A prant is a historical district in
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, 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 regions, such as the original ten regions of
Kathiawad
Kathiawar () is a peninsula, near the far north of India's west coast, of about bordering the Arabian Sea. It is bounded by the Gulf of Kutch in the northwest and by the Gulf of Khambhat (Gulf of Cambay) in the east. In the northeast, it is ...
on
Saurashtra peninsula in Gujarat: Jhalawar in the north, Machhukantha west of it, Halar in the northwest, Okhamandal in the extreme west (controlled by Baroda), Barda of Jethwar along the southwest coast, Sorath (a Muslim corruption of Saurashtra) in the south, Babriawar in the hilly southeast, Kathiawar proper (large and central), Undsarviya along Shetrunji river and then finally Gohelwad, along the eastern Cambay coast and comminated by Gohel Rajputs.
Colonial
British
During the
British raj
The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent;
*
* it is also called Crown rule in India,
*
*
*
*
or Direct rule in India,
* Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...
, the term is often applied to the colonial
Districts of British India.
Thus the colonial agency exercising indirect rule over the
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, ...
s in
Kathiawar
Kathiawar () is a peninsula, near the far north of India's west coast, of about bordering the Arabian Sea. It is bounded by the Gulf of Kutch in the northwest and by the Gulf of Khambhat (Gulf of Cambay) in the east. In the northeast, it is ...
on
Saurashtra peninsula in Gujarat grouped them in four prants (now quarters, absorbing six historical ones above) :
Gohelwad
Gohelwar was one of the four ''prant''s or traditional provinces of Saurashtra (region), Saurashtra, the others being Jhalawar prant, Jhalawar or Jhalavad, Halar, and Sorath (prant), Sorath.
Gohelwar covered the southeast of the Kathiawar peni ...
,
Halar
Halar (Haalaar) is a historical region of western India, located by the Gulf of Kutch coast on the northwestern area of Nawanagar, now Jamnagar, in Gujarat State, on Saurashtra peninsula, roughly corresponding to the present Jamnagar District ...
,
Jhalawar
Jhalawar () is a city, municipal council and headquarter in Jhalawar district of the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is located in the southeastern part of the state. It was the capital of the former princely state of Jhalawar, and is the admin ...
and
Sorath.
Native
However a Raj-age prant can also still be a native term for a 'province' of a large
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, ...
under British paramountcy. Thus, the Rajput
Gaekwad
Gaekwad (also spelt Gaikwar and Gaikwad; mr, Gāyǎkǎvāḍǎ) is a surname native to the Indian state of Maharashtra. The surname is found among the Marathas, Kolis and in Scheduled castes. It is also a common surname among Bharadis, Dhor, an ...
Rajput dynasty organised its
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 ...
into four administrative prants, equivalent to British Districts (like much of its institutions), namely Baroda itself, Kadi (the largest), Navsari and Amreli, the smallest.
External links and Sources
Imperial Gazetteer, on dsal.uchicago.edu : ''passim'', here Kathiawar article
Subdivisions of British India
{{India-stub