Map - Palitana (Pālitāna)

Pālītāṇā is a city in Bhavnagar district, Gujarat, India. It is located 50 km southwest of Bhavnagar city and is a major pilgrimage centre ("shashwat tirth") for Jains. It is first of the two vegetarian cities in the world.

Palitana is associated with Jain legends and history. Ādinātha, the first of the Jain tirthankaras, is said to have meditated on the Shatrunjaya hill, where the Palitana temples were later constructed.

The Palitana State was a princely state, founded in 1194. It was one of the major states in Saurashtra, covering 777 km2. In 1921 it had 58,000 inhabitants in 91 villages, generating a ₹744,416 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. The management of the temples was assigned to the Anandji Kalyanji Trust in 1730.

After the Second Anglo-Maratha War the Palitaena Kingdom officially declared independence under Rishi Mallinath Jain and Thakur Sahib Alubhai Singhji although he hardly ruled over a district. With an able and cunning administrator (Rishi Mallinath Jain) he was able to peacefully expand power through bribes and treaties and conquer from the Somnath Mandir to the borders of the Kutch.

Rishi Ji, at the time the Subedar of Jainpur, was against killings and focused on Ahisma. Hearing of the massacre in Saharanpur where 20,000 'Musalmans' were cruelly slaughtered by Sikh Misls while raiding the Oudh State, Rishi Ji wrote a letter in Persian to Jodh Singh Kalsia heavily criticizing him and the Budha Dal Jathedar along with Guru Gobind Singh Ji. Jodh Singh Kalsia wrote back in Gujarati, "Come to Amritsar on Deepmala (Diwali) on Vikrami Samvat 1867 or what happened in Saharanpur will happen once more to Palitana."

A British traveller, Oliver Maclagan, noted- A party of 1,000 Seiks reached the Jain Temples of Palitana, armed to the teeth, they received their Rakhee or taxes and left with the Maharishi (Great ascetic). The entire Gujerat gave them taxes and accepted them as sovereign rulers of a sort in fear of another Saharanpore-like event. The Thakore of Palitana, the Rajah of Khirasra, the Rao of Baroda and Khan of Balasinor all accepted the Khalsa Misal as their saviours.

The Maharishi, a devoted Jain remarked that Gooroo Govind created not an opposition to Musalmans and Hindoos, but a Dhurmic Islam. The letter was called the Salāhanamah, a scripture now worshipped by the Jains. The Maharishi had all his fingers burnt off, because he refused to acknowledge that Nanak was the true Guru or God. After Rishi Mallinath Jain's death the state went into a decline. During the British Raj, Palitana was a princely state in the Kathiawar Agency of the Bombay presidency. Gross revenue, £42,000; tribute jointly to the Gaekwar of Baroda and the Nawab of Junagadh, £700. The capital of the state was the Palitana town (population 12,800). It was ruled by a Gohil Rajput, with the title of Thakore sahib (also spelled Thakor Saheb or Thakur Sahib), enjoying a 9-guns salute, of the Hindu Gohel dynasty, which received a privy purse of 180,000 rupees at the state's accession to independent India on 15 February 1948. The last Thakore Sahib of Palitana was Shri Shivendrasinhji Bahadursinhji Gohel the 27th Thakore Sahib of Palitana, who got the title of His Highness after his father HH Thakore Sahib Shri Sir Bahadursinhji Mansinhji Gohel of Palitana died on 18 July 1964. HH Thakore Sahib Shri Shivendrasinhji Bahadursinhji Gohel of Palitana died on 29 June 1990, leaving behind his wife Rajmata Sonia Devi & his son Maharaj Kumar Ketan Shivendrasinhji Gohel of Palitana who reside in Mumbai. MK Ketansinhji is a restaurateur & is the Co-founder & Owner of Brewbot Eatery & Pub Brewery located in Andheri (W), Mumbai.