Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v1.c17.s5.t2.179

v1.c17.s5.t2.179

Gohil.²—This was a distinguished race : it claims to be Suryavansi, and with some pretension. The first residence of the Gohils was Juna Khergarh, near the bend of the Luni in Marwar.³ How long they had been established here we know not. They took it from one of the aboriginal Bhil chiefs named Kherwa, and had been in possession of it for twenty generations when expelled by the [115] Rathors at the end of the twelfth century. Thence migrating to Saurashtra, they fixed at Piramgarh ;⁴ which being destroyed, one branch settled at Bhagwa, and the chief marrying the daughter of Nandanagar or Nandod,⁵ he usurped or obtained his father-in-law’s estates ; and twenty-seven generations are enumerated, from Sompal to Narsingh, the present Raja of Nandod. Another branch fixed at Sihor, and thence founded Bhaunagar and Gogha. The former town, on the gulf of the Mahi, is the residence of the Gohils, who have given their name, Gohilwar, to the eastern portion of the peninsula of Saurashtra. The present chief addicts himself to commerce, and possesses ships which trade to the gold coast of Sofala.