Palitana is a city in Bhavnagar district, Gujarat, India. It is located 50km southwest of Bhavnagar city and is a major pilgrimage centre for Jains. As a princely state, founded in 1194 (one of the major states in Saurashtra, where there were many smaller states), Palitana covered 777km and had 58,000 inhabitants (in 1921) in 91 villages, generating a 744,416 Rs revenue. In 1656, Shah Jahan's son Murad Baksh (the then Governor of Gujarat) granted the village of Palitana to the prominent Jain merchant Shantidas Jhaveri in 1656. The management of the temples was assigned to the Anadji Kalyanji trust in 1730. Palitan used to be a native state of India in the Kathiawar Agency of the Bombay presidency. Area, 289 sq. m.; pop. (2011), 150,000, showing a decrease of 15% in the decade. The chief was a Gohil Rajput, with the title of Thakur Sahib. Gross revenue, 42,000; tribute jointly to the Gaekwar of Baroda and the Nawab of Junagadh, 700. The capital of the state is Palitana; pop. 12...
