Porbandar Sudamapuri | |
|---|---|
City | |
 Kirti Mandir, birthplace ofMahatma Gandhi | |
 Logo of Porbandar Chhaya Municipal Corporation | |
  Porbandar Porbandar (India) Show map of India | |
| Coordinates:21°38′30.0″N69°37′45.5″E / 21.641667°N 69.629306°E /21.641667; 69.629306[1] | |
| Country |  India |
| State | Gujarat |
| District | Porbandar |
| Government | |
| • Body | Porbandar - Chhaya Municipal Corporation |
| Area | |
• Total | 38.43 km2 (14.84 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 30.85 m (101.21 ft) |
| Population (2011) | |
• Total | 152,760 |
| • Density | 4,000/km2 (10,000/sq mi) |
| Languages | |
| • Official | Gujarati |
| Time zone | UTC+5:30 (IST) |
| PIN | 360575 |
| Vehicle registration | GJ-25 |
Porbandar is a city and the headquarters ofPorbandar district in theIndian state ofGujarat. It is the birthplace ofMahatma Gandhi andSudama. It was the former capital of thePorbandar princely state. Porbandar andChhaya are the twin cities of each other and both cities are jointly governed by Porbandar–Chhaya Municipal Corporation.
Onshore explorations in and around Porbandar brought to light the remains of aLate Harappan settlement dating back to the 16th-14th centuries BCE. There is evidence to suggest that the Harappan legacy ofmaritime activity continued till the late Harappan period on theSaurashtra coast. The discovery of ancient jetties along the Porbandar creek signifies the importance of Porbandar as an active center of maritime activities in the past.[1]
Indian theology views Porbandar as the birthplace of Sudama, a friend ofKrishna. For this reason, it is also referred to as Sudaamapuri or Sudamapuri.[1]
Porbandar was the seat of the eponymousprincely state inBritish India. Later the state belonged to theJethwa clan ofRajputs and had been established in the area since at least the mid-16th century. The state was subordinate to theMughal governor ofGujarat Subah until being overrun by theMarathas in the latter half of the 18th century. After, they came under the authority of theGaekwad court atBaroda and eventually of thePeshwa.
Upon theIndependence of India in 1947, the state was annexed into thedominion of India. It was merged with the 'United State of Kathiawar', effective 15 February 1948 and eventually came to form part of the present-day state of Gujarat. The last King of Porbandar wasNatwarsinhji Bhavsinhji Maharaj.
Porbandar is located at21°37′48″N69°36′0″E / 21.63000°N 69.60000°E /21.63000; 69.60000.[2] It has an average elevation of 1 metre (3 ft).
Like most of Gujarat, Porbandar has ahot semi-arid climate (KöppenBSh) with three distinct seasons: the “cool” from October to March, the “hot” in April, May and early June, and themonsoonal “wet” from mid-June to September.[3]
Almost no rain falls outside the monsoon season, except for a very few late-seasontropical cyclones. The most powerful one occurred on 22 October 1975 and produced a storm surge of 4 metres or 13 feet. During the monsoon season, rainfall is exceedingly erratic: Annual rainfall has been as low as 32.2 millimetres or 1.27 inches in 1918 and 34.3 millimetres or 1.35 inches in 1939, but as high as 1,850.6 millimetres or 72.86 inches in 1983—when a cyclone caused over 1,100 millimetres (43.3 in) to fall over four days[4]—and 1,251.7 millimetres or 49.28 inches in 1878.
With acoefficient of variation exceeding fifty percent and an expectation of only 41 percent of mean annual rainfall in the driest year in ten, the Porbandar region is among the most variable in the world[5]—comparable to northern Australia, the Braziliansertão and the KiribateseLine Islands.[6]
An illustration of Porbandar's extremely variable rainfall can be seen from 1899 to 1905 when seven successive years produced annual falls of:
Porbandar, owing to its coastal location, is the least hot of all majorcities in Gujarat: Average high temperatures do not reach 35 °C or 95 °F in any month.
| Climate data forPorbandar Airport (1991–2020, extremes 1969–present) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 36.5 (97.7) | 39.0 (102.2) | 43.1 (109.6) | 44.0 (111.2) | 45.5 (113.9) | 40.8 (105.4) | 35.4 (95.7) | 35.4 (95.7) | 40.3 (104.5) | 41.4 (106.5) | 39.7 (103.5) | 37.2 (99.0) | 45.5 (113.9) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 29.4 (84.9) | 30.9 (87.6) | 33.6 (92.5) | 34.1 (93.4) | 34.0 (93.2) | 33.7 (92.7) | 31.6 (88.9) | 30.6 (87.1) | 31.8 (89.2) | 35.0 (95.0) | 34.1 (93.4) | 31.2 (88.2) | 32.5 (90.5) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 14.0 (57.2) | 16.0 (60.8) | 19.6 (67.3) | 22.8 (73.0) | 26.4 (79.5) | 27.9 (82.2) | 26.9 (80.4) | 25.9 (78.6) | 25.0 (77.0) | 22.9 (73.2) | 19.3 (66.7) | 15.6 (60.1) | 21.8 (71.2) |
| Record low °C (°F) | 2.0 (35.6) | 5.9 (42.6) | 8.7 (47.7) | 15.0 (59.0) | 19.2 (66.6) | 20.7 (69.3) | 18.7 (65.7) | 22.2 (72.0) | 19.2 (66.6) | 15.3 (59.5) | 11.0 (51.8) | 6.4 (43.5) | 2.0 (35.6) |
| Average rainfall mm (inches) | 0.5 (0.02) | 0.2 (0.01) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 1.0 (0.04) | 107.0 (4.21) | 280.6 (11.05) | 178.4 (7.02) | 125.0 (4.92) | 10.5 (0.41) | 3.9 (0.15) | 0.2 (0.01) | 707.4 (27.85) |
| Average rainy days | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 3.6 | 10.0 | 8.1 | 4.4 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 27.7 |
| Averagerelative humidity (%)(at 17:30IST) | 38 | 40 | 45 | 54 | 67 | 72 | 78 | 78 | 72 | 52 | 42 | 37 | 56 |
| Source:India Meteorological Department[7][8][9] | |||||||||||||
As of 2011[update] Indiacensus, Porbandar (City and urban outgrowth) had a population of 152,760.[10] Males constituted 51.4% of the population and females 48.6%. Porbandar has an average literacy rate of 86.46%, higher than the national average of 74.04%: male literacy is 91.69%, and female literacy is 80.92%. In Porbandar, 9.11% of the population is under 6 years of age.
According to the Census in 2011, the population of Porbander contracted 3.85% in 2011. i.e. the growth rate was negative. The sex ration of the city was 943 in 2011.[clarification needed]
In 01 January 2025, the Gujarat state government elevated Porbandar–Chhaya from a municipality to a municipal corporation, enhancing its administrative capabilities and enabling more comprehensive urban planning and development. This transition is expected to improve infrastructure, public services, and governance for residents. The Porbandar–Chhaya Municipal Corporation now joins the ranks of Gujarat's municipal corporations, reflecting the region's growth and urbanization.[11]
Porbandar city is governed by a MunicipalCorporation.[12] The Municipal Corporation is responsible for supply of water to the city using Narmada as the main source of water supply.[13] The Municipal Corporation supplies around 14 MLD everyday to the city. As per records available from 2008, the city had a coverage of 39% in terms of water supply connections though the coverage of distribution system was reported as 80%.[14] As per another assessment in the year 2016, Porbandar ranked the lowest in terms the volume of water supplied per capita at 59 lpcd (liters per capita per day) as compared to Gandhinagar which ranked the highest at 245 lpcd.[15] Municipal Corporation is also responsible for waste management in the city and generates about 66 tonnes per day of waste.[16]
The current member ofParliament isMansukh Mandaviya.[17]
 | This articleis written like atravel guide. Pleasehelp improve the article by introducing anencyclopedic style or move the content toWikivoyage.(January 2022) |
The best time to visit is October to March.
Porbandar is well-connected by road, rail and air to cities across the country.
_arriving_at_the_port_of_Porbandar%2c_Gujarat.jpg)
Porbandar is an ancient port city. At present it has an all-weather port, with direct berthing facilities up to 50,000 DWT ships.[20][21]
The city is connected throughNational Highway 27, connecting to Rajkot and Ahmedabad. National Highway 8E Ext (also known as State Highway 6) connects toJamnagar,Dwarka in the north andVeraval,Bhavnagar in the south.
Major public transport is covered by the private and government buses.
Many private coaches are available daily toRajkot,Dwarka,Veraval,Junagadh,Ahmedabad,Jamnagar,Vadodra,Surat, andMumbai.
Porbandar railway station connects Porbandar with major cities of state and the country. There are daily trains to Rajkot (via Jamnagar, Bhanwad and Upleta, Dhoraji, Gondal as well), Somnath (via Junagadh) and Mumbai (viaAhmedabad,Vadodra andSurat). There are also trains toDelhi,Muzaffarpur andHowrah connecting to major cities ofRajasthan,Uttar Pradesh,Vidarbha andWest Bengal. A weekly train service connectsKochuveli,Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) andSecunderabad (Hyderabad) with Porbandar viaMangalore,Calicut,Kochi andQuilon(Kollam).
From August 2022, no flights are operational.
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Porbandar travel guide from Wikivoyage| International | |
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| National | |
| Geographic | |
