Our People

Since the first century A.D., the Saurashtrian people have been referenced in the famous tale of Mahabharata, the 'Arthashastra' of Chanakya, the Deval Smriti, and the Buddha stories. More so, the likely remains of the ancestors of today’s Saurashtrians are found near Gondal in the Saurashtra region. These stories and artifacts highlight the possibility that the “culture of Saurashtra may be over 4,000 years old.”

Source for further reading: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2033685

The original Saurashtrian community is thought to inhabit the kingdom of Saurashtra in the modern state of Gujarat. This possible location is further justified by the Tamil language itself. In Tamil, the first Saurashtrians were known as Patunulkars, or the weavers who speak “Pattunuli,” a dialect of Gujarat.

Sources for further reading: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2033685 and http://self.gutenberg.org/articles/eng/Saurashtra_people

As the Saurashtrian community migrated around the Saurashtra region, they sold silk garments, at which they were experts at manufacturing. Dominating the silk-trading community, they even set up their own silk-weaving guilds. Furthermore, the Saurashtrians became the primary manufacturer of garments for the kings in the region. Using the wealth they had accumulated from their craft, the Saurashtra people began building hundreds of temples based upon physics, optics, and geometry to devoutly worship their Sun God. All in all, the Saurashtrian people embodied a character of bravery, adventure, religious determination, business-savvy, and creativity.

Sources for further reading: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2033685, https://gsatsaurashtri.org/history/, http://self.gutenberg.org/articles/eng/Saurashtra_people, and http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/52927461.cms?

Although the Saurashtrians became prosperous in northern India, an outside force caused these people to eventually migrate to southern India. And according to https://www.palkar.org/history.shtml, three theories explain this “outside force.” Theory one states that the first independent ruler of the Ghaznavid dynasty Mahmud of Ghazni invaded northern India multiple times to plunder its riches. Among those attacked were the Saurashtrian people (with limited war capabilities), and, therefore, many Saurashtrian families escaped to the South. Theory two states that when the 17th-century Indian ruler Shatrapathi Shivaji invaded the South, an entourage of Saurashtrians accompanied him and stayed back to develop their own community. Finally, Theory three states that during the rule of the Vijayanagaram Empire in northern India, the Nayakars’ kingdom dominated the South. As silk weavers, a few Saurashtrian families may have been recruited to become “royal weavers” for the Nayakars in southern Indian, and these families may have later developed their own communities in the South. Nevertheless, these theories are still up to debate as much evidence is lacking to definitively disprove or prove any of them.

Sources for further reading: https://gsatsaurashtri.org/history/ and http://www.palkar.org/history.shtml

Even after many of the original Saurashtrians migrated to the South, their “first home” still held their name for much of history. In fact, shortly after India’s Independence, in 1948, the Saurashtra state was formed, with its capital at Rajkot. However, in 1957, the Saurashtra state merged with the larger Bombay State, which later separated into the modern-day states of Gujarat and Maharashtra.

Sources for further reading: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2033685 and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saurashtra_(state)