Khambhat

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Khambhat , formerly known as Cambay, is a city and a municipality in Anand district in the Indian state of Gujarat. It was formerly an important trading center, although its harbor has gradually silted up, and the maritime trade has moved elsewhere. Khambhat lies on an alluvial plain at the north end of the Gulf of Khambhat, which is noted for the extreme rise and fall of its tides, which can vary as much as thirty feet in the vicinity of Khambhat.

History

Khambhat was the capital of a princely state of British India within the Gujarat division of Bombay. It has an area of 350 square miles (906 km²). As a separate state it dates only from about 1730, the time of the dismemberment of the Mughal empire. Its Nawabs were descended from Momin khan II, the last of the Mughal governors of Gujarat, who in 1742 murdered his brother-in-law, Nizam Khan, governor of Khambhat, and established himself there.

According to one school of scholars, the name Khambhat/Khambat (modern name Cambay--the Kambaya/Kanbaya of the Arabic writers) is connected with the Kambojas and it is stated to be an Apbhransh of Sanskrit Kamboja . Otherwise also, the name Khambhat/Khambat (or Kambat) can be shown to be a linguistic variant of Sanskrit Kamboja. Some people believe that the town of Khambhat may be the Camanes of Ptolemy, and it was formerly a very flourishing city, the seat of an extensive trade, and celebrated for its manufactures of silk, chintz and gold stuffs; it was mentioned in 1293 by Marco Polo, who noted it as a busy port. Owing principally to the gradually increasing difficulty of access by water by the silting up of the gulf, its commerce has long since fallen away, and the town became poor and dilapidated. The spring tides rise upwards of 30 ft (10 m), and in a channel usually so shallow form a serious danger to shipping. By 1900 the trade was chiefly confined to the export of cotton. The town was celebrated for its manufacture of agate and carnelian ornaments, of reputation. principally in China. The houses in many instances are built of stone (a circumstance which indicates the former wealth of the city, as the material had to be brought from a very considerable distance); and remains of a brick wall, 3 miles (5 km) in circumference, which formerly surrounded the town, enclose four large reservoirs of good water and three bazaars. To the southeast there are very extensive ruins of subterranean temples and other buildings half-buried in the sand by which the ancient town was overwhelmed. These temples belong to the Jains, and contain two massive statues of their deities, the one black, the other white. The principal one, as the inscription intimates, is Pariswanath, or Parswanath, carved in the reign of the emperor Akbar; the black one has the date of 1651 inscribed. In 1780 Khambhat was taken by the army of General Goddard, was restored to the Marathas in 1783, and was afterwards ceded to the British by the Peshwa under the treaty of 1803. It was provided with a railway in 1901.

Geography

Khambhat is located at . It has an average elevation of 8 metres (26 feet). Khambhat has humid climate. Normally april to june is summer. from july it rains till september. Sometimes khambhat has heavy rain. and sometimes surrounding areas gets affected from the floods in mahi river. october to february is winter. max. average temperature remains 25 to 30 and min. average temperature goes till 10 to 12. summer max. average temperature remains 38 and minimum remains around 22. Khambhat has tropical climate. in summer wind blows high. Khambhat coast's tides are the highest in the world. it goes high till 35 feet.

Demographics

As of 2001 India census, Khambhat had a population of 80,439. Males constitute 52% of the population and females 48%. Khambhat has an average literacy rate of 73%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 78%, and female literacy is 67%. In Khambhat, 10% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Additional information

The name Khambhat is most probably the origin of the family name Khambhatta.

Khambhat also appears to be the origin of the Maharashtrian surname Khambete just like the Sindhe/Shinde originates from someone who came from Sindh long ago.

The Cambyses dynasty in Iran may have derived from the area of Khambhat/Cambay historically.

Khambhat is also recognised as the landing place for the first of the representatives from the Fatimid Caliphate era from the shores of Egypt. Maulai Ahmad and Maulai Abdullah were sent to India by Imam Mustansir Billah where they propagated the cause of Fatimid Islam and laid the foundations of the one million strong Dawoodi Bohra community who are generally regarded as the inheritors of the Fatimid legacy.

References

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Last updated on Wednesday March 12, 2008 at 23:41:35 PDT (GMT -0700)
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