Unjha
Encyclopedia
Unjha is a city and a municipality
in Mehsana district
in the India
n state
of Gujarat.
, Unjha had a population of 53,868. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Unjha has an average literacy rate of 77%, higher than the national average of 65%: male literacy is 80%, and female literacy is 73%. In Unjha, 10% of the population is under 6 years of age. Unjha is known for its world famous cumin-seed and ispaghula market. The main temple of goddess Shree Umiya Mata is situated in Unjha. Old beliefs that Umiyama is the One of the Avatar (incarnation) of Goddess Parvati. This temple is very important for the Kadva Patel community as Umiyama is their community's goddess (kul devi).
The average income of population living here is very high compare to national average because of trading business of Jira located here.
Narayanbhai Lalludas is a local MLA from BJP party, who has been elected in 2007 VidhanSabha election.
The most noticeable thing a person experiences when he is 1 mile away from Unjha is the fragrance of cumin seeds (Jeera). The whole atmosphere is filled with mild fragrance of cumin seeds, as it has the largest marketyard for selling the seed produce. It has a very large Ganj Bazaar or the Market Yard with many offices and trading sheds and warehouses where tonnes of seeds are stored.
On the main road a large old building of Unjha Pharmacy can be seen. It is the manufacturing place of ayurvedic medicines and is also a very old building factory.
Unjha has many schools including a B.B.A. College. Law College, a Teachers Training College, a Women's Residential College, and a commerce and arts college also. There are various other smaller temples too. On the outskirts there is a Kabir Aashram where the devotees of Saint Kabir worship and sing religious songs (bhajans, sakhis and dohas). Other places are various wadis or places where marriages and other occasions are held. It has many wadis and a particular sub caste of Patel has a particular wadi. For e.g. - Rangpur Samaaj wadi, Raman wadi, Unava Desh ni Wadi, Bhraman ni wadi, umiya desh ni wadi, sanskarbhavan wadi, ACHLESHAWAR NI WADI .
Almost near the center of the town is a pond. There are very few places of public recreation in Unjha....
player Vasant Rai
's family is from Unjha. There is a music school commemorating his memory in Unjha
Dev Patel who is the actor in very popular hollywood movie "SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE" which is directed by foreigner director has family roots from Unjha although he was born and brought up in The United Kingdom.
ENLIGHTENING THE SACRED FLAME TO SAVE AND SERVE THE PEOPLE OF NATION AND WORLD –SINCE 1894.
Lt. Vaidyaraja shree Nagindasji Shah, had put the foundation stone of UNJHA PHARMACY, with a noble goal to spread the fame and 100 years ago, a town named UNJHA in north province of Gujarat, in the popularity of Ayurveda-the science of life, world-wide.
After scrutinizing various ayurvedic authentic textbooks, Lt.Vaidyaraja Nagindasji, plucked 1100 formulations and started manufacturing these formulations. He dispensed ayurvedic drugs free of cost amongst the learned people and well wishers of Ayurveda for 10 years. Later his successors established the Unjha Pharmacy - an ayurvedic pharmaceutical company that makes various medicines based on natural Ayurvedic compounds, and are sold in market to date.
Unjha is dominated by mainly Kadva Patidars along with mostly all communities.
Although a small town, Unjha has many people with the zest for social service. Many international social service groups have active members who live in Unjha, like the Rotary, Rotract, Lions, JCIUNJHA.
Unjha will be hoisting 18 Shatabdi Rajat Jayanti Mohatsav in glory of goddess Umiya, a type of festival that will have 1000 yagna kunds, expected to cost over 2000 million rupees (200 crores), and almost 4.5 million people are expected to visit the festival. These people will be provided shelter and food for their stay free of cost plus other amenities during the time of festival free of cost. The RAJAT JAYANTI MOHATSAV is held every 25 years, last time it was held before 33 years in 1966 and 1.3 million devotees visited Unjha at that time. This time it will be held from 28 November 2009 through 2 December 2009.
IN NOVEMBER 28/ 09 TO DECEMBER 2 / 09 18TH SATABDHI RAJAT JAYANTI MAHOTSAV 2009 IN UMIYA MATA TEMPLE.
There is also Dwarkadhishji Temple located in Nava Mahad, Nr Bramhan Chora. Seva ( Pooja ) is being done as per Vaishanva Sampradaya ( Pushti Marg ). There are lot of Devotees of Dwarkadhishji in Unjha.
Mrs. Kalaben Kantibhai Patel, the daughter of L.S. DASTAVEJ the former Mayor of Unjha and now resides in California, donated funds to establish the Menopause Health Club in Unjha. This club helps women in Unjha and the surrounding villages for the diagnosis of Breast Cancer and other women's and men's health care concerns. This club is currently being operated by Dr. Amrabhai J. Patel who also manages his own clinic, the Kanad Clinic, in Unjha.
Municipality
A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...
in Mehsana district
Mehsana district
Mehsana district is one of the 26 districts of Gujarat state in western India. Mehsana city is the administrative headquarters of this district. The district has a population of over 18 lakhs and an area of over 4,500 km². There are over 600 villages in this district...
in the India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n state
States and territories of India
India is a federal union of states comprising twenty-eight states and seven union territories. The states and territories are further subdivided into districts and so on.-List of states and territories:...
of Gujarat.
Geography
Unjha is located at 23.8°N 72.4°E. It has an average elevation of 111 metres (364 feet).Demographics
India censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
, Unjha had a population of 53,868. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Unjha has an average literacy rate of 77%, higher than the national average of 65%: male literacy is 80%, and female literacy is 73%. In Unjha, 10% of the population is under 6 years of age. Unjha is known for its world famous cumin-seed and ispaghula market. The main temple of goddess Shree Umiya Mata is situated in Unjha. Old beliefs that Umiyama is the One of the Avatar (incarnation) of Goddess Parvati. This temple is very important for the Kadva Patel community as Umiyama is their community's goddess (kul devi).
The average income of population living here is very high compare to national average because of trading business of Jira located here.
Narayanbhai Lalludas is a local MLA from BJP party, who has been elected in 2007 VidhanSabha election.
Places in Unjha
Unjha is famous for UMIYA MAATA TEMPLE that is located in the center of the city where thousands of visitors visit everyday. It is about 1200 years old but it was rebuilt around a century ago with the aid of the people living here. It has continued to shower blessings to the devotees till date, and it is firmly believed that Unjha is prosperous because of the blessings of Goddess Umiya.The most noticeable thing a person experiences when he is 1 mile away from Unjha is the fragrance of cumin seeds (Jeera). The whole atmosphere is filled with mild fragrance of cumin seeds, as it has the largest marketyard for selling the seed produce. It has a very large Ganj Bazaar or the Market Yard with many offices and trading sheds and warehouses where tonnes of seeds are stored.
On the main road a large old building of Unjha Pharmacy can be seen. It is the manufacturing place of ayurvedic medicines and is also a very old building factory.
Unjha has many schools including a B.B.A. College. Law College, a Teachers Training College, a Women's Residential College, and a commerce and arts college also. There are various other smaller temples too. On the outskirts there is a Kabir Aashram where the devotees of Saint Kabir worship and sing religious songs (bhajans, sakhis and dohas). Other places are various wadis or places where marriages and other occasions are held. It has many wadis and a particular sub caste of Patel has a particular wadi. For e.g. - Rangpur Samaaj wadi, Raman wadi, Unava Desh ni Wadi, Bhraman ni wadi, umiya desh ni wadi, sanskarbhavan wadi, ACHLESHAWAR NI WADI .
Almost near the center of the town is a pond. There are very few places of public recreation in Unjha....
Facts
World famous musician and sarodSarod
The sarod is a stringed musical instrument, used mainly in Indian classical music. Along with the sitar, it is the most popular and prominent instrument in the classical music of Hindustan...
player Vasant Rai
Vasant Rai
Vasant Rai was one of world's most acclaimed performers of Indian music and virtuoso of the Indo/Persian/Afghan instrument Sarod.-Personal life and education:Rai was born in Unjha, Kutch, Gujarat and studied music in India...
's family is from Unjha. There is a music school commemorating his memory in Unjha
Dev Patel who is the actor in very popular hollywood movie "SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE" which is directed by foreigner director has family roots from Unjha although he was born and brought up in The United Kingdom.
ENLIGHTENING THE SACRED FLAME TO SAVE AND SERVE THE PEOPLE OF NATION AND WORLD –SINCE 1894.
Lt. Vaidyaraja shree Nagindasji Shah, had put the foundation stone of UNJHA PHARMACY, with a noble goal to spread the fame and 100 years ago, a town named UNJHA in north province of Gujarat, in the popularity of Ayurveda-the science of life, world-wide.
After scrutinizing various ayurvedic authentic textbooks, Lt.Vaidyaraja Nagindasji, plucked 1100 formulations and started manufacturing these formulations. He dispensed ayurvedic drugs free of cost amongst the learned people and well wishers of Ayurveda for 10 years. Later his successors established the Unjha Pharmacy - an ayurvedic pharmaceutical company that makes various medicines based on natural Ayurvedic compounds, and are sold in market to date.
Unjha is dominated by mainly Kadva Patidars along with mostly all communities.
Although a small town, Unjha has many people with the zest for social service. Many international social service groups have active members who live in Unjha, like the Rotary, Rotract, Lions, JCIUNJHA.
Unjha will be hoisting 18 Shatabdi Rajat Jayanti Mohatsav in glory of goddess Umiya, a type of festival that will have 1000 yagna kunds, expected to cost over 2000 million rupees (200 crores), and almost 4.5 million people are expected to visit the festival. These people will be provided shelter and food for their stay free of cost plus other amenities during the time of festival free of cost. The RAJAT JAYANTI MOHATSAV is held every 25 years, last time it was held before 33 years in 1966 and 1.3 million devotees visited Unjha at that time. This time it will be held from 28 November 2009 through 2 December 2009.
IN NOVEMBER 28/ 09 TO DECEMBER 2 / 09 18TH SATABDHI RAJAT JAYANTI MAHOTSAV 2009 IN UMIYA MATA TEMPLE.
There is also Dwarkadhishji Temple located in Nava Mahad, Nr Bramhan Chora. Seva ( Pooja ) is being done as per Vaishanva Sampradaya ( Pushti Marg ). There are lot of Devotees of Dwarkadhishji in Unjha.
Places to Stay
There are almost no hotels to stay in Unjha but the best place to stay is Umiya maata Guest House which is located just next to the temple premises. Rooms are very neat and clean and maintained by Umiya Mataji Sansthan itself, also have simple rooms without any amenities to air conditioned rooms, as per the one's choice can stay over there. There is Gujarati food available by Umiya Mataji Sansthan in the Temple premises. The Temple Guest house has a spectacular view covering the ancient temple and a small artificial pool with a large vedic colorful fountain.Unjha Non-Resident Indians In America
Kantibhai Shankerlal Patel who was born in Unjha and now a resident of California was one of the pioneers in establishing the Cleveland Ohio Indian Community Center in 1970. Kantibhai served as the chairperson of the Northern California Charitable Care Foundation during the years 2007 and 2008. This foundation is known for its humanitarian work in India and America. He is currently the trustee of this non-profit organization.Mrs. Kalaben Kantibhai Patel, the daughter of L.S. DASTAVEJ the former Mayor of Unjha and now resides in California, donated funds to establish the Menopause Health Club in Unjha. This club helps women in Unjha and the surrounding villages for the diagnosis of Breast Cancer and other women's and men's health care concerns. This club is currently being operated by Dr. Amrabhai J. Patel who also manages his own clinic, the Kanad Clinic, in Unjha.