Makaji Meghpar () (also known as Meghana) is a village and former

chiefdom A chiefdom is a political organization of people representation (politics), represented or government, governed by a tribal chief, chief. Chiefdoms have been discussed, depending on their scope, as a stateless society, stateless, state (polity) ...

of Hardhrol Jadeja chieftains in the

Jamnagar district Jamnagar District is a district of Gujarat in Western India. Its headquarters are located in the eponymous city of Jamnagar. It hosts the production facilities of large Indian companies such as Reliance. Among its attractions are several palac ...

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. It was founded in 1754 by Makanji Jadeja of

Dhrol State Dhrol State was one of the 562 princely states of British India. It was a 9 gun salute state belonging to the Kathiawar Agency of the Bombay Presidency. Its capital was in the town of Dhrol, located in the historical Halar region of Kathiawa ...

. Gujarati writer Harilal Upadhyay was from the village. The people are mainly

Jadeja Jadeja ( Gujarati, Sindhi: , or ''Jāṛejā'') is a Samma Rajput clan that inhabits the Indian state of Gujarat and the Tharparkar district of Sindh, Pakistan. They originated from Sammas of Sindh, a pastoral group, and laid a claim on the ...

Rajput Rājpūt (, from Sanskrit ''rājaputra'' meaning "son of a king"), also called Thākur (), is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating fro ...

s with some

Brahmin Brahmin (; ) is a ''Varna (Hinduism), varna'' (theoretical social classes) within Hindu society. The other three varnas are the ''Kshatriya'' (rulers and warriors), ''Vaishya'' (traders, merchants, and farmers), and ''Shudra'' (labourers). Th ...

Patel Patel is an Indian surname or Indian honorifics, title, predominantly found in the States and union territories of India, state of Gujarat, representing the community of land-owning farmers and later (with the British East India Company) busine ...

s and

Dalit Dalit ( from meaning "broken/scattered") is a term used for untouchables and outcasts, who represented the lowest stratum of the castes in the Indian subcontinent. They are also called Harijans. Dalits were excluded from the fourfold var ...

History

Makaji Meghpar was founded by Makanji Jadeja in 1754 as the capital of the chiefdom (Jagir). Until

independence Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of ...

, this village was ruled under

Nawanagar State Nawanagar was an Indian state and then a princely state in the historical Halar region, located on the southern shores of the Gulf of Kutch. It was ruled by the Jadeja Rajput dynasty and became a part of newly formed India. Its capital cit ...

Census

Makaji Meghpar is a medium size village located in Kalavad of Jamnagar district, with total 383 families residing. The Makaji Meghpar village has population of 1942 of which 983 are males while 959 are females as per Population Census 2011. In Makaji Meghpar village population of children with age 0-6 is 259 which makes up 13.34% of total population of village. Average Sex Ratio of Makaji Meghpar village is 976 which is higher than Gujarat state average of 919. Child Sex Ratio for the Makaji Meghpar as per census is 837, lower than Gujarat average of 890. Makaji Meghpar village has lower literacy rate compared to Gujarat. In 2011, literacy rate of Makaji Meghpar village was 74.45% compared to 78.03% of Gujarat. In Makaji Meghpar Male literacy stands at 80.88% while female literacy rate was 68.01%.

Work Profile

In Makaji Meghpar village out of total population, 729 were engaged in work activities. 87.38% of workers describe their work as Main Work, while 12.62% were involved in Marginal activity providing livelihood for less than 6 months. Of 729 workers engaged in Main Work, 448 were cultivators while 116 were Agricultural labourer.

Data table

Castes

Schedule Caste (SC) constitutes 21.83% and Socially and Educationally Backward Caste constitutes 25.75% of total population in Makaji Meghpar village. The village Makaji Meghpar currently doesn't have any Schedule Tribe (ST) population. Forward Castes (Rajputs, Brahmins and Patels) constitutes 52.42% of the population of Makaji Meghpar.

Economy

Village's main activity is agriculture. Most of them are engaged in farming, producing main crops such as ground nuts, bajra, cotton, and wheat.

Administration

The village is administered by Makaji Meghpar Gram Panchayat which is headed by

Sarpanch A sarpanch, gram pradhan, mukhiya, or president is a decision-maker, elected by the village-level constitutional body of local self-government called the gram sabha (village government) in India. The sarpanch, together with other elected panchay ...

. Alabhai M. Gamara is an incumbent Sarpanch, Bharatiba Mayurdhvajsinh Jadeja is Upsarpanch.

Government and politics

Makaji Meghpar Gram Panchayat is the local government of the village. The panchayat has a total of 8 wards and each ward is represented by an elected ward member. The ward members are headed by a

and the present Sarpanch is Alabhai Gamara. The secretary of the panchayat is Parakramsinh Jadeja.

Geography

Makaji Meghpar is located at 22.33°N 70.48°E. It has an average elevation of 53 metres (174 ft). The village is located on the bank of Domdi River and Und River. The village is spread in the area of 23.44 km². Makaji Meghpar is situated in the region called

Saurashtra Saurashtra, Sourashtra, or variants may refer to: ** Kathiawar, also called Saurashtra Peninsula, a peninsula in western India ** Saurashtra (state), alias United State of Kathiawar, a former Indian state, merged into Bombay State and since its d ...

in the

state of

. Meghpar is the administrative headquarter of the Makaji Meghpar Rural Complex including Shivnagar, Mangalpur and Paru faubourgs.

Culture

All residents of Makaji Meghpar speak Gujarati language.

Religions

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

is only religion in Makaji Meghpar.

Temples

The village has several Hindu temples, such as Aashapura Mataji Temple, Bhavani Mata Temple, Vaidyanath Mahadev Temple, Thakurji na Chora, Hanuman temple, shakti mata temple, etc. There are several Devdis ( small temples) dedicated to folk gods and goddesses of peasant and pastoral communities. These Devdis include sacred places dedicated to Meladi mata, Ramdeoji, machchho mata, khetaliya(kshetrapal) naag, sarmariya naag etc.

Sports

Cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

is the most popular sport in Makaji Meghpar. Other popular traditional sports include

Kabaddi Kabaddi (, ) is a contact team sport played between two teams of seven players. It is one of the traditional games of South Asia. In this game, a raider enters the opposing half of the court to touch defenders and attempt to return within 30 ...

and Kho Kho.

Connectivity

The Makaji Meghpar Rural Complex is connected with Paddhari,

Kalavad Kalavad is a city and a municipality in Jamnagar district in the Indian state of Gujarat. Kalavad is known for Shitla Mataji Temple. The Pin Code of Kalavad is 361160. Geography Kalavad is located at . It has an average elevation of 87 metr ...

and surrounding villages with single lane paved road.

Rajkot Airport Rajkot Airport is a public airport serving the city of Rajkot, Gujarat, India. It is operated by the Airports Authority of India (AAI). It was the 4th busiest airport in Gujarat after Ahmedabad, Surat and Vadodara until all scheduled commerci ...

is nearest Airport. Hadmatiya junction and Paddhari are nearly railway stations.

References

External links

Imperial Gazetteer, on dsal.uchicago.edu
{{Princely states of the Western India States Agency Villages in Jamnagar district States and territories established in 1754 1754 establishments in India Princely states of Gujarat