The United State of Kathiawar

As India gained independence, there were several interim states that had interesting names, quite unusual to be called an 'Indian' state. Usually, the term 'Pradesh' is used to denote a state, as in Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. In southern India, the term 'Nadu' is used to describe a land (mostly, a 'country') inhabited by the language spoken there, as in the case of Tamil Nadu, Tulu Nadu, the former territories of the medieval Chola Kingdom such as Tondai Nadu, Chola Nadu, Pandiya Nadu etc. But the phase between 1947 to 1956, when the States Reorganisation Act was enforced, certain short-lived states had unique names that were combinations of the Princely States having varying areas. While the giants are well-known - Jammu & Kashmir, Hyderabad and the Rajputana states of Jodhpur, Jaipur, Bikaner, Udaipur, Jaisalmer etc., - one such region was one of the most complexly structured, comprising of various enclaves and exclaves. 

Today's state of Gujarat is one of the developed in the country. Although the state capital is Gandhinagar, the cities of Ahmedabad, Surat, Bharuch etc. have been extremely important even before starting the British era. Today's Gujarat has a total of 27 districts divided into five sub-regions: 

1. Kutch (or Kachchh / Cutch)
2. Saurashtra - Jamnagar, Porbandar, Junagadh, Amreli, Bhavnagar, Rajkot, Surendranagar
3. Central Gujarat - Ahmedabad, Anand, Kheda, Gandhinagar, Panchmahal, Dahod, Vadodara
4. North Gujarat - Patan, Banaskantha, Mahesana, Sabarkantha
5. South Gujarat - Bharuch, Narmada, Surat, Tapi, The Dangs, Navsari, Valsad

Almost all the names had been existing since the colonial era, except for the new ones such as Surendranagar, Gandhinagar and Anand, and Gujarati spellings for Broach (Bharuch), Baroda (Vadodara), Bulsar (Valsad) and the town of Cambay (Khambhat) in Anand district. But going a bit backwards in the post-independent era, there existed a short-lived union of the Princely States that gave a historically important region of the Indian subcontinent a unique identity for a while. Combining the various Princely States of Kathiawar was the Saurashtra State or the United State of Kathiawar. 

The state of Gujarat was a myriad of fragmented Princely States, one of the most complex structures in the subcontinent. The complexity was majorly due to the fact of having countless tiny enclaves and exclaves of some Princely States into others, making it look like a large island of Princely States with parts distributed in others. These states were clubbed under larger groups such as the States of Western India, Baroda and the Gujarat States. Bigger groupings were done under the names such as Junagadh, Navanagar, Eastern Kathiawar, Western Kathiawar, etc. Focusing on one particular area of Gujarat that finds its mention in manuscripts as old as the Vedic Age - Saurashtra. 

Both Kathiawar and Saurashtra are used interchangeably. Saurashtra has been mentioned in the epics Mahabharata and Ramayana with the exact pronunciation as how it is spelt at present. Other smaller kingdoms that are marked in the location of today's Gujarat over the entire ancient and medieval period are as follows: 

• Vrsni
• Kukura
• Anartta
• Anupa
• Navarastra
• Agni
• Daru-Kachha
• Bahugarta
• Pipalikachha
• Kaccha
• Lata
• Svabhira

But as time proceeded, other kingdoms dwindled in front of Saurashtra that became a prominent name on the western coast of India. Jumping back to the post-independent India, the Saurashtra region itself consisted of a total of 222 Princely States, including Salute, non-Salute and hundreds of other petty states. In fact, even if we exclude the Junagadh chapter, uniting the remaining Saurashtra was a monumental task. If one has to analyse carefully, the bigger area states on the Saurashtra / Kathiawar region were as following: 

• Navanagar (Jamnagar)
• Junagadh (and Babariawad)
• Porbandar
• Gondal
• Bhavnagar
• Amreli
• Western Kathiawar
• Eastern Kathiawar
• Morvi (Morbi)
• Dhrangadhra
• Palitana (and Jafarabad or Janjira)

Junagadh had its various enclaves scattered in the Western Kathiawar Agency, while it itself had fragments of enclaves surrounded by the bigger Navanagar state. The state of Gondal was separated by Jetpur and parts of Junagadh; Jetpur itself being part of the Western Kathiawar Agency. Apart from Junagadh, the two other states of Babariawad and Mangrol had created similar troubles as by Junagadh; refusing to  integrate with the Indian Union willingly and easily. These two states (along with other neighbouring such as Sardargarh, Sanosra, Khambala, etc.) were clubbed together to form a larger enclave of the Western Kathiawar Agency, bordered by Junagadh and Gondal. 

The Eastern Kathiawar group consisted of smaller states such as Muli, Sayla, Chuda, Sejakpur, Sudamda-Dhandhalpur etc. This group neighboured the Limbdi and Wadhwan states and had its minor enclaves in the bigger Dhrangadhra state. Another state called Morvi, had its enclaves scattered in the Cutch state. The state of Amreli (under the bigger state of Baroda / Vadodara) was scattered all across the Saurashtra, having enclaves at Dwarka in the far-west, Kodinar near Diu (which was still a Portuguese territory) and smaller enclaves in Bhavnagar state. 

To make it more clearer, these enclaves and groups of enclaves were combined together under various Thana(s), namely: 

Eastern Kathiawar Agency:

1. Wadhwan District Thana
2. Bhoika Thana
3. Songadh Thana
4. Chok-Datha Thana

Western Kathiawar Agency:

1. Lakhapadar Thana
2. Lodhika Thana
3. Babra Thana

If this wasn't enough, these states also neighboured a former British administrated district (under the Bombay province) of Ahmedabad, that joined the Indian Union on the 15th of August 1947. The district of Ahmedabad also had its minor enclaves scattered in between the Eastern Kathiawar Agency. To ease out the confusion and chaos, with the slow inclusion of these Princely States into the Indian Union after the 15th of August 1947, the entire Saurashtra states were clubbed together to form the United State of Kathiawar, existing between 1947 to 1956, with its capital at Rajkot. This was later incorporated into the bigger Bombay state in 1956 after the States Reorganisation Act was reinforced. Four years later, a new state of Gujarat was created in 1960 with all the Princely States integrated into the following districts (with current districts marked in red): 

1. Halar (Jamnagar, Devbhumi Dwarka, Morbi, Rajkot)
2. Sorath (Porbandar, Junagadh)
3. Amreli
4. Gohelwad (Bhavnagar)
5. Madhya Saurashtra (parts of Rajkot)
6. Jhalawad (Surendranagar)

The United State of Kathiawar was formed in 1948 February, renamed as 'Saurashtra' in November 1948 and included Junagadh and Manavadar after their integration in 1949. Thus, for a brief period of time, the name 'Saurashtra' did get its individual identity, which is now overshadowed by the parent state of Gujarat. Below here is an attempt to simplify the complexity of the Princely States of Saurashtra region.