colonial Some prants are traditional names for parts of historical ...

. Chamardi was under the

Eastern Kathiawar Agency The Baroda, Western India and Gujarat States Agency was an agency of the Indian Empire, managing the relations of the Provincial Government of the Bombay Presidency with a collection of princely states. The political agent in charge of the age ...

's colonial authority and was ruled by

Gohil Gohil may refer to: * Gohil dynasty, 12th-century rulers of Saurashtra in modern Gujarat * Gohil, a Gujarati'rajsthani clan * Gahlot, a clan of rajputs * Dinita Gohil, British actress * Gigabhai Gohil (died 2020), Indian politician * Manav Gohil (b ...

Rajput Chieftains from the Bhayat dynasty of the

Bhavnagar State Bhavnagar State was a princely state with 13 Gun Salutes during the British Raj. It was part of Kathiawar Agency in Saurashtra. The State of Bhavnagar covered an area of 2,961 sq. miles and had a population of 618,429 in 1941. Its ruler ...

. It was the headquarters of a ''

thana Thana means "police station" in South Asian countries, and can also mean the district controlled by a police station. * Thanas of Bangladesh, former subdistricts in the administrative geography of Bangladesh; later renamed ''upazila'' * in (Briti ...

'' Agency. In 1877, the population of the village was 2,371. By 1881, the population had decreased to 2,117. In 1901, Chamardi had a population of 2,168 with a state revenue of 10,000 Rupees, and was paying a tribute of 858 Rupees to the Gaekwar

Baroda State Baroda State was a state in present-day Gujarat, ruled by the Gaekwad dynasty of the Maratha Confederacy from its formation in 1721 until its accession to the newly formed Dominion of India in 1949. With the city of Baroda (Vadodara) as its c ...

and

Junagadh State Junagarh or Junagadh ( ur, ) was a princely state in Gujarat ruled by the Muslim Babi dynasty in British India, until its integration into the Union of India in 1948. History Muhammad Sher Khan Babai was the founder of the Babi Pashtun d ...

. Historically, Chamardi was one of many native 'princely states' under the authority of the Eastern Kathiawar Agency. Modern-day Chamardi is a large village with a population of 4804 persons in 953 families. The male to female ratio of the village is 1,921 males to 1,737 females.India census 2011

Geography

Chamardi has an elevation of 37 meters above sea level and is at the foot of several high

trachyte Trachyte () is an extrusive igneous rock composed mostly of alkali feldspar. It is usually light-colored and aphanitic (fine-grained), with minor amounts of mafic minerals, and is formed by the rapid cooling of lava enriched with silica and al ...

peaks. The lower boulders, most of which are water-worn, suggests that the region was once covered by a shallow sea. The Kalobhar River used to flow two miles northwest of the village, until about half a century ago when the river changed its course; it now flows about half a mile to the south.

Modern Chamardi

Administration

Chamardi is located in

, a township within the

. Electorally, Chamardi is part of the Bhavnagar parliamentary constituency and Gadhada assembly constituency.

Location and transport

The village is located 7 km from the nearest town Vallabhipur, 26 km west of the

Bhavnagar Bhavnagar is a city in the Bhavnagar district of the Saurashtra region of Gujarat, a States of India, state of India. It was founded in 1723 by Gohil Koli, Bhavsinhji Takhtasinhji Gohil (1703–1764). It was the capital of Bhavnagar State, whi ...

district headquarters, and 200 km from the state capital

Gandhinagar Gandhinagar (, ) is the capital of the state of Gujarat in India. Gandhinagar is located approximately 23 km north of Ahmedabad, on the west central point of the Industrial corridor between Delhi, the political capital of India, and Mu ...

. Chamardi has two neighbouring railway junctions (Dhola Junction and Shihor Junction), located 21 and 16 km away respectively, which is served by one major railway station (

Ahmedabad Junction railway station Ahmedabad Junction railway station (station code: ADI) is the main railway station of Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. It is also the biggest railway station within Gujarat and also one of the major railway station in India. It is the highest income ...

, locally known as Kalupur Station) 175 km away. The closest airport is

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport (SVPIA) is an international airport serving the twin cities of Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar in Gujarat, India. The airport is located in Hansol, north of Ahmedabad. It is named after Sardar Vallabh ...

Ahmadabad which is located 180 km from Chamardi.

Culture

The main languages are

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub- ...

(local and state official language),

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

(national languages). Chamara has a low literacy rate of 71.08% compared to the average 78.03% of Gujarat state. The majority of Chamardi's workforce is employed in the agricultural sector. The village is served by the local Chamardi Primary School, with additional educational institutions accessible in the nearby city of

. The Chamardi Branch Post Office is also located in the village. The post office pin code is 364310 and the telephone code is 02841.

References

Sources and external links

Indian Princely States on www.uq.net.au, as archived on web.archive.org

*

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...

: Princely states of Gujarat Villages in Bhavnagar district {{Bhavnagar-geo-stub