Varnu is a village in

Rapar Rapar is a city and a municipality in Kutch district in the Indian state of Gujarat. Particularly this area of Kutch is called 'Vagad'. The name derives from famous Vaghela rulers.it means the land of Vaghelas. Geography Rapar (earlier known a ...

Taluka in Kutch district of

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 ...

, India. The village is on the west bank of

Little Rann of Kutch The Little Rann of Kutch is a salt marsh which is part of the Rann of Kutch in Kutch district, Gujarat, India. Attractions Indian wild ass sanctuary The Little Rann of Kutch is home to the Indian wild ass (khur). To conserve this spec ...

Demographics

The village has population of about 600 people. Main communities residing here are Gadhvis, Rajgor,

Rabari The Rabari people (also known as Desai, Rabari, Raika, and Dewasi people) are an ethnic group from the Rajasthan also found in Gujarat Kutch region. Origin Myth The Rabari myth of origin is kshatriya that Shiva put them on earth to tend to the ...

, and

Koli Koli may refer to: Places * Koli, Finland, a hill in Finland * Koli National Park, a national park in Finland * Koli, Iran (disambiguation), several places in Iran * Koli Airfield, a former airfield in the South Pacific Other uses * Koli peopl ...

Places of interest

Varaneshwardada temple

Venudada or Varaneshwardada temple is small temple with shrine and three porches with some carvings in the large courtyard situated near the village. The temple is associated with legends and is venerated by people of nearby villages. The original temple, said to have been built by

Mularaja Mularaja () was the founder of the Chaulukya dynasty of India. Also known as the Chalukyas of Gujarat or Solanki, this dynasty ruled parts of present-day Gujarat. Mularaja supplanted the last Chavda king, and founded an independent kingdom with ...

Anhilwad Patan Patan () is the administrative seat of Patan District in the Indian state of Gujarat and is an administered municipality. It was the capital of Gujarat's Chavda and Chaulukya dynasties in medieval times, and is also known as Anhilpur-Patan ...

(942 -997), was repaired in 1862. Inside of the shrine are three red smeared stones, representing Venu and his brother and sister. ;Legend Venu is a folk hero of Kutch who belonged to

Parmar Parmar is a Rajput clan found in Northern and Central India, especially in Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Kutch, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and North Maharashtra. See also * Paramara Dynasty * Panwar Dynasty * Pawar * Pan ...

Rajput clan. He was the younger brother of the Thakur of Muli, a former princely state in Saurashtra. He fought with plunderers from nearby Sindh, either the Moghuls or some local Jats, while saving the cows of the Charanas. He died in Varnu while fighting with plunderers. The family priest, Rajgor, came here to perform his last rites and later settled in the village. The village was named Venu after him which later corrupted into Varnu. The village still mourns the death of Venu for over 250 years and does not celebrate any festivals or marriages in his honour. It is believed that sleeping in the temple of Venu results in death.

James MacMurdo's tomb

Captain

James MacMurdo Captain James MacMurdo was the first political resident of British East India Company to Cutch State. He played important role in bringing kutchh under British suzerainty. Biography MacMurdo was born on 30 November 1785 in Dumfriesshire in Scotl ...

, the first political agent of

British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

Cutch State Cutch, also spelled Kutch or Kachchh and also historically known as the Kingdom of Kutch, was a kingdom in the Kutch region from 1147 to 1819 and a princely state under British rule from 1819 to 1947. Its territories covered the present day K ...

died on 28 April 1820 and was buried near the temple. The people of village believe that he slept in the Venudada temple which resulted in his death though his tomb is marked that he died of Cholera.

References

* This article incorporates

Public Domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired, ...

text from {{Coord, 23.474013, N, 71.037962, E, type:city_region:IN, display=title Villages in Kutch district