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
