Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, Vol. I, Part I: History of Gujarat c16.40

c16.40

In July 1859 the Wághers of Okhámandal, a mahál in Káthiávád belonging to His Highness the Gáikwár, suddenly seized and plundered Dwárka, Barvála, and Bet. They were led by a Wágher chief named Toda Manik, who alleged that he had been compelled to take up arms by the oppression of the Gáikwár's kámdárs; but it is probable that he was encouraged to throw off allegiance by the weakness of the Baroda administration and the belief that he would have to deal with the troops of the Darbár only. He soon found he was in error. Major Christie with 200 sabres of the Gajarát Horse and a wing of the 17th Regiment Native Infantry from Rájkot marched to Mandána on the Ran to cut off the communication between Okhámandal and the Káthiávád peninsula. The cantonment of Rájkot was reinforced from Ahmedábád by six guns of Aytoun's battery, a wing of the 33rd Regiment and a detachment of the 14th Regiment Native Infantry under Captain Hall, and a naval and military force was at the same time prepared in Bombay for the recovery of Bet and Dwárka as soon as the close of the monsoon should render naval operations on the western coast possible.