Gondal is a city and municipality in the Rajkot district of the state of Gujarat, India. Located in the Saurashtra region of the Kathiawar peninsula, it lies on the banks of the Gondali river and was historically the capital of the princely state of Gondal during the British Raj. The city is known for its royal heritage, palaces, and Ayurvedic traditions, and today functions as a market town and an administrative taluka headquarters.
| Country | India |
|---|---|
| State | Gujarat |
| Region | Saurashtra (Kathiawar) |
| District | Rajkot |
| Type | City and municipality; taluka headquarters |
| River | Gondali |
| Languages | Gujarati, Hindi |
| Historical status | Former capital of Gondal princely state |
Gondal lies in the central part of the Saurashtra peninsula, to the south of Rajkot city. The terrain consists of the gently undulating plains characteristic of central Saurashtra, with black cotton soils that support cotton, groundnut, and oilseed cultivation. The Gondali river, a small seasonal stream, runs through the town and is dammed nearby for water supply.
Gondal was the seat of a Rajput princely state ruled by the Jadeja dynasty, an offshoot of the larger Jadeja network that also ruled Nawanagar, Rajkot, and Morvi. The state traced its founding to the seventeenth century, when Kumbhoji Meramanji is traditionally credited with establishing the line at Ardoi and later Gondal.
Under the British, Gondal was a salute state in the Kathiawar Agency of the Bombay Presidency. Its most notable ruler was Maharaja Sir Bhagwatsinhji (reigned 1869–1944), a reformer who oversaw construction of railways, roads, schools, hospitals, and modern administrative offices, and who introduced free and compulsory primary education and removed octroi duties in his state. He was also a scholar who compiled the Bhagavad-Go-Mandal, a comprehensive Gujarati-language encyclopaedic dictionary.
After India's independence in 1947, Gondal acceded to the Indian Union and became part of the United State of Saurashtra, which was later merged into Bombay State in 1956 and into the new state of Gujarat in 1960.
Gondal serves as a regional trading hub for agricultural produce from surrounding villages. It has a long-established market yard (APMC) handling groundnut, cotton, sesame, cumin, and other commodities. Oil milling, ginning, ceramics, and engineering workshops form part of the town's small-scale industrial base. Ayurvedic medicine manufacturing has a historic presence in the city, linked to the patronage extended by Bhagwatsinhji, who was himself trained in medicine.
Gondal lies on National Highway 27 (the east–west corridor connecting Porbandar with Silchar), which forms the principal road link to Rajkot to the north and Junagadh to the south. The town is served by Gondal railway station on the broad-gauge line of the Western Railway, providing connections to Rajkot, Veraval, and onward services. The nearest airport is at Rajkot.
Civic administration is carried out by the Gondal Municipality. The city is the headquarters of Gondal taluka, one of the administrative subdivisions of Rajkot district, and falls within the Rajkot Lok Sabha constituency for parliamentary representation.