Everything on Gujarat & Western India

Regional Divisions

28 items

• How the Gujarat Throne Was Made: Thirteen Successions, Three of Them Ordinary — essay · Gujarat Sultanate · 23 sources
  The archive's own record of the Gujarat throne makes an argument no summary history has counted before: of the thirteen successions after the dynasty's founder, only three passed from a living father to his son in the ordinary way. Five were installations engineered by a court minister or the nobility outright — the minister Etimad Khan alone installed two of those kings — and seven of the thirteen reigns that followed ended in murder, deposition, or death in battle. Gujarat's throne, this chain shows accession by accession, spent more of its history being made than being inherited.
• How the Musnud Passed: Succession in Faruqi Khandesh, 1370–1601 — essay · Khandesh Sultanate · 32 sources
  Ferishta, read through Briggs's translation, gives Khandesh's Faruqi dynasty thirteen rulers across 1370–1601, and eight of the twelve successions after the founder passed by designation or uncontested inheritance. The other four were forced: a minister's installation and swift poisoning of a child-king, a foreign sultan's placement of his own grandson, an unentitled brother's self-assumed crown, and a minority-driven deposition — the throne of a corridor state whose larger neighbours, Gujarat first and the Mughals after, kept a hand in deciding who sat on it.
• Half by the Sword: How the Throne Passed at Mando, 1401–1562 — essay · Malwa Sultanate · 30 sources
  Of the ten times the Malwa throne changed hands between Dilawar Khan Ghuri's assumption of royal state in 1401 and Baz Bahadur's coronation in 1555, five were usurpations — the throne taken by force rather than passed by right — against only three ordinary inheritances. Read accession by accession from Ferishta's chronicle, Malwa's crown passed less often by right than by force: a minister's cup-bearer poisoned the king, two sons killed their own brothers, and once a mere officer of a fallen government crowned himself with no blood claim to anything. This essay follows each seating, unseating and killing this archive's own page images record, and closes with the fall — Akbar's 1561–62 conquest and the death of Roopmati — that the chronicle behind it has not yet been opened far enough to cover.

• Palanpur — the Lohani-Jhalori Nawabs — Dynasty · 1370 – 1948 · Gujarat & Western India
  Nawabi state in north Gujarat ruled by the Pathan Lohani tribe of the Jhalori dynasty; the 1370 founding date is tradition-based per the source itself. Acceded to India in 1948.
• Radhanpur — the Babi Nawabs — Dynasty · 1753 – 1948 · Gujarat & Western India
  Babi-dynasty Nawabi state in north Gujarat; independence dated to 1753 when Jawan Mard Khan II broke from Mughal governorship. Acceded to India on 10 June 1948. Imperial Gazetteer (2026-09-22): The Gazetteer's Radhanpur State entry (vol. 21) dates the passage of the state's external relations to British oversight to 1813, with a further arrangement in 1819, rather than giving a single founding year in the passages retrieved.
• Cambay — the Nawabs — Dynasty · 1730 – 1948 · Gujarat & Western India
  Nawabi state on the Gulf of Khambhat, taken by the penultimate Mughal governor of Gujarat in 1730; the last Nawab signed accession dated variously 15 Aug 1947 / 10 June 1948 in the source's own ruler table. Imperial Gazetteer (2026-09-22): The Gazetteer's Cambay State entry (vol. 9) marks about 1730 as when Cambay was established as a distinct state, under its founder Momin Khan, matching the row's current start date.
• Sachin — the Siddi Nawabs — Dynasty · 1791 – 1948 · Gujarat & Western India
  Siddi (African-descended) Nawabi state south of Surat, established 1791; the last Nawab signed accession to India on 8 March 1948. Imperial Gazetteer (2026-09-22): The Gazetteer's Sachin State entry (vol. 21) attributes the founding of Sachin as a separate Siddi state to an exchange in which Balu Mia ceded Janjira to the Peshwa in return for Sachin, consistent with the row's 1791 start date though the exact digit is OCR-obscured in the passage retrieved.
• Malik Firoz Khan I — Person · took Palanpur c. 1590 – 1614; sole head from 1616 · Gujarat & Western India
  Brother of Ghazni Khan Jhalori; took Palanpur and Deesa during his brother's rule at Jhalor and made Palanpur his headquarters, founding the family's rule there, then in 1616 also took over the main Jhalor chieftainship from his nephew Pahar Khan, uniting both under himself.
• Jafar Khan Babi — Person · 1693 – · Gujarat & Western India
  Grandson of Bahadur Khan Babi (faujdar of Tharad under Shah Jahan) and son of Sher Khan Babi; obtained the faujdari of Radhanpur, Sami, Munjpur and Tervada in 1693 with the title Safdar Khan, founding the family's hold on Radhanpur, and was later made governor of Bijapur (1704) and Patan (1706).
• Kamal-ud-din Khan, titled Jawan Mard Khan (II) — Person · usurped Ahmadabad 1707; confirmed at Radhanpur 1753 · Gujarat & Western India
  Son of Khan Jahan; usurped the Mughal governorship of Ahmadabad after Aurangzeb's death amid Maratha incursions and the collapse of imperial power, and during his rule a cadet branch of the family founded the Babi houses of Junagarh and Balasinor; in 1753, after Raghunath Rao Peshwa and Damaji Gaikwar took Ahmadabad from him, he was confirmed as jagirdar of only Radhanpur, Sami and Munjpur — the territorial base of the later Radhanpur State.
• Muftakhar Khan (Nur-ud-din) — Person · r. c. 1742 – 1784 · Gujarat & Western India
  Nur-ud-din, son of Momin Khan, killed Nizam Khan and seized the government of Cambay, ruling with 'brave resistance and diplomatic evasion' against the Marathas until his death on 22 January 1784.
• Muhammad Kuli — Person · r. 1784 – 1790 · Gujarat & Western India
  Muhammad Kuli, son-in-law of Nur-ud-din, succeeded him in 1784 after a disputed contest with the rival claimant Mirza Jani, and ruled until his death in 1790.
• Fateh Ali Khan — Person · r. 1790 – 1823 · Gujarat & Western India
  Fateh Ali, son of Muhammad Kuli, succeeded on 7 February 1790 and ruled until his death on 28 October 1823.
• Bande Ali Khan — Person · r. 1823 – 1841 · Gujarat & Western India
  Bande Ali Khan, brother of Fateh Ali, succeeded him in 1823 and ruled until his death in 1841.
• Husain Yawar Khan — Person · r. 1841 – 1880 · Gujarat & Western India
  Husain Yawar Khan, nephew of Fateh Ali, succeeded his uncle Bande Ali Khan in 1841 after another brother of Fateh Ali resigned his own claim, and ruled until his death in April 1880.
• Jafar Ali Khan — Person · r. 1880 – ? · Gujarat & Western India
  Jafar Ali Khan, eldest son of Husain Yawar Khan, succeeded his father in April 1880; he was born on 26 August 1848.
• Balu Mian — Person · r. 1791 – 1802 · Gujarat & Western India
  Balu Mian, Sidi of Janjira, resigned his claims to Janjira to the Peshwa in 1791 and received lands near Surat that became the State of Sachin, taking the title of Nawab from the Emperor of Delhi; he ruled until his death in 1802.
• Ibrahim Muhammad Yakut Khan I — Person · r. 1802 – 1853 · Gujarat & Western India
  Ibrahim Muhammad Yakut Khan, son of Balu Mian, succeeded him in 1802; his extravagance put the State deeply in debt, and in 1829 he ceded its administration to British management, retaining the Nawabship until his death in 1853.
• Abdul Karim Khan I — Person · r. 1853 – 1868 · Gujarat & Western India
  Abdul Karim Khan, son of Ibrahim Muhammad Yakut Khan, succeeded on his father's death in 1853, though the State's administration (under British management since 1829) was restored to him only in 1864; he died in December 1868.
• Ibrahim Muhammad Yakut Khan II — Person · r. 1868 – 1873 · Gujarat & Western India
  Ibrahim Muhammad Yakut Khan, eldest son of Abdul Karim Khan, had his succession recognised by the British Government in December 1868 and ruled until his death in 1873.
• Abdul Kadar Khan — Person · r. 1873 – 1887 · Gujarat & Western India
  Abdul Kadar Khan, son of Ibrahim Muhammad Yakut Khan II, succeeded as a minor in 1873; found unfit for the position after attaining his majority, he abdicated in January 1887 in favour of his infant son and died in December 1896.
• Najaf Ali Khan — Person · r. 1887 – ? · Gujarat & Western India
  Najaf Ali Khan, infant son of Abdul Kadar Khan, was born on 23 December 1886 and succeeded to the Nawabship of Sachin in January 1887 on his father's abdication.
• Mirza Jafar Nizam-i-Sani (Momin Khan) — Person · r. 1730 – 1742 · Gujarat & Western India
  Momin Khan, the last but one Mughal governor of Gujarat, founded the ruling house of Cambay and held it until his death in 1742.
• Nizam Khan — Person · charge of Cambay, d. contested date (c. 1742) · Gujarat & Western India
  Nizam Khan, son-in-law of Momin Khan, had charge of Cambay under his father-in-law and continued to hold it after Momin Khan's death in 1742, until he was killed by Nur-ud-din, who then seized the government.
• Fateh Khan — Person · acceded 1809/1813 (nominal); confirmed 1817 · Gujarat & Western India
  Son of the murdered Diwan Firoz Khan II; placed on the Palanpur throne as a minor under his uncle Shamsher Khan's regency, then confirmed as ruling chief in 1817 after a British force stormed Palanpur and ended the uncle's revolt; in November 1817 agreed to British political supervision, and in September 1822 to forbid the transport of opium through his territory.
• Shamsher Khan — Person · regent/rival chief, 1809/1813 – 1817 · Gujarat & Western India
  Uncle of Fateh Khan, raised to the vacant Palanpur chiefship by the rebel officers who had murdered Firoz Khan II; arranged to have Fateh Khan formally adopted as his heir and betrothed to his daughter while he himself managed the state, but the arrangement collapsed into open revolt, ending in 1817 when a British force stormed Palanpur and restored the young chief.
• Khan Jahan, titled Jawan Mard Khan (I) — Person · reign undated in the sources read · Gujarat & Western India
  Son of Jafar Khan Babi; received the title Jawan Mard Khan and was appointed governor of Radhanpur, Patan, Vadnagar, Visalnagar, Bijapur and Kheralu, succeeding his father though the page opened gives no accession year.
• Diwan Firoz Khan (II) — Person · reign undated in the sources read · Gujarat & Western India
  Chief of Palanpur murdered by his own officers or by 'a body of factious nobles' — the Bombay Gazetteer dates this 1813, the Imperial Gazetteer 1809 (and Aitchison's Treaties vol. 6, OCR only and not yet page-confirmed, 1812) — after which his son Fateh Khan appealed to the British and Gaikwar for help against the uncle who had seized the chiefship.