Guj: અમદાવાદ amadāvāda
‘Ahmad’s City’ [Ashaval, Karnavati, Amdavad] City/District, Gujarat.
From Ahmad (Khan) and Per: abad, ‘settlement’.
Ashaval, the city’s first name, is a corruption of Asha Palli [from Asha, a Bhil tribal chief; and Skt/Dra: palli, ‘village’, ‘hamlet’] and dates back to the 9th-11thC .
Karnavati, the city’s second name, came from King Karandev of the Chalukya Dynasty (a.k.a. Solanki Dynasty, 10-13thC rulers of Gujarat/Rajasthan from their base in Patan). He founded it as a new city in the mid 12thC.
Then, in 1411, Ahmad Khan [Ara: ahmad, ‘(most) praised’; khan, ‘nobleman’, ‘ruler’], a Sultan of the Muzaffarid dynasty and ruler of Gujarat until 1442, founded Ahmedabad. Ahmedabad was the capital of the Gujarat Sultanate from 1413 until 1573 until it was captured by Akbar and became part of the Mughal Empire.
It was the capital of Gujarat state 1960-70 (Gandhinagar is the capital now). It is still Gujarat’s largest city and its leading cultural centre.
For twelve years Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad was Gandhi’s HQ. Gandhi remarking on its location, between a prison and a crematorium, said:
“This is the right place for our activities…for on one side are the iron bolts of the foreigners, and on the other the thunderbolts of Mother Nature.”
For related place names see Indian Place names and Gujarat place names.
Sabaramati Ashram, Ahmedabad ahmedabadtourism