GHOGHA

About Ghogha

Ghogha is a census town in Bhavnagar district in the state of Gujarat, India. It is situated on the mid-western bank of the Gulf of Khambhat. Also known as Gogo, it was an important historical commercial port of Arabian Sea until the development of nearby Bhavnagar in the nineteenth century.The name Gogha has been traced to the famous Rajput warrior and hero Gogobava. A more likely derivation is from the shell, goghala, common along the coastIn 1872, it had a population of 9571.[1] As of 2011 India census,[4] Ghogha had a population of 12,208. Males constitute 49% of the population and females 51%. Ghogha has an average literacy rate of 70%, lesser than the national average of 74.4%: male literacy is 77%, and female literacy is 63%. In Ghogha, 12.71% of the population is under 6 years of age. The Imperial Gazetteer of India (1908:301) mentions that the natives of this town are reckoned the best sailor or lascars in India. The ships touching here may procure water and supplies or repair damages. A famous proverb about Gogha is Lankani Ladi ane Ghoghono var (Bride of Lanka and groom of Gogha) which perhaps indicates some kind of direct overseas relations of Gogha with Sri Lanka. According to the historical account, Arabs had established their colony at Gogha in the year 636 AD. The presence of ancient Jaina temples at Gogha dating back to the 10th -11th centuries suggest that this was a religious center also. The earliest Arabic inscription from Gogha dates to 1170 AD. During the British period ships up to 1500 tons were laden here. Pinkerton (1811) mentions that Gogha provided a harbour for the largest ships though they would lie dry on mud at low water. Gogha served as a port for Cambay, cargo being conveyed on small boats from Cambay to Gogha to be loaded on ships, the cargo unloaded from ships at Gogha being similarly transported to Cambay. Cambay was really open only to very small vessels, e.g. boats called tawri (Habib, 1982), one of which said to have been 80 tons.[5] The port of Gogha has been active since the 5th century AD and flourished as a major trading post during the 10th to 16th century AD before Bhavnagar took the place of Gogha as trading center. Being located at strategic position in the Gulf, Gogha has always been subject of an important trading center. Due to this reason Gogha had been several times attacked and captured by local rulers like Gohel Rajputs and Muslims during the medieval period (Bell, 1980:73). Stone anchors have been found from several locations along the Indian coast particularly from early the Medieval period ports such as Dabhol (Gaur et al. 2007b) Sindhudurg (Sila and Gaur, 1997), and Vijaydurg (Sila et al., 1998) which are fairly dated between 8th to 14thcentury AD.