Porbandar Sudamapuri | |
---|---|
City | |
Porbandar (Gujarat) | |
Coordinates: 21°38′30.0″N69°37′45.5″E / 21.641667°N 69.629306°E | |
Country | India |
State | Gujarat |
District | Porbandar |
Government | |
• Body | Porbandar Chhaya Municipal Corporation |
Area | |
• Total | 38.43 km2 (14.84 sq mi) |
Elevation | 30.85 m (101.21 ft) |
Population (2011) | |
• Total | 152,760 |
• Density | 4,000/km2 (10,000/sq mi) |
Languages | |
• Official | Gujarati |
Time zone | UTC+5:30 (IST) |
PIN | 360575 |
Vehicle registration | GJ-25 |
Porbandar is a city in the Indian state of Gujarat, perhaps best known for being the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi and Sudama. It is the administrative center of the Porbandar District and it was the former capital of the Porbandar princely state.
Porbandar's beach locally known as 'Chowpati' (heart of Porbandar) has a long, sandy expanse along the ocean. Construction activities to provide attractions and manage litter and facilities on Chowpati Beach started in around 2003. It has been furnished with well-arranged seating for tourists and commuters; there is a skating rink for children. The Chowpati ground has been used for the 'Janamastmi Fair', an annual festival. This place is well equipped with a circuit house and a range of hotels nearby for visitors.
Fisheries give a lot of employment to the city and to neighboring districts. Porbandar is also one of the last coasts remaining where the threatened marine mammal dugong can be found. Officials are working out for the conservation policies for the mammal. [1]
As per the reference in Sudama Charitra of Skanda Purana , a religious text with plenty of geographical information, the present Porbandar city was names after Goddess Porav, and was located along the river banks of Asmavati.
Onshore explorations in and around Porbandar brought to light the remains of a Late Harappan settlement dating back to the 16th-14th centuries BCE. There is evidence to suggest that the Harappan legacy of maritime activity continued till the late Harappan period on the Saurashtra coast. The discovery of ancient jetties along the Porbandar creek signifies the importance of Porbandar as an active center of maritime activities in the past. [2]
Indian theology views Porbandar as the birthplace of Sudama, a friend of Krishna. For this reason, it is also referred to as Sudaamapuri or Sudamapuri. [2]
Porbandar was the seat of the eponymous princely state in British India. Later the state belonged to the Jethwa clan of Rajputs and had been established in the area since at least the mid-16th century. The state was subordinate to the Mughal governor of Gujarat until being overrun by the Marathas in the latter half of the 18th century. After, they came under the authority of the Gaekwad court at Baroda and eventually of the Peshwa.
In common with the other states of Kathiawar, the state first came into the ambit of British influence in 1807, when the HEIC guaranteed security in the area in lieu of a fixed annual tribute to be paid to the Peshwa and the Gaekwad. In 1817, the Peshwa ceded his share to the HEIC; in 1820, the Gaekwad agreed to have the HIEC collect his due tributes in Kathiawar and remit the same to his treasury.
During the British Raj, the state covered an area of 1,663 square kilometres (642 sq mi), encompassing 106 villages and a population, in 1921, of over 100,000 people. It enjoyed a revenue of Rs. 21,00,000/-. By 1947, the rulers held the style of "Highness" and the title of "Maharaj Rana Sahib". They were entitled to a salute of 13 guns as a hereditary distinction.
Upon the Independence of India in 1947, the state was annexed into the dominion of India. It was merged with the 'United State of Kathiawar', effective 15 February 1948 and eventually came to form part of the present-day state of Gujarat. The last King of Porbandar was Natwarsinhji Bhavsinhji Maharaj.
Porbandar is located at 21°37′48″N69°36′0″E / 21.63000°N 69.60000°E . [3] It has an average elevation of 1 metre (3 ft).
Like most of Gujarat, Porbandar has a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen BSh) with three distinct seasons: the “cool” from October to March, the “hot” in April, May and early June, and the monsoonal “wet” from mid-June to September. [4]
Almost no rain falls outside the monsoon season, except for a very few late-season tropical cyclones. The most powerful one occurred on 22 October 1975 and produced a storm surge of 4 metres or 13 feet. During the monsoon season, rainfall is exceedingly erratic: Annual rainfall has been as low as 32.2 millimetres or 1.27 inches in 1918 and 34.3 millimetres or 1.35 inches in 1939, but as high as 1,850.6 millimetres or 72.86 inches in 1983—when a cyclone caused over 1,100 millimetres (43.3 in) to fall over four days [5] —and 1,251.7 millimetres or 49.28 inches in 1878.
With a coefficient of variation exceeding fifty percent and an expectation of only 41 percent of mean annual rainfall in the driest year in ten, the Porbandar region is among the most variable in the world [6] —comparable to northern Australia, the Brazilian sertão and the Kiribatese Line Islands. [7]
An illustration of Porbandar's extremely variable rainfall can be seen from 1899 to 1905 when seven successive years produced annual falls of:
Porbandar, owing to its coastal location, is the least hot of all major cities in Gujarat: Average high temperatures do not reach 35 °C or 95 °F in any month.
Climate data for Porbandar Airport (1981–2010, extremes 1969–2012) | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Record high °C (°F) | 35.9 (96.6) | 38.4 (101.1) | 43.1 (109.6) | 44.0 (111.2) | 45.5 (113.9) | 40.8 (105.4) | 35.4 (95.7) | 35.4 (95.7) | 40.3 (104.5) | 41.4 (106.5) | 39.7 (103.5) | 37.2 (99.0) | 45.5 (113.9) |
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 29.3 (84.7) | 30.5 (86.9) | 32.9 (91.2) | 33.5 (92.3) | 33.5 (92.3) | 33.3 (91.9) | 31.4 (88.5) | 30.3 (86.5) | 31.7 (89.1) | 34.7 (94.5) | 33.9 (93.0) | 31.0 (87.8) | 32.2 (90.0) |
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 14.2 (57.6) | 15.8 (60.4) | 19.5 (67.1) | 22.6 (72.7) | 26.2 (79.2) | 27.9 (82.2) | 26.8 (80.2) | 25.9 (78.6) | 25.0 (77.0) | 22.6 (72.7) | 19.1 (66.4) | 15.8 (60.4) | 21.8 (71.2) |
Record low °C (°F) | 2.0 (35.6) | 5.9 (42.6) | 8.7 (47.7) | 15.0 (59.0) | 19.2 (66.6) | 20.7 (69.3) | 18.7 (65.7) | 22.2 (72.0) | 19.2 (66.6) | 15.3 (59.5) | 11.0 (51.8) | 6.4 (43.5) | 2.0 (35.6) |
Average rainfall mm (inches) | 1.1 (0.04) | 1.1 (0.04) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 2.5 (0.10) | 98.3 (3.87) | 249.5 (9.82) | 155.4 (6.12) | 77.6 (3.06) | 7.6 (0.30) | 13.1 (0.52) | 0.7 (0.03) | 606.8 (23.89) |
Average rainy days | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 3.3 | 9.4 | 7.7 | 3.0 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 25.4 |
Average relative humidity (%) (at 17:30 IST) | 40 | 43 | 49 | 57 | 68 | 72 | 77 | 77 | 70 | 52 | 42 | 41 | 57 |
Source: India Meteorological Department [8] [9] |
As of 2011 [update] India census, Porbandar (City and urban outgrowth) had a population of 152,760. [10] Males constituted 51.4% of the population and females 48.6%. Porbandar has an average literacy rate of 86.46%, higher than the national average of 74.04%: male literacy is 91.69%, and female literacy is 80.92%. In Porbandar, 9.11% of the population is under 6 years of age.
According to the Census in 2011, the population of Porbander contracted 3.85% in 2011. i.e. the growth rate was negative. The sex ration of the city was 943 in 2011.[ clarification needed ]
Porbandar City is governed by a municipal council. [11] The municipality is responsible for supply of water to the city using Narmada as the main source of water supply. [12] The municipality supplies around 14 MLD everyday to the city. As per records available from 2008, the city had a coverage of 39% in terms of water supply connections though the coverage of distribution system was reported as 80%. [13] As per another assessment in the year 2016, Porbandar ranked the lowest in terms the volume of water supplied per capita at 59 lpcd (liters per capita per day) as compared to Gandhinagar which ranked the highest at 245 lpcd. [14] Municipality is also responsible for waste management in the city and generates about 66 tonnes per day of waste. [15]
The current member of Parliament is Rameshbhai Dhaduk.
This article is written like a travel guide .(January 2022) |
The best time to visit is October to March.
The local transportation is auto rickshaw. Sudama Chowk is the main hub of auto rickshaw and private taxis.
Porbandar is well-connected by road, rail and air to cities across the country.
Porbandar is an ancient port city. At present it has an all-weather port, with direct berthing facilities up to 50,000 DWT ships. [18] [19]
The city is connected through National Highway 27, connecting to Rajkot and Ahmedabad. National Highway 8E Ext (also known as State Highway 6) connects to Jamnagar, Dwarka in the north and Veraval, Bhavnagar in the south.
Major public transport is covered by the private and government buses.
Many private coaches are available daily to Rajkot, Dwarka, Veraval, Junagadh, Ahmedabad, Jamnagar, Vadodra, Surat, and Mumbai.
Large number of S.T. buses (State Transport Corporation operated by government) are available to multiple destinations including major cities of the state, small villages and towns.
From Narsang Tekri, you can catch luxurious air-conditioned private buses for Rajkot and Ahmedabad. The booking is available on the internet.
Porbandar railway station connects Porbandar with major cities of state and the country. There are daily trains to Rajkot (via Jamnagar, Bhanwad and Upleta, Dhoraji, Gondal as well), Somnath (via Junagadh) and Mumbai (via Ahmedabad, Vadodra and Surat). There are also trains to Delhi, Muzaffarpur and Howrah connecting to major cities of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Vidarbha and West Bengal. A weekly train service connects Kochuveli, Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) and Secunderabad (Hyderabad) with Porbandar via Mangalore, Calicut, Kochi and Quilon(Kollam).
From 17-Aug-2022 no flights are operational. Previously Porbandar Airport Mumbai-Porbandar & Porbandar - Delhi flight by SpiceJet was operational.
Ahmedabad-Porbandar to and fro flight by TruJet was operational as well.
Gujarat is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about 1,600 km (990 mi) 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 196,024 km2 (75,685 sq mi); and the ninth-most populous state, with a population of 60.4 million in 2011. It is bordered by Rajasthan to the northeast, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu to the south, Maharashtra to the southeast, Madhya Pradesh to the east, and the Arabian Sea and the Pakistani province of Sindh to the west. Gujarat's capital city is Gandhinagar, while its largest city is Ahmedabad. The Gujaratis are indigenous to the state and their language, Gujarati, is the state's official language.
Kathiawar is a peninsula, near the far north of India's west coast, of about 61,000 km2 (23,500 sq mi) bordering the Arabian Sea. It is bounded by the Gulf of Kutch in the northwest and by the Gulf of Khambhat in the east. In the northeast, it is connected to the rest of Gujarat and borders on the low, fertile hinterland of Ahmedabad. It is crossed by two belts of hill country and is drained radially by nine rivers which have little natural flow aside from in monsoon months, thus dams have been built on some of these. Kathiawar ports have been flourishing centres of trade and commerce since at least the 16th century.
Junagadh is the city and headquarters of Junagadh district in the Indian state of Gujarat. Located at the foot of the Girnar hills, 355 kilometres (221 mi) southwest of Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar, it is the seventh largest city in the state.
Saurashtra, also known as Kathiawar, is a peninsular region of Gujarat, India, located on the Arabian Sea coast. It covers about a third of Gujarat state, notably 11 districts of Gujarat, including Rajkot District. It was formerly a state of India before it merged with Bombay state. In 1961 it separated from Bombay and joined Gujarat.
Rajkot is the fourth-largest city in the Indian state of Gujarat after Ahmedabad, Vadodara, and Surat, and is in the centre of the Saurashtra region of Gujarat. Rajkot is the 35th-largest metropolitan area in India, with a population of more than 2 million as of 2021. Rajkot is the 6th cleanest city of India, and it is the 7th fastest-growing city in the world as of March 2021. The city contains the administrative headquarters of the Rajkot District, 245 km from the state capital Gandhinagar, and is located on the banks of the Aji and Nyari rivers. Rajkot was the capital of the Saurashtra State from 15 April 1948 to 31 October 1956, before its merger with Bombay State on 1 November 1956. Rajkot was reincorporated into Gujarat State on 1 May 1960.
The Western Railway is one of the 19 zones of Indian Railways and is among the busiest railway networks in India, headquartered at Mumbai, Maharashtra. The major railway routes of Indian Railways which come under Western Railways are: Mumbai Central–Ratlam, Mumbai Central–Ahmedabad and Palanpur–Ahmedabad. The railway system is divided into six operating divisions: Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Rajkot, Bhavnagar, Ratlam, and Mumbai WR. Vadodara railway station, being the junction point for the Ahmedabad–Mumbai route and the Mumbai–Ratlam route towards New Delhi, is the busiest junction station in Western Railways and one of the busiest junctions of Indian Railways too, while Ahmedabad Division earns highest revenue followed by Mumbai Division and Vadodara Division. Surat railway station is one of the busiest railway station in Western Railway in non-junction category where more than 180 trains pass per day.
Dwarka is a town and municipality of Devbhumi Dwarka district in the state of Gujarat. It is located on the western shore of the Okhamandal Peninsula on the right bank of the Gomti river at the mouth of the Gulf of Kutch facing the Arabian Sea.
Bhavnagar is a city in the Bhavnagar district of the Saurashtra region of Gujarat, a state of India. It was founded in 1723 by Bhavsinhji Takhtasinhji Gohil (1703–1764). It was the capital of Bhavnagar State, which was a princely state before it was merged into the Indian Union in 1948. It is now the administrative headquarters of the Bhavnagar district.
Jamnagar is a city located on the western coast of India in the state of Gujarat of Saurashtra region. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jamnagar district and the fifth largest city in Gujarat. The city lies just to the south of the Gulf of Kutch, some 337 kilometres (209 mi) west of the state capital, Gandhinagar.
Junagadh district is a district of the Indian state of Gujarat. Its administrative headquarters is the city of Junagadh.
Amreli is a city and a municipality in Amreli district in Indian state of Gujarat.
Porbandar district is one of the 33 districts of Gujarat state in western India. The district covers an area of 2,316 km2. It had a population of 5.85,449 of which 48.77% were urban as of the 2011 census. This district was carved out of Junagadh district. It lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Porbandar city is the administrative headquarters of this district. This district is surrounded by Jamnagar district and Devboomi Dwarka to the north, Junagadh district and Rajkot district to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west and south.
Rajkot district is one of the 33 districts of the Indian state of Gujarat. Located in Saurashtra peninsula, Rajkot city is the administrative headquarters of the district. It is the third-most advanced district in Gujarat and the fourth most populus.
Botad is a city and district headquarters of Botad district, Gujarat, India. It is about 92 km from Bhavnagar and 133 km From Ahmedabad by road distance.
Jai Hind is a newspaper published daily in Gujarati from Rajkot, Gujarat, India and owned by Jai Hind Publications.
Nanji Kalidas Mehta, MBE was an Indian industrialist and philanthropist from Gujarat. He found the Mehta Group in British East Africa, with its head office in India. Known as Sheth Nanjibhai. His son Mahendra Mehta, daughter in-law Sunayana Mehta and grandson Jay Mehta now own the Mehta Group
Kirti Mandir is a small museum at the birthplace of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi in the city of Porbandar, Gujarat, India, memorializing him and his wife, Kasturba Gandhi.
Saurashtra State, formally known as United States of Kathiawar and later United States of Saurashtra, was a State of India that existed between 1948 and 1956, on Saurashtra alias Kathiawar peninsula, with Rajkot as its capital,
Mavjinjava is a small village near Bagasara in the Amreli district of the Saurashtra region in the state of Gujarat, India. There is a population of around 3,754 people in Mavjinjava. More than 3000 people live outside of Manjinjava in places like Surat, Ahmedabad & Mumbai.
The 19015/19016 Saurashtra Express is an express train belonging to Indian Railways that runs between Mumbai Central and Porbandar in India.
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