A Look into the History of the State

When we talk about ancient India, we cannot help but keep on talking about the reputed Indus Valley civilisation. Gujarat has a strong connection with Indus Valley Civilisation as during the historical times, it was one of the five critical centres of the civilisation. Some of famous cities that belonged to this ancient era like Lothal, Dholavira and Gola Dhoro are located in Gujarat. It was in Lothal that the country’s first port was set up. Dholavira too is India’s one of the most important archaeological places. When an excavation was conducted recently in the state, a staggering 50 Indus valley remnants were discovered here.

It is not today that Gujarat is symbolic with business. This was prevalent even during the period of 1000BC. There are enough evidences today to prove that, even in those days, Gujarat was involved in business tie-ups with many countries like Persia, Egypt, Bahrain and Sumer. The rich culture and varied lifestyles present in the state is due to the fact that it has gone through reigns of lots of dynasties like Gupta, Chalukya, Rashtrakutas, Pala, Gurjara – Pratihara Empires and many more.

Gujarat’s Connection with the Mughal Dynasty

Aurangzeb, who was the son of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal, was born in Gujarat’s Dahod district. During his birth, his father was the Governor of Gujarat and his grandfather, Jahangir was India’s Mughal Emperor. As Aurangzeb grew up, he became Gujarat’s Governor and his work was based out of Ahmedabad. During this time, Aurangzeb was involved with lots of victories and strongly emerged before he finally became the Mughal Emperor. He also has the distinction of being the richest Mughal Emperor. His love for Dahod is evident from the fact that during 1704, in a letter that was addressed to his son, Mohammed Azam Shah, he asked his son to be kind upon the people of Dahod as it was his birthplace.

The Scene after Independence

Gujarat was divided into three main sectors after India attained Independence. They were Saurashtra, Kutch and Bombay. During those days, the northern part of Gujarat was dominated by Gujarati speaking population and the southern part was dominated by Marathi speaking population. There were lots of political outbursts and agitations during 1950s in the state. As a result of all this, during 1960, this original state of Gujarat was split into two new states, Gujarat and Maharashtra.

Ahmedabad was the first capital of Gujarat in 1960, while in 1970, Gandhinagar became the new capital. The state faced a huge setback and economic crisis in 1979, when the Morbi dam project failed miserably. 2001 was a year that Gujarat would like to forget, as this was the year a massive earthquake of 7.7 magnitude shook the state like never before. This earthquake took lives of over 2 lakh people and injured many others. The very next year another catastrophe struck in the form of Godhra Train attack which led to a massive clash between Hindus and Muslims in the state. Around 800 Muslims and 250 Hindus lost their lives in this attack and thousands of people went missing. The same year, a terrorist attack in the famous Akshardham temple scared the city. This attack took the lives of around 30 civilians, before the commandos emerged successful in killing the terrorists. During 2008, seventeen bomb blasts one after the other occurred in the city killing many and injuring many more.

The Economic Health of Gujarat

Gujarat is one of the largest producers of peanuts, dates, milk and by products of milk and sugarcane. It houses some of the biggest businesses in the country and the oil refineries operated by Reliance Industries in Gujarat are the largest in the country. Bhavnagar is home to the biggest shipbreaking yard in the world. In terms of agricultural growth, Gujarat is the highest in the state. It is considered to be economically rich than most of the other states in the country. It is also one of the most straight forward states in the country as there are lesser bribes and less number of liquor shops here than the other states. The lack of bribes is the main reason as why entrepreneurs feel safe here.

People in Gujarat

Gujarati is the native language of Gujarat. Due to the global presence of Gujaratis all over the world, this language ranks as the 26th most spoken language. A minority of the population speak Hindi, Marathi, Sindhi and Urdu. A majority of the people that is around 90% follow Hinduism, followed by 7% Muslims and the rest by Jains, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and others. There are also a considerable number of Iranians in the state, known as Zoroastrians, who have contributed to the business growth of the state phenomenally like the Tatas, Godrejs and Wadias.

Food in Gujarat

The food in Gujarat is predominantly vegetarian and has a sweet taste in most of the dishes. The food spread in Gujarat is not only healthy but also sumptuous. Most of the foods give a sweet, salty, spicy and tangy taste at the same time. Gujarati cuisine is famous all over the world and has been depicted in most of the Hindi movies. One of the mandatory components of Gujarati food is buttermilk. It is also known as chaas. Sometimes, it is plain and sometimes it is flavoured with some spices.

Festivals of Gujarat

Navratri is celebrated with great fervour in Gujarat. Most of the Gujaratis celebrate this festival with the symbolic Rass Garba dance. During festivals, the men and women dancers are dressed in ethnic and colourful costumes. The other famous festival here is the Makar Shankranti which is marked by the famous Kite Festival. The other festivals that are celebrated in great spirit in Gujarat are Diwali, Holi and other festivals celebrated by Christians and Muslims.

How to Reach

By Air

Gujarat is one of the states with the highest number of domestic airports. Surat, Bhavnagar, Vadodara, Ahmedabad, Junagarh, Keshod, Bhuj and Rajkot are the airports in Gujarat.

By Train

There are lots of passenger, mail, express and superfast trains that run from Ahmedabad and other important stations in Gujarat to the main cities in the country.

By Road

The infrastructure in terms of road and national highways are one of the best in India. These connect Gujarat with the other parts of the country. There are also comfortable luxury, deluxe, air conditioned and non AC buses that connect Gujarat with all nearby states like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. These buses are operated by both government and private operators.