Gujarat is a vibrant state in western India, renowned for its rich history and cultural diversity. Known as the “State of Princely States,” Gujarat was home to many princely states during British rule, each with its own unique identity and governance. The integration of these princely states into the Indian Union after independence in 1947 was a complex and fascinating process. States like Baroda, Kutch, and Junagadh played significant roles in shaping the modern landscape of Gujarat. From the Rann of Kutch to the vibrant cities of Ahmedabad and Surat, Gujarat is a testament to the blend of tradition and modernity.
Before independence, Gujarat had numerous princely states. Broadly, these princely states were referred to either as Baroda, Western India States Agency, or the Gujarat States Agency.
By 1947, present-day Gujarat was referred to as Saurashtra or Kathiawar and comprised of 222 princely states, which were further fragmented into 449 units with further sub-divisions adding up to 860 jurisdictional areas.
Sardar Patel suggested unifying them into the United States of Kathiawar. The union came into being in February 1948 and was renamed the United States of Saurashtra in the same year.
The biggest hindrance to the political stability of Saurashtra was the princely state of Junagadh. Despite having publicly announced its decision to join the Kathiawar union, Junagarh expressed a decision to accede to Pakistan at the last minute. Junagarh’s decision to accede to Pakistan posed a tricky situation as various smaller princely states within Kathiawar interspersed the region, and Junagarh itself was not contiguous to Pakistan. Influenced by Junagarh’s decision, smaller states like Mangrol and Manovadar also started considering accession to Pakistan.
When despite multiple exchanges between India, Pakistan, and Junagarh, a decision could not be reached, India moved troops into Junagarh. By that time, the nawab had fled to Pakistan, so India resorted to conducting a plebiscite in Junagarh which largely favoured its merger with India. Junagarh finally joined India in 1949. Unlike Junagarh, Kutch, another princely state in proximity to Gujarat, acceded to India, but the government struggled to decide between its merger with Saurashtra or Rajasthan. Later, it was rendered as a Part C state - to be directly under the control of the Union.
Gujarat states, falling towards the east of Kathiawar were a patchwork of 144 princely states. India desired their integration with Bombay states and fortunately, all except Baroda acceded to the Indian Union by March 1948. Adamant on his decision to remain independent, Sir Pratap Singh Gaekwar attempted to prevent its merger with India, but ultimately in 1949, he too signed the merger agreement.
The idea of a unified Gujarat (including Saurashtra, Kutch, and the Eastern Gujarat States) was coined as "Mahagujarat" back in 1937. While the SRC saw substantial merit in the idea of Mahagujarat, it also had to take account of the sizeable Gujarati population in Bombay which stood in conflict with the Maharashtra states over the ownership of the city of Greater Bombay.
Unable to arrive at a decision, the SRC finally recommended the creation of a bilingual Bombay State in 1956. The new bilingual state comprised present-day Gujarat and Maharashtra was the largest in the country and covered one-sixth of India’s area.
The merger with Bombay States cost the Gujarat states their independent identity. Dissatisfied with their amalgamation into Bombay, the Mahagujarat Andolan gained momentum. Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti was also simultaneously established to demand a unilingual state. Finally, on 1st May 1960, Bombay State was bifurcated into the present-day states of Maharashtra and Gujarat.
Today, the state of Gujarat has 33 districts, but in 1951, Gujarat’s modern-day districts were divided between the states of Saurashtra and Bombay.
Saurashtra had only 5 districts then apart from Kutch. Amreli district (then part of Bombay state) was interspersed between the territory of Saurashtra and much of the Eastern portion of present-day Gujarat was also a part of Bombay state.
It was in 1960 (after the bifurcation of the bilingual Bombay state) that Gujarat state took a shape that bears resemblance to its present-day boundaries. Post-bifurcation of the bilingual Bombay state, the following districts from Bombay state (1951) became a part of the unilingual state of Gujarat.
Between 1961 and 2011, districts in the state of Gujarat increased from 17 to 26. In 2013, 7 new districts were created within the state, making a total of 33 districts within the state.
The new districts within the state were either carved out of original districts or combined parts of two different districts.
Interesting among these is the creation of districts like: (i) Botad: created from parts of Ahmadabad and Bhavnagar; (ii) Mahisagar: created from parts of Panch Mahals and Kheda and (iii) Morbi: created from parts of Rajkot, Surendranagar and Jamnagar
The state of Gujarat has also seen a fair share of name changes in districts. While some of these name changes have come about via an attempt to re-instate the local pronunciation, for others it is hard to assign a reason.
Sources: Administrative Atlas of India (2011). Origin Story of India’s States - Venkata Raghavan Subha Srinivasan (2020). Mapping Place Names of India (2019)-Anu Kapur; Gujarat Government-District Website/s
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