Gohil

Gohil

The Kingdom of Rajpipla was a princely state of India ruled by the Gohil Rajput clan from around 1350 till 1948 when it was merged with the Republic of India. It is now part of the state of Gujarat. Its capital town of Rajpipla is now headquarters of the Narmada district.

The princely state was situated largely between two important rivers of western India—the Narmada and the Tapti, with the Satpura range in the south. Spanning an area of over 1500 square miles (4,000 km²), of which 600 mi² (1550 km²) were forests and the rest fertile agricultural plains and river valleys, Rajpipla grew to be one of the most prosperous princely states in Gujarat, second only to Baroda. It was also famous for its agate mines.

Chokrana, a Parmar Rajput prince, originally hailing from the ruling family of Ujjain in Malwa (now the western part of the state of Madhya Pradesh), was in the early part of the fourteenth century ruling over the principality of Rajpipla, with his capital at Juna Raj or Old Rajpipla high up in the western Satpuras and deep inside the forests. His daughter was married to the legendary Mokhdaji, the Gohil Rajput warrior chief of Ghogha in Gohilwar, Saurashtra. Chokrana, who had no male heir, adopted his grandson Samarsinhji, younger son of Mokhdaji. Mokhdaji's first wife was a Sarviya princess of Hathasani and their son Dungarsinhji succeeded as chief of Ghogha, part of which later became the princely state of Bhavnagar.

Samarsinhji acceded to the gadi (throne) of Rajpipla around the mid-fourteenth century, assuming the name Arjunsinhji. From then, Rajpipla was ruled by the Gohil Rajput dynasty. The Kul Devi (family deity) of the royal family of Rajpipla is Shri Harsiddhi Mataji.