Guj: સૌરાષ્ટ્ર saurāṣṭra

‘Sun Kingdom’   Region, Gujarat

From Skt: surya, ‘sun (worship)’, ‘solar’, ‘celestial’; and Skt/Pkt: rāṣṭra, ‘kingdom’, ‘region’.

Saurashtra is the main, southern peninsula of Gujarat and includes eleven of its districts and one-third of its land area.

It is sometimes called Kathiawar although technically it covers a wider area.

The sun connection suggests that the early Saurashtrians were sun worshippers.

For related place names see Indian Place names and Gujarat place names.

 

Saurashtra Region, Gujarat     Nizil Shah