Bhuj | |
|---|---|
City | |
  Bhuj  Bhuj | |
| Coordinates:23°15′N69°40′E / 23.25°N 69.67°E /23.25; 69.67 | |
| Country |  India |
| State | Gujarat |
| District | Kutch |
| Established | 1549 |
| Founded by | Rao Hamirji Jadeja |
| Government | |
| • Type | Municipal Council |
| • Body | Bhuj Municipal Council |
| • Chairman | Rashmi Solanki (BJP) |
| Area | |
• Total | 56 km2 (22 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 110 m (360 ft) |
| Population (2011) | |
• Total | 188,236 |
| • Density | 3,400/km2 (8,700/sq mi) |
| Languages | |
| • Official | Gujarati |
| • Regional | Kutchi |
| Time zone | UTC+5:30 (IST) |
| PIN | 370001 |
| Telephone code | +912832xxxxxx |
| Vehicle registration | GJ-12 |
| Sex ratio | 0.97♀/♂ |
| Website | Bhuj Municipal Council |
Bhuj (Gujarati:[bʰudʒ]ⓘ) is a city and the headquarters ofKutch district in theIndian state ofGujarat. It was the capital ofCutch State, which was a princely state before it was merged into theIndian Union in 1947.
According to legend, Kutch (Kachchh) was ruled by theNāga chieftains in the past. Sagai, a queen of Sheshapattana, who was married to King Bheria Kumar, rose up against Bhujanga, the last chieftain of Naga. After the battle, Bheria was defeated and Queen Sagai committedsati. The hill where they lived later came to be known asBhujia Hill and the town at the foothill as Bhuj. Bhujang was later worshiped by the people as snake god,Bhujanga, and a temple was constructed to revere him.[1]
Bhuj City andKutch Region were established by Maharaja ofParmarRajputs, and deterred invasions for centuries. Bhuj City was occupied by Rao Hamir in 1510 and made the capital ofKutch (kachchh) by RaoKhengarji I in 1549.[2] Its foundation stone as state capital was formally laid onVikram Samvat 1604Maagha 5th (approx. 25 January 1548). From 1590 onwards, when Rao was forced to acknowledge theMughal supremacy, Bhuj came to be known as Suleiman Nagar amongst Muslims. The city's walls were built by RaoGodji I in 1723[dubious –discuss], and theBhujia Fort by Devkaran Seth in RaoDeshalji I's time (1718 - 1741).[3]
Bhuj has been attacked six times. In two instances, the defense was successful and in four other instances, the defense failed. In 1728, an attack by Sarbuland Khan, Mughal Viceroy of Gujarat, was repulsed by RaoDeshalji I, and, in 1765Mian Ghulam Shah Kalhoro was, by a timely display of the strength of the fortifications, induced to withdraw. During the civil troubles of the reign of the RaoRayadhan III, Bhuj was thrice taken, by Meghji Seth in 1786, by Hansraj in 1801, and byFateh Muhammad in 1808. On 26 March 1819, the hill fort of Bhujia was captured by a British detachment underSir William Keir.[3]
In 1818, Bhuj had a population of 20,000 people. Theearthquake on 16 June 1819 destroyed nearly 7000 houses with a loss of an estimated 1140 human lives. About one-third of the buildings that escaped ruin were heavily damaged, and the north face of the town wall was leveled with the ground.
The British garrison at Bhuj peaked in 1826 with nearly 1400 British troops (685 infantry, 543 dragoons, 90 foot artillery and 74 horse artillery)[4] supported by over 5000 Indian soldiers. Amongst the highest profile British figures during this time wasAlexander Burnes who was based here between 1826 and 1829.[citation needed]
In 1837, Bhuj is said to have had a population of 30,000, including 6,000 Muslims.[3]
After independence of India in 1947,Kutch State acceded unto thedominion of India and was constituted an independentcommissionaire,Kutch State. In 1956, Kutch State was merged withBombay state, which in 1960 was divided into the new linguistic states ofGujarat andMaharashtra, with Kutch becoming part of Gujarat state as Kutch district. Bhuj is the district headquarters ofKutch District, the largest district in India.
On21 July 1956[5] as well as on26 January 2001, the city suffered great losses of life and property due to earthquakes. Many parts of Bhuj were demolished due to the extensive damage, whilst others were repaired. There has been great progress in rebuilding the City since the 2001 earthquake, with considerable improvements to roads, transportation, and infrastructure.[citation needed]
Bhuj is home to one of the firstSwaminarayan Sampraday temples, built in 1822. Bhuj temple is one of the six original temples built during the earthly presence of the Lord Swaminarayan. The devotees living in Bhuj including Gangaram Mull, Sundarji Suthar and Hirji Suthar requested Lord to construct a temple at Bhuj. Lord instructed Vaishnavanand Swami to construct the temple, and Lord himself installed the murti of Lord NarNarayan Dev in Bhuj on VS 1879 on the 5th day of the bright half of the month of Vaishakh (Friday 15 May 1823 AD).[6]
Bhuj has an average elevation of 110 metres or 360 feet. On the eastern side of the city is a hill known asBhujia Hill, on which there is a Bhujia Fort, that separates Bhuj city andMadhapar town (considered one of the richest villages in Asia). It has two lakes namelyHamirsar Lake and Deshadsar (દેેેશળસર).
Bhuj has ahot arid climate (KöppenBWh), a little too dry overall to qualify as ahot semi-arid climate (BSh). Although annual rainfall "averages" around 370 millimetres or 15 inches the variability is among the highest in the world withcoefficient of variation of around sixty per cent[7] – among the few comparably variable climates in the world being theLine Islands of Kiribati, thePilbara coast of Western Australia, thesertão of Northeastern Brazil, and theCape Verde islands.[8] Typically half of each year's rainfall will occur in three hours, while during the median year rain actually falls for a total of fewer than fifteen hours.[9] Recorded annual rainfall has been as low as 9.6 millimetres or 0.38 inches in 1987 and 21.9 millimetres or 0.86 inches in 1899. Contrariwise, in 1926 a total of 1,177.1 millimetres or 46.34 inches fell and in 1959 rainfall reached 1,311.4 millimetres or 51.63 inches. 730.6 millimetres or 28.76 inches fell during Bhuj's wettest month of July 1959, of which 467.9 millimetres or 18.42 inches was recorded on 15 July alone, with over 15 inches or 380 millimetres during less than six hours on the night of 14–15 July.[10]
Apart from the cool mornings of the "winter" season from December to February, temperatures are very warm to sweltering throughout the year, which further reduces the effectiveness of the erraticmonsoonal rainfall. During the "hot" season from mid-March to mid-June, temperatures of 40 °C or 104 °F are frequent, whilst during the monsoon season they exceed 34 °C or 93.2 °F with high humidity except during rainy spells accompanied by cooler temperatures but oppressive humidity.
| Climate data for Bhuj (Bhuj Airport) 1991–2020, extremes 1963–present | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 37.0 (98.6) | 40.3 (104.5) | 43.9 (111.0) | 45.8 (114.4) | 47.8 (118.0) | 47.0 (116.6) | 41.3 (106.3) | 41.2 (106.2) | 42.8 (109.0) | 44.0 (111.2) | 40.0 (104.0) | 36.3 (97.3) | 47.8 (118.0) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 27.5 (81.5) | 30.7 (87.3) | 35.5 (95.9) | 38.9 (102.0) | 39.3 (102.7) | 37.5 (99.5) | 34.1 (93.4) | 32.7 (90.9) | 34.4 (93.9) | 36.7 (98.1) | 33.3 (91.9) | 29.1 (84.4) | 34.1 (93.4) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 11.3 (52.3) | 14.1 (57.4) | 18.9 (66.0) | 22.8 (73.0) | 25.7 (78.3) | 27.2 (81.0) | 26.4 (79.5) | 25.3 (77.5) | 24.4 (75.9) | 22.6 (72.7) | 17.7 (63.9) | 12.8 (55.0) | 20.8 (69.4) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −0.2 (31.6) | 0.3 (32.5) | 5.5 (41.9) | 12.7 (54.9) | 16.6 (61.9) | 16.1 (61.0) | 19.4 (66.9) | 20.0 (68.0) | 17.8 (64.0) | 11.1 (52.0) | 6.0 (42.8) | 0.6 (33.1) | −0.2 (31.6) |
| Average rainfall mm (inches) | 1.3 (0.05) | 0.3 (0.01) | 1.1 (0.04) | 0.2 (0.01) | 1.1 (0.04) | 36.3 (1.43) | 141.1 (5.56) | 108.1 (4.26) | 71.7 (2.82) | 7.6 (0.30) | 1.4 (0.06) | 0.1 (0.00) | 370.2 (14.57) |
| Average rainy days | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 2.1 | 5.3 | 4.2 | 2.9 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 15.8 |
| Averagerelative humidity (%)(at 17:30IST) | 33 | 30 | 27 | 28 | 40 | 52 | 65 | 67 | 56 | 34 | 31 | 33 | 41 |
| Source:India Meteorological Department[11][12][13][14][15] | |||||||||||||
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg) | This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding missing information.(April 2016) |
| Hinduism | 68.62% | |||
| Islam | 25.64% | |||
| Jainism | 4.02% | |||
| Sikhism | 0.59% | |||
| Christianity | 0.45% | |||
| Other or not stated | 0.68% | |||
In 2011 the population of Bhuj was 213,514, which consisted of 111,146 males and 102,368 females.[19]
According to the 2011 Census, Gujarati speakers are a majority in Bhuj, followed by Kachchhi, Hindi and others.[20]
Bhuj is a famous destination within India for observing the historic craftsmanship of the Kutch region, including the textile crafts of bandhni (tie-dye), embroidery, Rogan art[21] and leatherwork. Artists of nearby villages bring their artwork for sale in 'Bhuj Haat', which is situated near Jubilee Ground.
State-ownedAll India Radio has a local station in Bhuj which transmits various programmes. Local TV channels and newspapers are the most popular media.
Alfred High School, the first high school of Kutch, established in 1870, is also an architectural heritage of the town.
Krantiguru Shyamji Krishna Verma Kachchh University is located in Bhuj. The university has 41 colleges affiliated, nineteen of which are in Bhuj. The university grants degrees in arts, science, commerce, law education, management, pharmacy, social welfare, medicine and engineering.[22]
Little Steps Montessori School is the first Montessori School in Kutch established in the year 2000 by the royal family of Tera-Kutch.
Matruchhaya Kanya Vidyalay Little Steps Montessori School Bhuj
Bhuj has its own Radio Station with Studio. Prasar Bharati under Information and Broadcasting Ministry is operating Radio Studio. MW is available on 1314 kHz and FM is available on 103.7 MHz. There is also terrestrial DD channel available. DD National and DD Girnar available.
Bhuj is connected toAhmedabad,Vadodara,SuratMumbai,Delhi,Kolkata,Pune,Gaziabad,Jaipur,Ajmer,Hapur,Moradabad,Bareilly,Kharagpur,Ujjain and other cities within India by railway. The city has adomestic airport, from which daily flights connect to Mumbai with flights operated byAir India. State Transport buses are available from the ST stand in the middle of the town to various places in Gujarat. Additionally, many private tour operators also run frequent buses to major cities within and outside of the state of Gujarat.Kandla Airport is 53 km from Bhuj. The city may be navigated by the city bus andauto rickshaw.
| Train no. | Train Name | Runs From | Destination | Departure Days | Arrival Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11091-11092 | Bhuj-Pune express | Bhuj | Pune | Wednesday | Tuesday |
| 14312-14311 viaAhmedabad & 14322-14321 viaBhildi | Ala Hazrat Express | Bhuj | Bareilly | Tuesday, Thursday & Sunday for 14312. Monday, Wednesday, Friday & Saturday for 14322 | Friday, Saturday, Monday for 14311. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday & Sunday for 14321 |
| 22829-22830 | Shalimar - Bhuj Weekly SF Express | Bhuj | Shalimar | Tuesday | Monday |
| 22904-22903 | Bandra Terminus Bhuj AC Superfast Express | Bhuj | Bandra | Monday, Thursday, Saturday | Thursday, Saturday, Monday |
| 12960-12959 | Bhuj Dadar Superfast Express | Bhuj | Dadar | Monday, Thursday | Wednesday, Saturday |
| 19132-19131 | Kutch Express | Bhuj | Bandra | Daily | Daily |
| 19116-19115 | Sayajinagari Express | Bhuj | Dadar | Daily | Daily |
Taluka of Bhuj | ||
|---|---|---|
| Capital Town | Bhuj |  |
| Major cities | ||
| Villages of Bhuj taluka | ||
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