Godhra

Godhra
गोधरा<

Ramsagar Lake near Bus Stand, Godhra
Nickname(s): Land of Cows
Godhra
Godhra
Coordinates: 22°46′38″N 73°37′13″E / 22.777266°N 73.620253°E / 22.777266; 73.620253Coordinates: 22°46′38″N 73°37′13″E / 22.777266°N 73.620253°E / 22.777266; 73.620253
Country  India
State Gujarat
District Panchmahal
Named for Cows
Elevation 73 m (240 ft)
Population (2011)
 • Total 161,925
Languages
 • Spoken Gujarati, Hindi
 • Official Gujarati, Hindi and English
Time zone IST (UTC+5:30)
PIN 389001
Telephone code 02672
Vehicle registration GJ-17
Sex ratio 935/1000 ♀/♂
Literacy rate 87.51 %
Website godhracity.com

Godhra is a Municipality in Panchmahal district in Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Panchmahal district. Originally the name came from gou which means "cow" and dhara which has two meanings: one in Sanskrit which means "hold" or "land" and the other in Hindi which means "flow": It means the Land of the Cow.People of Godhra are very festive. Godhra is very well known for its Garba-Festival.

Godhra is widely known in India and internationally for being the starting point of the 2002 Gujarat violence. Statewide religious riots between Hindus and Muslims began after the Godhra train burning incident near the Godhra railway station on 27 February 2002, where about 56 Hindu pilgrims were burnt alive.[1]

History

Godhra means the land of cows. In mythological terms it can be called as land which is used for the grazing of cow. Cows used to come here from Pavagadh for grazing.

A bronze of Lord Rishabhanath of AD 975 found at Akota mentions Gohadra kula, i.e., the school of Jain monks at Gohadra.[2] The historical name of Godhra is "Godhrahk", which was established by Parmar king named Dhudhul Mandalik in A.D. 1415. Five hundred years ago, the respectable Saint Shrimad Vallabhacharya in his morning ritual speech gave the example of his dream city. He explained how the city which was seen in dream by her daughter was handed over by a Muslim resident to a Hindu family.

Religious importance

Godhra is one of the religious places in the India which has four bethaks (temples) for Vaishnav Sampraday. There are two main seats of Lord Gokulnathji and one each for Lord Gusaiji and Lord Mahaprabhuji. Godhra is the only city in India that has all three seats (or bhaitaks) of the Mahaprabhuji, Gusianji, and Gokulnathji.

Godhra has three beautiful Jain temples. The main idol (or Mul Nayak) in the Jain Temple is of Shantinath.

Godhra has a very huge and famous temple of Panchmahal District like - Trimurti Temple located at Bhamaiya area( Ahmedabad Road).

Demographics

As of 2001 India census,[3] Godhra had a population of 121,852. Males constitute 52% of the population and females 48%. Godhra has an average literacy rate of 73%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 79.5%, and female literacy is 64.5%.

Religions in Godhra
Religion Percent
Hindus
  
 46.63%
Muslims
  
 51.23%
Jains
  
 1.31%
Others†
  
 0.8%
Distribution of religions
†Includes Sikhs (0.2%), Buddhists (<0.2%).

Connectivity

Godhra GSRTC Bus Station

Godhra is connected to all major towns of Gujarat by public transport service operated by GSRTC. And Godhra is Railway Junction that connects Godhra with different parts of state and nation

Education

Godhra is an educated city. It has an average literacy rate of 87.51%, higher than the national average of 59.5%

University

Schools

Colleges

There are several colleges in Godhra for various studies, like

Landscape

Nehru Park Godhra located near bus station

Mesri River, Ramsagar Lake, Naheru Garden and in far east Kanelav Lake represents nature's beauty.

References

  1. ↑ Dasgupta, Manas (2011-03-06). "It was not a random attack on S-6 but kar sevaks were targeted, says judge". The Hindu. Retrieved 2016-10-27.
  2. ↑ Akota Bronzes, Umakant P. Shah, 1959, p. 57-58.
  3. ↑ "Census of India 2001: Data from the 2001 Census, including cities, villages and towns (Provisional)". Census Commission of India. Archived from the original on 2004-06-16. Retrieved 2008-11-01.

See also

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/2/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.