The Shining Armour of Gujarat: Rajkot
This wonderful city is the place where Mahatma Gandhi completed his primary education.
To start with Rajkot is the fourth largest city in Gujrat after Ahmedabad, Surat and Vadodra. This is the centre of Saurashtra region of Gujarat. Rajkot is the 7th cleanest city in India which accommodates around 1.2 million people as of 2015 survey. This beautiful town is located on the banks of the river aji and nyari.
It was ruled by many rulers in past hence this city has a varied fascinating culture. This place has played a very significant part in the Indian independence moment. This was the home to Mohandas karamchand Gandhi .This city is 26th largest city of India.
Previously Rajkot was the capital of Saurashtra state from 15 April 1948 to 31 October 1956 before merging in Bombay State on 1 November 1956.
Rajkot was again included back into Gujarat State from bilingual Bombay state on 1 May 1960.
The famous-devastating earthquake which cantered near bhuj, struck this city. This earthquake measured 6.9 on Richter scale.
Talking about their culture, the people in Rajkot are mostly vegetarians and worships cow. The women of Rajkot are fond of jewellery and hence due to this we find many interesting and unique jewellery in Rajkot.
The Attire for ladies is the Gujarati type of the Sari and men can be seen in flowing Kurtas and formal wear.
As this city was under various rulers, Rajkot is multicultural. One can find people speaking many languages, like Gujarati, Hindi, Urdu, English, Sindhi, Bengali, Tamil, Malayalam and Marathi.
Rajkot is frequently referred to as “Rangilu Rajkot” which translates to The Colourful city- Rajkot.
Some amazing places to look for in Rajkot:
Watson Museum
This museum was inaugurated in 1888 and was named after the British Political Agent Colonel John Watson. This Museum boasts of unique copies of artifacts from Mohenjodaro, costumes, sculptures of the local tribal people.
This museum has a vast collection of human history and culture. Its collection includes objects of colonial period of India and History of Rajkot.
The Lang Library
This library is in close vincity of Watson museum.This museum which is located at Jawahar Road, Lohana Para has a big collection of old books Great isn’t it?
Mohandas Gandhi High School
This is the school where Mahatma Gandhi got his primary education. Earlier this school was known with the name “Alfred” and is located at Jawahar Rd, Jubilee Chowk. This building was built by the Nawab of Junagadh and later was named as the Duke Alfred of Saxe-Coburg.
Kaba Gandhi No Delo
This is basically a museum type of memorial in which belongings of Gandhi is displayed. Located at Gheekantha & Dharmendra Rds Crossing this has now been converted in to a memorial called “Gandhi Smriti”. The museum now consists of photographs, objects of Mahatma Gandhi.
Rotary Dolls Museum
This doll museum is located at Yagnik Road.This doll museum boasts of having over 1400 different types of doll from all across the world.
Rashtriya Shala
This museum which was founded by Mahatma Gandhi has a centre of patola weaving.
To liberate India from the clutches of british rule Gandhi shared an idea of non-Cooperation with the government. He Then started to boycott the government machinery, including Judiciary and educational institutions
Hence to become self-sufficient, Gandhi started Gujarat Vidyapith at Ahmedabad to impart education on new National Concepts. Rastriya Shala is one of such institutions.
Rashtriya Shala was inaugurated on February 21, 1921 and started functioning in a rental premises in Rajkot. The Ruler of the state of Rajkot, who was a great follower of Mahatma Gandhi provided 66 thousand sq. yards land at a nominal cost to Rashtriya Shala. Hence the main building of the institution was first constructed on this very land.
This place is rich with our country’s history, to put together this is a wonderful place to visit.
